Personally, I wouldn't worry in the least, though I know neither your floor nor husband, so my opinion may not be worth much.

If you were thinking of doing this in 'recovered' attic footage that had never really intended to be weight baring, I'd be concerned. Otherwise, not so much.

Interesting to see what others will say, though.

I wouldn't think a treadmill would be a concern. Maybe a huge whirlpool tub If you were making a bathroom or cailifornia king water bed if making a bedroom out of the area, but not a treadmill. The movement is basically lateral and not up and down w/ little vibration.

If you have an area of the upstairs floor that indicates the thickness or approximate sizing of your floor joists, this would help. You can also get an idea of your floor joist size by measuring an outside wall from the sill plate to the top plate of the second story wall, then measure the wall heights inside and subtract. This should give you an idea of floor framing thickness. You have to remember not to include your first floor framing. If your basement is unfinished, you might see what was used for the first floor joisting but it would only be an assumption that it is the same joisting used for the second deck.

This is an example of why folks on new builds have the chance to get their floor framing engineered a little overkill so no worries like this crop up.

I have a 1970's Ryland home tract house now. We've got the treadmill on the second floor. Yes you can hear it in the room below when someone is using it but there's been no problem. My house is so cheaply constructed, that I can guarantee you something would have cracked or broken if the treadmill was a problem. The blasted thing is framed with 2x3's on the interior and even smaller in the gable ends.

A treadmill is not a particularly heavy floor load because of its large footprint.

Modern floors are designed to not crack plaster or drywall ceilings below even if you covered the entire floor with men on treadmills because the maximum load would probably not exceed the 30 PSF uniform live load design minimum for upper floors.

Also, putting the treadmill near a wall and over a beam virtually eliminates the possibility of excessive floor deflection.

If your floor was so weak that a treadmill would cause plaster cracking, you would have already noticed the problem and probably had some cracking just from several people occupying the center of the room.
What I would be worried about is noise and vibration and I'm not sure how that could be simulated.

But not to worry, he'll only use it for a week or two and it will eventually go in the basement. You should consider a recumbent bicycle; you can read a book and be surprised when the time is up and the noise and vibration should be far less.

I was going to install some stonework on framing (cement board backed) and read your statement "near a wall and over a beam virtually eliminates the possibility of excessive floor deflection" and I wondered what is the maximum weight I can put on a frame?

My plan is to put 870 pounds on the framed wall over 8 linear feet. So there would be about 110 pounds hanging on each foot of framing. I'm not sure how this works into your 30 PSF maximum, but does the amount of weight I am planning sound too much?

Unusual dead loads must be considered separately because they are not part of the 30 psf live load design requirement.

I can't answer your question without a detailed description of the structure.

We've had no problem with the treadmill in our second floor gym, but we did pour gypcrete for sound insulation.

kinglerch

If you have an issue to discuss you should start a new thread and provide more information.

From a personal experience, my wife moved the treadmill to a spare bedroom on the second floor of our last home. The home was only 6 years old.

Anyway, the master bedroom was on the other side of the house. That thing was SO loud, it would wake me up when she worked out in the morning. The vibration, when she jogged, rattled the things on the walls.

Since you live in a duplex, your neighbors may have concerns?

I have the cheasiest of Ryland homes from the 70's (well built with the cheapest darned materials in the world). The treadmill is noisy upstairs, but no structural concerns. You should be fine in a house made out of real lumber and plaster.

This thread has been dead for almost 6 months. For some reason kinglerch hijacked it to ask about another loading issue not involving a treadmill.

Treadmill/elliptical machine is very loud on bottom floor and slight creaking sounds can be heard as well. Would this be indicative on potential damage or just the joists and lumber creaking? Home built in 1980's. Thank you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Elliptical Exercise

I am also concerned about my elliptical on my 2nd floor. When you stand in the garage underneath it, you hear creaking and the ceiling moves up and down with the up-and-down movement of the elliptical. Is this a sign we should stop using it?

I didn't read all the responses - just wanted to say that my doctor just told me that she has an older restored home and she damaged a light fixture by having her treadmill above it. I would just be careful where you place the treadmill.

The stress the equipment is putting on your floor is also being absorbed by your knee and hip joints. Unless you are a college athlete I suggest switching to a recumbent bike and/or rowing erg like the Concept II or WaterRower. The forces go into muscle development and a little heat from friction.