topher@cyb-eng.UUCP (Topher Eliot) (07/08/84)
I find the 'my refrigerator exerts more pounds per square inch than my
waterbed' argument unconvincing, so I can't blame landlords for finding it
so as well. Floors rarely fail due to a moderate amount of force in a small
area (the exeception I've seen is an old claw-leg bathtub sinking through a
wooden floor at four rotten points). If your floor were to fail because of
your waterbed, all (or several of) the joists under your bed would have to
crack. So the measure that really matters is the amount of weight per floor
joist, with allowance for joist length.
But even given that, a dozen 150-lb people standing very still weigh as
much as one 1800-lb waterbed. Get them all dancing, and the stresses go
way up. Maybe landlords would find this argument more convincing.
Cheers,
Topher Eliot
Cyb Systems, Austin, TX
{seismo, allegra, ihnp4}!ut-sally!cyb-eng!topherqwerty@drutx.UUCP (JonesBD) (07/11/84)
What about 12 150-lb people dancing on an 1800-lb water bed?? :-)
mark@cbhydra.uucp (07/12/84)
Yeah, but your fridge or your 12 friends aren't likely to flood the apartment of the guy underneath you. I've seen lots of waterbeds spring leaks.
spaf@gatech.UUCP (Gene Spafford) (07/15/84)
This message is empty.
ron@brl-tgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (07/16/84)
Yes, but I've never seen a water bed spring a leak that could cause a flood. Mostly they just ooze and make the bed soggy. The times I've seen leaks are do to punctures, not load. One of the water bed stores in College Park drove a pick-up truck on top of a mattress to prove the point. I would suspect, and most of the stories I've heard about it, that the time which catastrophic leaking occurs is during filling. -Ron -Ron
judy@ut-ngp.UUCP (Judith O. Ashworth) (07/17/84)
As a former manager of a waterbed store I have many an amusing tale concerning waterbeds and their safety. One comes from an employee who was sleeping blissfully one night when a drunk drove his car through her bedroom wall and into her waterbed. The splintered frame punctured both the matress and the liner and a flood did ensue but it was a small price to pay for her LIFE. The waterbed and frame absorbed the impact. Another story was from a newpaper article I read where a burglar went berserk and, not content with just robbing the place, proceeded to slash the waterbed. He neglected however, to damage the liner which sucessfully prevented major water damage. "Mr. Chatterbox thought you'd like to know." Judy
spaf@gatech.UUCP (07/19/84)
(This is a reposting of my earlier article. The bug ate the
first copy at some sites.)
Yeah, but your fridge or your 12 friends aren't likely to flood
the apartment of the guy underneath you. I've seen lots of
waterbeds spring leaks. mark@cbhydra
On the other hand, no one I know has ever heard of any waterbed causing
any broken floors OR flooding. The most major leak I've ever heard of
was a small one caused by a cat's claw piercing a mattress in one spot.
It didn't leak unless you put weight on the mattress, and it was easily
patched.
Before I got my king-size waterbed, I researched the matter rather
thoroughly. The place I bought my bed from offers (for something like
$.10) $10K insurance against any damage by their waterbeds IF the bed
is installed properly. That is, if one of their mattresses is used in a
frame with a liner. The manager of the store told me that in 10 years
of business, no one has ever filed a claim.
Waterbeds cause problems when you try to use the mattress without a
frame. The stress on the seams often causes poorly made mattresses to
just pop. In a frame, that is just not going to happen (unless someone
does a swan-dive into it from 2 stories up). A liner will prevent
small leaks from sending water onto the floor. And if you do have a
small hole in the mattress, it won't leak very fast, if at all (unless
it is directly in the bottom). You have to work to get the bed to
drain through the plug, let alone empty any amount of water through a
pinhole. The contents of the mattress aren't under any real pressure if
you aren't lying on it, and so the water really isn't going to go
spurting out.
As for stress, well, as part of the insurance policy, it notes that any
housing structure built since 195? which won't support a waterbed
violates the local building codes and the national building code, and
you have bigger problems than the waterbed. Most structures built
earlier will also support the weight with no problem, as long as you
don't have dry-rot or termites.
My waterbed mattress is guaranteed for 30 years against any defects as
long as I add conditioner to the water every 6 months. (Conditioner
helps prevent algae growth and it includes vinyl conditioners to keep
the plastic pliant.)
Florida has a state law that prevents landlords from prohibiting
waterbeds which have a liner and frame. As of a year ago, at least 3
other states had such legislation being considered. There may be
more.
--
Off the Wall of Gene Spafford
The Clouds Project, School of ICS, Georgia Tech, Atlanta GA 30332
Phone: (404) 894-6169, (404) 894-6170 [messages]
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