Need to reinforce floor?

[Sharkey18]

I am finally getting ready to get a 180g tank for the new house. For a tank that size it seems like it would be smart to reinforce the floor. Tank will be on ground floor. House has a crawl space, no basement.

 

Opinions? Suggestions?

 

Laura

[roni]

are you running against the joists or with? if you're running against and it's against the wall, you're probably fine imo...though i'm not an engineer.

[firecrackerbob]

I looked into this a while back when I had a 120. The short answer that I found was that it is not needed. that said, I put in some deck beams myself for support underneath the tank in my basement. each beam had just a hair of wiggle room to allow for some settling. there was never enough deflection to compress down on the system I had set up... your results may vary though. you might want to include some more specifics about your house- age, etc. also, if you are not current on your termite you might want to have a inspection... JMHO

[Coral Hind]

I would brace it. I thought I could go without one once but later I had to crawl under the house and jack it up to add CMU and a beam to stop the sagging.

[jason the filter freak]

I would brace it using boards 1"-2" smaller than your current supports if you have 1x8" use 1 x 6 with .5" diameter bolts. I'm not an engineer nor architectural expert, I just saw this done when a non ground floor hot tub was installed into a house.

Edited November 14, 2011 by jason the filter freak

[lowsingle]

I agree with Coral Hind, definitely brace it (I am a mechanical engineer). Why risk it? Your house is worth way more than the tank and a failure would cost a ton of cash......if this is a long term tank (which most big tanks are) I say take the time and do it right.......bracing beneath the tank shouldn't cost much at all......especially with a house that has a crawl space......

 

cheers,

Darren

[Coral Hind]

I probably have enough CMU and the wood already. Let's just plan to do it right so you have that peace of mind before setting the tank up.

[Sharkey18]

Awesome. You guys rock. I love this group.

 

Laura

[Grav]

Generally, with a well built home, a 6ft 180 perp to the floor joists and against a load bearing wall... you are fine. But NOBODY can give you a real answer in a forum. The best answer is: Pay a home inspector or certified engineer to evaluate and approve / make recomendations.

[marinebiologist]

I had a similar issue and ended up crawling under the portion of my house trenching out a good 1 foot wide by 1 foot deep area and poured a concreete footer from which i used bricks to block up and support the joists. Before I did this my tank had a little bounce in it as I walked across the room but after there is no movement at all. And this is in an old house built 1909 with full cut timber joists. It was a pain in the rear to do but better safe than sorry. Took me maybe 3 days time at 4 hours a sitting to do all the work.