nyfireman3097
Senior Member
- Location
- Staten Island New York
How do you know if your floor can handle the weight of your tank ?
Weight question
- Thread starter nyfireman3097
- Start date
depending on your floor your on you can look from under the basement and basicly thats what runs through your house SI has newer housing so guessing your joist are from 1977 and on id say 75 gallon no problem i live in brooklyn and my house is from 1903 and i have 80 gallons in total in my room
also a way to help is if your joist go like this I I I I I up and down lets say Make the tank go across them it spreads the weight out
also a way to help is if your joist go like this I I I I I up and down lets say Make the tank go across them it spreads the weight out
DontXtripNfall
Advanced Reefer
- Location
- Midtown - East
You find out by getting a call from the person living on the floor under you describing how nice ur corals are while they ask for a blank check.... LOL sorry for the sarcasm i'm sure you really wana know because its a good question.
nyfireman3097
Senior Member
- Location
- Staten Island New York
My house was built in 1960 but totally refinished in 2006 But not the floor beams. Heres the info I do know.
The exterior of the house from corner to corner is 14'
The beams under my house are 8"x3" and 16" on center
The tank weight w/ everything including extra weight JIC 3000lbs
The tank is 4'x3'x2' and issitting 10' in from the front of the house.
It sould be sitting on @ least 2 beams if not 3
Anything else that you might need to know LMK and i will tell
The exterior of the house from corner to corner is 14'
The beams under my house are 8"x3" and 16" on center
The tank weight w/ everything including extra weight JIC 3000lbs
The tank is 4'x3'x2' and issitting 10' in from the front of the house.
It sould be sitting on @ least 2 beams if not 3
Anything else that you might need to know LMK and i will tell
- Location
- Ossining, NY
Nick,
If you're that worried, make sure it's on a load bearing wall and perpendicular to the way the floor joists run. I have seen some people put a 3/4 sheet of finished ply painted or stained 6" larger than their stand all the way around to spread the load - so to speak.
OR you can do like me and put it on the concrete slab portion of your house
House
If you're that worried, make sure it's on a load bearing wall and perpendicular to the way the floor joists run. I have seen some people put a 3/4 sheet of finished ply painted or stained 6" larger than their stand all the way around to spread the load - so to speak.
OR you can do like me and put it on the concrete slab portion of your house
House
Okay what you want to do is call a local if not just a contractor and he will get you a guy to not get new beams but to put beams in between your current ones... this will also increase the rate of distribution across the floor
300 pounds is alot of wieght and a home from almost any pre 90's age is going to need added or new beams like i need new you need more
so you have 3 I.....I.....I you need
I..I..I..I..I
so you hae
300 pounds is alot of wieght and a home from almost any pre 90's age is going to need added or new beams like i need new you need more
so you have 3 I.....I.....I you need
I..I..I..I..I
so you hae
- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
should be fine. Just check for silly things like beam rot and stuff if you can. The basement under the tank? and do you have wood floors? And what type of stand? metal or wood?
nyfireman3097
Senior Member
- Location
- Staten Island New York
No it is a crawlspace uner the tank. very small crawlspace at that lol. I do have wood floors It will be on a steel stand
I'm not an engineer but I did read an article on this written by an engineer. I think it was on thekrib.net but dont remember for sure. Interestingly enough older houses are usually structurally stronger since back then they used better wood. Over the last few decades cheaper and softer wood has been used so your premise is wrong. As for how to tell how much weight it can actually hold, no clue. Try asking it.
- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
Actually, i would rather have old beams as long as the home was/is not in a moist environment. All the wood used in building homes is wet. The townhouse floor beams from pre 1930 ive worked in have had better structural stability than ive seen in new floor beams.
Plz don't spam post and tell him to go to contractors and get more work done. Most floors can handle upwards 3000lbs on a 4x2 surface as long as there isn't any rot/destruction to the beams.
nyfire, just try to distribute the weight if there are legs on the metal stand, but the wood floor should be ok in doing that. It will dig into it. like house said, some poeple put a board bigger than the stand under it to help.
I spaming..would you rather your floor colapse because it sant hold the weight or would you rather a professional tell you it can handle it.... it is good he is using a metal stand and it can be a moist enviroment because he is right near the small basement crawl space......houses also vary come to my house youll see there is no way 3000 pounds is going to hold and putting the tankalong the walll is better off then dead center in the middle of the floor
- Location
- NY
Nick, the biggest issue I see here is that you're situating the tank 10' from the bearing wall. All exterior walls are considered bearing walls. What might happen is some bounce because of that weight. The bounce can lead to some instability.
I believe you're putting more weight there than I would feel comfortable with. You said you've got a crawl space beneath the location of the tank. What I would do is run a double 2 x 10 or even a double 2 x 8 (as a girder) perpendicular to the floor beams where the tank is to be built. Underneath the girder, put one post on each end and sit the post on the concrete slab. Use a 4 x 4 as the post.
This very easy fix will let you sleep well.
BTW, the dimensional lumber used today, 2 x 4 for instance is only 1.5" x 3.5". The lumber from about the 50's and earlier is actually 2" x 4". So I'd much rather have the 'older' lumber if it is not compromised in any way (termites, water, rot, etc).
swimmer
I believe you're putting more weight there than I would feel comfortable with. You said you've got a crawl space beneath the location of the tank. What I would do is run a double 2 x 10 or even a double 2 x 8 (as a girder) perpendicular to the floor beams where the tank is to be built. Underneath the girder, put one post on each end and sit the post on the concrete slab. Use a 4 x 4 as the post.
This very easy fix will let you sleep well.
BTW, the dimensional lumber used today, 2 x 4 for instance is only 1.5" x 3.5". The lumber from about the 50's and earlier is actually 2" x 4". So I'd much rather have the 'older' lumber if it is not compromised in any way (termites, water, rot, etc).
swimmer
If you have an older home I would check under the floor first. I recently remodelled my bathroom and was amazed to find that over the years previous remodellers had cut beams to run new plumbing and wireing...some beams were cut strait thru and were just hanging there
nyfireman3097
Senior Member
- Location
- Staten Island New York
Russ lol its 10' from the front wall but its u against the side wal which is a exterior wall. My house like I stated is only 14' wide on the exterior so trust me everywall is a exeterior wall lol. The new tank incase you havent read my build is 4'x3'x2' which my existing tank is 4'x2'x2'. The new tank is going exactly where my 120 is now. The 120 is 10" from the wall because of plumbing. So the new tank has a exterior overflow on theleft side so that I can put the new tank up against the wall and not take up any more space then my 120 does. Also my 120 has a wood stand where as my new tank will be constucted w/ 1"x1" box steel tubing if that makes a diffrence
- Location
- Greenpoint Brooklyn, NY
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