On Sat, 06 Mar 2004 12:18:49 GMT, a particular chimpanzee named Seri
randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

This house has the bath running 'along' the joists, a crack has
developed in the back wall that the bath runs against.
Could the weight of the bath have caused this crack?
Should the bath be running 'across' the joists?

Strictly speaking, floor joists under baths should be doubled. In
practice however, unless the joists are at their maximum span and the
bath is a cast-iron affair, it's probably not necessary. If the
joists were overloaded the floor would sag in the centre before
anything else. It would have to be seriously overloaded for it to
affect the bearings, and even then it would crush the timber before
the masonry.
--
Hugo Nebula
"The fact that no-one on the internet wants a piece of this
shows you just how far you've strayed from the pack".