Can You Put a Treadmill Upstairs? Safety & Practicality

Do you want to put your new treadmill upstairs or in an apartment but aren’t too sure if it’s safe to do so? I had the same concern when buying workout equipment while living in an apartment. Here’s what you want to know.

In a building that’s up to code, you can safely put a treadmill upstairs or in an apartment provided you and the treadmill are of average weight or slightly higher. People over 300 lbs. should be careful with running at full speed but can safely walk and jog on a treadmill upstairs.

Below you can find out how you can calculate if your floor can safely hold your treadmill. It’s very easy I promise. I’ll also give you some tips on how to make sure you put your treadmill in the strongest spot in the room.

Can You Place a Treadmill On The Second Floor?

There is no issue with putting a treadmill upstairs. While treadmills are heavy and the impact of running does put stress on the floor, a building that’s up to code, can easily handle this.

The bigger issue is the noise and vibrations running on a treadmill creates. The thumping noise can be disturbing to people in the space below your treadmill. A good treadmill mat helps reduce this although it won’t completely get rid of the noise.

Floor Load Capacity

Below you can find out how you can calculate if your floor can safely hold your treadmill. It’s very easy, I promise. I’ll also give you some tips on how to make sure you put your treadmill in the strongest spot in the room.

A building that’s up to code in the USA will be able to handle 30 to 40 lbs. per square foot upstairs.

Click here to find building codes around the country.

That’s 30 to 40 lbs. if you load the whole floor. Floors should also be able to handle a concentrated load of at least 300 lbs. That means if the rest of the floor isn’t loaded, any small area of the floor can handle at least 300 lbs.

Distributing the Load

A uniform load of 30 lbs. over a 150 square-foot bedroom is 4500 lbs. you can put in the whole room as long as it’s spread out. A treadmill usually has four feet that are spread out reasonably well. That means you have a limit of 4 times 300 lbs. That means 1200 lbs. That’s the upper limit though. To stay safe, try to stay under about 1000 lbs.

Consider Treadmill Weight and User Impact

This is plenty for even the heaviest of treadmills. (The Peleton Tread+ is one of the heaviest at 455 lbs.) Of course, that’s not all the weight. The floor also has to hold you standing and running on the treadmill.

When you stand on the treadmill and just walk, your weight is just that. However, when you run, your weight impacts the treadmill at speed. That means the force on the floor is actually higher than your body weight.

[Link to effective weight impact while running]

As you can see here, the effective weight of the impact while running ranges from 1.5x to 3x the runner’s body weight. So if you want to run, multiplying your body weight by 3 means you get the maximum effective load the floor will get.

Simple Calculation for Safety

So to see if you’re safe to put a treadmill upstairs, do the following:

1. Look up the weight of your treadmill.
2. Take your body weight and multiply it by 3.
3. Add the two numbers.
4. Is that final number under 1200 lbs.? (Preferably under 1000 lbs.) Then you’ll be perfectly fine placing your treadmill upstairs and running on it.

For example: You have a treadmill that weighs 275 lbs. and you weigh 225 lbs.

• Treadmill weight = 275 lbs.
• Running weight = 3 * 225 = 675 lbs.
• Total load = 950 lbs.

Need a good spot to put your treadmill? Click here to find the best places and why.

In this example, you’re perfectly safe to place a treadmill upstairs and run on it. But, it’s a simple calculation; make sure to do it for your situation.

From that example, you can also see that people 300 lbs. and over do have to be more careful because you’re getting very close to that 1200 lbs. People of that weight probably won’t be running at full speed, which means you don’t have to multiply your weight by 3x. For walking and jogging, the impact weight is going to be about 2x body weight. That means you’re still fine to use that treadmill as long as you’re not running at full force, but you should definitely be mindful of the fact that you’re pushing the limits.

Suggested post: What’s the user weight limit of a treadmill?

How much does a treadmill weigh?

Treadmills come in many shapes and sizes. There are tons of different treadmills that all have different weights. Luckily I’ve already written a post and done research into the weight of treadmills. Here is the conclusion of that post;

The average home treadmill weighs 244 lbs./110kg with most models weighing between 210 and 260 lbs. Manual treadmills are much lighter at 62 lbs. The biggest factor in weight difference is the motor. A stronger motor is heavier. Other factors that influence weight are build quality and features.

https://homegymresource.com/treadmill-weight/

Of course, the weight of the treadmill isn’t the only thing to think about. The person working out on it also has an impact. And it’s pretty obvious humans have very different shapes and sizes. Even more than treadmills. You probably already know your body weight though.

Suggested post: How much does a home treadmill cost?

Safety measures

Above you can see that most people will be perfectly safe to run on a treadmill that’s not on a ground floor. If you’re still a little worried, there are a few things you can do to reduce risks.

Ask an expert

If you feel unsure if your situation is safe or not, you can always ask the advice of an expert. Find a local engineering company that is familiar with the building code in your area and ask them. A quick phone call will probably answer your question very quickly.

If they’re not sure, you’ll have to ask someone to come out to your house and inspect the situation. That will probably cost some money but that’s better than just going for it and discovering it was too much later on.

Other Problems With Putting a Treadmill In An Apartment

The load limit of a floor isn’t the only thing you have to think about if you put a treadmill upstairs or in an apartment.