Floor stacking
Floor stacking is the support condition in which a pallet rests on a flat floor, often with other unit loads stacked on top of it. It gives the highest pallet ratings because the floor supports the whole bottom: in a PDS example, 5,223 lb stacked one high, falling to 1,934 lb per pallet when stacked four high.
Also called floor storage, stacked storage, static load
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Where the stress goes in a stack
- The lowest pallet has the most stressed top deck, because it carries every load above
- The second pallet up has the most stressed bottom deck, because it bears on the load below rather than the floor
- Heavier stacks lower the rating per pallet: the PDS example drops from 5,223 lb at 1 high to 1,934 lb per pallet at 4 high
Floor ratings on other pallet types
Plastic pallet catalogs call the floor rating the static load, usually the largest of their three numbers (static, dynamic, rack). Presswood and nestable plastic pallets often have high static ratings but are not rackable. Always compare like with like.
What to specify
Give the maximum number of unit loads per stack, whether stacks are in the warehouse or in transit, and the load type. Block and double-face pallets spread load onto the unit below better than skids. See block stacking, unit load and pallet load capacity.
Questions
- How much weight can a pallet hold on the floor?
- Much more than in a rack. A PDS example 48x40 rated 5,223 lb stacked one high on the floor, versus 1,558 lb racked across its length.
Related
- Block stackingBlock stacking is storing unit loads directly on top of each other on the floor, in rows or blocks, with no racks. The bottom pallets carry the whole stack.
- Rack storageRack storage means a pallet spans between two rack beams with nothing underneath. It gives the lowest rating, e.g. 1,558 lb racked vs 5,223 lb on the floor.
- Safe working loadSafe working load (SWL) is the rated load for a pallet in a stated support condition, with a safety margin. It is not the breaking load and varies by condition.
- Pallet load capacity: safe load, support conditions and ratingsPallet load capacity depends on support: floor, stacked, forklift or racked. How safe load differs from breaking load, and how ratings are set.
- Fork tineA fork tine is one of the two steel arms of a forklift that slide into a pallet's openings. PDS's default example tine is 4 in wide and 42 in long.
- Free spanFree span is the unsupported distance a pallet bridges between supports, such as rack beams. A 48 in pallet on beams typically has about a 44 in free span.