Live load for film production on deck structure

[McSEpllc]

I have been asked to review a residential deck to be used for a film production.

Do you know of a guideline what uniform and concentrated live load a deck is to be able to support for film production?

At the site meeting I will be asking how many crew, actors and actresses will be on the deck, and equipment and their weights, to figure a bare minimum.

Thanks.

 

[StrucPatholgst]

All depends on how the deck was built.

 

[jayrod12]

I'd be designing it at a minimum as a commercial floor, therefore 100 psf with a 2000lbs concentrated load if no other information comes in.

 

[phamENG]

I agree with jayrod. Odds are it won't work, of course. Of course if they keep it to just a couple actors/actresses and a camera man, you're probably okay with 40psf. Just review all of the connections and make sure they are up to code. Preferably current code - I find that well over half of the decks built today aren't even built to current code.

 

[dhengr]

McSEpllc:
I agree with the above. I would pay particular attention to large concentrated loads, large crowds, connection cap’y. and condition, the cap’y. and condition of the ledger connection to the bldg., and lateral stability of the whole deck, and its tieback into the bldg.

 

[McSEpllc]

Thanks All! I appreciate your thoughts.
It turns out what they want me to review is a 1920/30's farmhouse with porch.
We ended up with me to providing allowable uniform and concentrated loads for the varies areas, and them to gauge what they need.

 

[dhengr]

McSEpllc:
I’d be very careful how you word your report and recommendations, because once you say it’s all o.k., and you are not standing right there to tell them they can’t do that, they are likely going to ignore (forget) what you said they shouldn’t do, and do what they think they need to do. After all, their artistic thing, is the important part, and all else comes in a distant second. They won’t want to pay you for a sufficiently detailed inspection, so you really have something to hang your hat on. You will be making assumptions on things which you can’t really see without doing some destructive inspection in various areas, and they won’t want that. Make them give you loads and equip. wts. and positions, lines of travel, etc., and base your analysis on these or larger loads, and make them stick with that. Keep it conservative, with plenty of cover your butt language. You might want to pass this by your insurer and have an attorney look at the contract, because you can be rest assured you will be target number one if anything goes wrong.

 

[McSEpllc]

Thank you for your thoughts, dhengr

 

[McSEpllc]

Just an update for folks coming in the future:
I ended up estimating uniform and concentrated live load capacities for the varies rooms and listing them on a drawing.
On the drawing, fee proposal and communications I made clear that live load capacity can be less were impacted by things like decay, insect infestation, notching and other issues.
I also indicated that the building code did not provide live load specification for film use, so the movie folks had to gauge what they needed.

Also want to point out that I never had a project that I had so much non-billable time with communication with my attorney and liability insurance carrier. In retrospect I would not have taken on the projects.