I am considering having a bathroom built on my upper floor (masonry house from 1936 with concrete slab flooring).
But can it withstand the weight that a bathroom entails? The reason I ask is that in a neighboring house, the kitchen recently collapsed into the basement (luckily, no one was home when it happened). It turned out that those who built the house in the 30s had really skimped on the reinforcement. These are custom-built homes constructed by the owners themselves, so it's impossible to know how it looks in my house.
I'm a bit paranoid, of course... Is load-bearing capacity something that the construction company checks?
But can it withstand the weight that a bathroom entails? The reason I ask is that in a neighboring house, the kitchen recently collapsed into the basement (luckily, no one was home when it happened). It turned out that those who built the house in the 30s had really skimped on the reinforcement. These are custom-built homes constructed by the owners themselves, so it's impossible to know how it looks in my house.
I'm a bit paranoid, of course... Is load-bearing capacity something that the construction company checks?
No, the construction company doesn't check that. You'll need a structural engineer to look into it. It should absolutely be possible to have a bathroom up there as long as you avoid a bathtub and opt for a shower instead.
The room in question has obviously been used as a bedroom for many years, so maybe I'm worrying unnecessarily...Åsa Lund said:
But of course, a fully tiled bathroom with a large bathtub (probably skipping that though) has a completely different weight than a bed. I will ask the construction company what they think.