Birth Pool Falling through floor??

[fingers_cross]

has anyone ever heard of a birth pool causing the floor to collapse underneath it? my midwife said I should check to make sure the floor is structurally safe in my sisters first floor flat before considering having the pool (although ive already bought it!!). ive got the birth pool in a box eco mini and my brother (good at maths, me=not!lol) has worked out that the weight of the pool filled with me in it will weigh 137lbs or 9 stone 7 per square foot. which i dont think is a lot! what do u guys think? im worried if i need to get someone in to check the floor supports that they will need to take up my sisters wooden floor and she would NOT like the idea of that as it will obviously cause considerable damage to her flat she just bought about 3 months ago!!

thanks for any help

 

[pimento1979]

I think the pool manufacturer recommends to check as well. But what I've read, it's like 15 people standing where your pool would be, so if you've ever had a large amount of people in your house before, you'll probably be fine

 

[ace28]

i've never heard of this. now you've got ME worried, as we rent our house!

 

[YikesBaby]

Hmm... I was worried about this too. Tons of people do home births, so I can't imagine it's that common?!

 

[bubbles]

I think it would need to have an underlying problem for it to be an actual issue. You could just get a few friends and family members together and stand in the spot you want the pool, do a couple of star jumps lol

Ours will be going upstairs but I'm not worried, its a New build house with concrete floors

 

[Mum22GTTC]

Sorry OP, I have no advice, I just came on here looking for the same answer I'd never considered this to be an issue until today. I want the pool downstairs & the midwife said I need to be sure it's concrete under the flooring - I have no idea?!

Surely it would be ok downstairs?

 

[Emma11511]

A birth pool can't weigh any/much more than a sofa or bed, or any other kind of furniture, right?
I think people just like to cover their bums just in case.

 

[Erised]

A birth pool can't weigh any/much more than a sofa or bed, or any other kind of furniture, right?
I think people just like to cover their bums just in case.

It weighs a lot more. The pool itself doesn't, but the water inside it does. The first pool I've just looked up weighs 480 kilos for the mini version and 650 for the normal version. Add the weight of the mother on top of that, and it weighs a heck of a lot more than a sofa (which would come in at around 25 kilos or so?).

Birthing pools aren't a problem for ground floors, however first floors have a completely different support structure. Definitely get it checked out properly before trying.

 

[Mum22GTTC]

Don't know if this helps, but I've just worked out the following:

My birth pool will have approx 450 litres of water in it - which is 450 kilos, plus the weight of myself is approx 525 kilos.

The approx weight of 6 largest adults in my family would be approx 530 kilos. It wouldn't cross my mind that my floor would have a problem with the 6 of them sitting at my dining table (where I wanted my pool)- so I'm guessing (hoping ) that the pool wouldn't be a problem either.

Hope that helps someone - please feel free to correct me if that doesn't sound right.

 

[ace28]

I'm worried because we *are* doing this on our ground floor, however we have a basement underneath?

I wish I had never seen the title of this thread! It will probably all be just fine but now I'm going to worry and if I hadn'tr seen this thread it would never have occurred to me!!!!

 

[tinytabby]

I'm not having a pool for this reason. My oh is an architectural technologist and just won't have it. And the midwife backed him up. I don't mind that much though. I am much more into birthing at home than water birth.