Balcony and plant pots

tony3619

Hello, 

So I have purchased a mini plastic green house that is quite lightweight. I have added a few tomato/chilli plant and herbs etc (photo attached) 

When watering them I starting thinking about the weight and whether it's safe on a balcony?

The balcony itself is basically a roof for a room below, a water proof membrane pitched to drain water etc with decking on top So I dont know if that means it has support more or less than those little flat balconies.

Would you guys worry?

silvercar

That is going to weigh less than a person. 

If there was a problem, the first thing you would notice is a crack in the wood decking, so that would be your sign

tony3619

silvercar said:

That is going to weigh less than a person. 

If there was a problem, the first thing you would notice is a crack in the wood decking, so that would be your sign

My 2 main concerns were the weight all being on one point + not spread and any deflection on the joists putting strain on the waterproof membrane underneath possibly tearing it? It's probably extremely unlikely as I don't think there is enough weight there but when I
I was watering it and I started to think "how much weight is being added by watering the soil ?...

gwynlas

Personally I would not be worrying too much about the weight of grrenhouse and contents as much less than a larger person. 

I would in fact consider anchoring the greenhouse down as it  is lightweight and could be caught by the wind.

tony3619

gwynlas said:

Personally I would not be worrying too much about the weight of grrenhouse and contents as much less than a larger person. 

I would in fact consider anchoring the greenhouse down as it  is lightweight and could be caught by the wind.

I have cable tied it to the balcony railings amd put the larger plants on the bottom 

tony3619

silvercar said:

That is going to weigh less than a person. 

If there was a problem, the first thing you would notice is a crack in the wood decking, so that would be your sign

Being as OCD as I am I weighed the pots after watering and with the frame it's somewhere around the 45-60 kg total weight on that one small part of the decking so I'm guessing as a decking should be made to support a normal size human upto 90kg these days? I should be fine? 

outtatune

But the decking itself spreads the load.

This may come as a surprise but structural engineers are aware of things like pot plants and how people like to use their balconies.

Go for a walk around your nearest apartment block heavy neighbourhood and notice the strange lack of pot plants and shattered balcony detritus falling from the sky. 

You'll be fine.

But if you're really stressing out over it - move it around at a jaunty angle so the feet are all on different planks. 

Bigphil1474

The balcony won't have been designed with a safe working load of 1 person, so 1 person and a relatively lightweight mini greenhouse won't be an issue. Just don't have a party on it if you are concerned.

Is it part of your house below? You could look into the build of the balcony as it's important to ensure that the floor/ceiling is load bearing, but unless it's a dodgy DIY build, I'd suggest it's probably fine.

WIAWSNB

tony3619 said:

Being as OCD as I am I weighed the pots after watering and with the frame it's somewhere around the 45-60 kg total weight on that one small part of the decking so I'm guessing as a decking should be made to support a normal size human upto 90kg these days? I should be fine? 

How many normal humans could fit on that balcony? Cool. That's how much weight it can hold - and some.

(Cue the pedants...)

weeg

I wouldn't call myself a pedant, but I do live in a flat with balconies (plural, because I'm obviously fancy! and I live in a cheap area of Glasgow) and a gardener husband. Your balcony is absolutely fine for those weights.

More technically, I can advise you that your balcony will have been designed to take a point load of 2.0kN (which is approximately 200kg, or a universally distributed load of 2.5kN/m2 (250kg/m2). With a 'safety factor' of 1.5 then applied. As well as plant-owning flat dweller, I'm a structural engineer. And I've seen a LOT of ER dramas where balconies collapse during frathouse parties! We don't mess about! 

WIAWSNB

weeg said:

I wouldn't call myself a pedant, but I do live in a flat with balconies (plural, because I'm obviously fancy! and I live in a cheap area of Glasgow) and a gardener husband. Your balcony is absolutely fine for those weights.

More technically, I can advise you that your balcony will have been designed to take a point load of 2.0kN (which is approximately 200kg, or a universally distributed load of 2.5kN/m2 (250kg/m2). With a 'safety factor' of 1.5 then applied. As well as plant-owning flat dweller, I'm a structural engineer. And I've seen a LOT of ER dramas where balconies collapse during frathouse parties! We don't mess about! 

Brilliant! :-)