Live Loads for Different Buildings Structures and Floors

Live loads are different for different buildings and structures. It keeps changing from time to time even on same structure. Examples for live loads are weight of persons, movable partitions, dust loads, weight of furniture etc.

Live loads should be suitably calculated or assumed by the designer based on occupancy levels. It is one of the major loads in structural design. The minimum live loads per square meter area for different types of structures are given in IS 875 (Part-2)-1987.

IS 875 (Part-II)-1987 specifies the live loads for following occupancy conditions:

• Residential Buildings- dwelling houses, hotels, hostels, boiler rooms and plant rooms, garages etc.
• Educational buildings
• Institutional buildings
• Assembly buildings
• Business and office buildings
• Mercantile buildings
• Industrial buildings
• Storage Rooms

The code specifies uniformly distributed loads as wells as concentrated loads. The structures are to be investigated for both uniformly distributed and worst position of concentrated loads. The condition which gives worst effect should be considered for structural design, but both should not be considered to act simultaneously.

Following are the live loads for different buildings:

Sl. No.	Description	UDL Load (kN/m2)	Concentrated Load (kN)
1.	Bathrooms and toilets in all types of buildings	2	1.8
2.	Living and bed rooms
3	Office rooms in
	(i)                  Hostel, hotels, hospitals and business building with separate store	2.5	2.7
	(ii)                In assembly buildings	3	4.5
4.	Kitchens in
	(i)                  Dwelling houses	2	1.8
	(ii)                Hostels, hotels and hospitals	3	4.5
5.	Banking halls, class rooms, X-ray rooms, operation rooms	3	4.5
6.	Dining rooms in
	(i)                 Educational buildings, institutional and mercantile buildings	3	2.7
	(ii)                Hostels and hotels	4	2.7
7.	Corridors, passages, stair cases in
	(i)                  Dwelling houses, hotels, and hostels	3	4.5
	(ii)               Educational, institutional and assembly buildings	4	4.5
	(iii)               Mercantile buildings	5	4.5
8.	Reading rooms in libraries
	(i)                  With separate storage	3	4.5
	(ii)                Without separate storage	4	4.5
9.	Assembly areas in assembly buildings
	(i)                  With fixed seats	5
	(ii)                Without fixed seats	5	3.6
10.	Store rooms in educational buildings	5	4.5
11.	Store room in libraries	6 for a height of 2.24  2kN/m2for every 1m additional height	4.5
12.	Boiler rooms and plant rooms in
	(i)                  Hostels, hotels and hospitals, mercantile and industrial buildings	5	4.5
	(ii)                Assembly and storage buildings	7.5	4.5