oblong wrote:
Please help!

I'm planning a home birth and would like to have an inflatable pool
for pain relief purposes, there are two options, they are both at the
smaller end of the birth-pool spectrum.. here are the weights of the
pools (filled):

'la bassine' 450kg / 1000 lbs
'birth-pool-in-a-box' 480kg / 1056 lbs

My weight would be additional, I'm small.. but heavily pregnant (still
5 weeks to go) so estimate max 70kg / 155 lbs. The midwife and my
husband may obviously be attending to me close to the pool (but not in
it!) at times so maybe their weights should be taken into account too?

Just like a water bed then!

Can anyone advise on whether it's ok to put this in our upstairs main
bedroom? Our house is new (built 2006).
There is a supporting (or is it load-bearing? wall downstairs that
runs accross the bedroom (it's a very big room), would it be a good
idea to place the pool over that? Or over a joist?

Put the pool straddling either side of the load bearing wall - remember that
the pool will hold around 100+ gallons of water (using the figures you
supplied) so if the floor is weyroc, it will need some protection (such as a
plastic sheet) under the pool (advisable anyway).

Reading around, it seems like the main risk is rotten joists / beans
which is not a problem here due to newness of the house.

Obviously I don't want to be worrying about it on the day and
definitely don't want to end up taking a shortcut down to the kitchen
or dining room.

If you are concerned about the weight, try using a couple of sheets of 3/4"
or 1" plywood on the floor under the pool just to spread the load over the
wall and floor joists - and if you are really paranoid, stick a few
adjustable Acrow props between the ground and first floor ceiling (not
really necessary in my opinion and a bit OTT) with some scaffold boards
under and on top of the acrows).

But in reality - the thing probably is no heavier than a water bed and there
shouldn't be any problems.

Whilst there should be no problem, you do this *at* *your* *own* *risk* -
(yes I'm covering my bum [rare for me] in this litigious age) :-)

BTW, I won't pass comment on home births, but if you are considering this -
well done for kicking against the establishment - and may the birth be an
easy one!

Let us know how you get on please.

Tanner-'op