I looked under the house today to see which way the joists in my floor go. Of cousre they go the oposite way that I needed them to go. I dont have anywhere else to put the tank and I really dont feel comfortable going under there to put more support down there. I was going to be buying a 100 gal but I obviously dont want there to be any concern with the thing falling through. Is this a deal breaker? Should I go with somthing like an 80 gal instead? Advice will be appreciated.
I looked under the house...Dam!
- Thread starter sslarison
- Start date
Well, you are spreading the weight over 5 ft, instead of 4 ft in the 50 gal. but the fact that you are still putting all the weight on one or two joist is the problem. You need to spread the weight over as many joists as possible, and rotate the tank 90 degree is not going to work in your case. That's why I suggest you make a square deck if you don't mind about the extra height and a step to get close to your tank...
it will depend on what grade of floor joist you have. best bet is to have a city engineer take a look. the norm is about 100lbs per sq foot. but it will depend on your type/grade of joist and the type of flooring you have plywood/osb/sub floor etc. building a small deck so you can span more joist should work, but i would ask an engineer to be safe. good luck
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How I Met Your Mother Forum
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How I Met Your Mother Forum
your tank weight should top off at about 1200 lbs when it is all said and done, then add at least two people standing next to tank which could end up being 1600 lbs on two joist.
you will need some kind of support under the joist, it may not colapse the floor unless it gets wet, but you will get serious deflection. then your tank will not be level anymore
if you don't like going under the floor have someone else do it for you.
you will need some kind of support under the joist, it may not colapse the floor unless it gets wet, but you will get serious deflection. then your tank will not be level anymore
if you don't like going under the floor have someone else do it for you.
comatose":mosk9irj said:
My thoughts exactly. Whats wrong with crawling under the house? Afraid to get dirty or something?
sslarison:
If nothing else, go to a Kragen or serious auto-parts store and pick up a few (about 3) light to mid-level duty jack-stands. These will have u-shaped slots designed to support the frame of automobiles from the underside; safe to say about as much--if not more in some cases--weight a fully loaded 100gal + people would run. :wink:
Find a peice of wood about an inch or more thick and about as wide and long as will fit between the existing joists, where you expect the tank to reside (you may want to sight this up and measure it before you do it :wink
. Then just raise the jacks up as high as they will go and put the board of wood youve made to fit amongst the joists between the u-shaped bracket and the bottom of the floor. Make sure you get some decent presure between the two, to keep the board from wiggling around when people walk on it. You may be able to find jacks without the u-bracket, in which case youll still need to find a stout peice of wood to put between the jack and the bottom of the floor to spread the pressure.
Hope that helps, but its still a gamble. The best way is to have a professional contractor go take a look at the joists and see what he can do to make it support the weight; as it is, the floor would cave, and with that much weight, probably all the way to hell, if the costs dont make hell come to you. :wink:
Good luck; may the Force be with you (hopefully not gravity). :wink:
Fatal Morgana":21sromfx said:
My thoughts too. And make sure the "joists" in the platform run 90 degrees to the joists in your floor. I also might be a good idea to place the tank say a foot or two from the wall. So the center of gravity in the center of the platform. That should help insure more floor joists are taking the load.
Or you could try putting the tank against another wall where the joists are 90 degrees to the tank.
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