Making an existing stand taller? Stand for a stand?

[PK3]

This might be a crazy question, but has anyone seen or heard of anyone building a stand (kind of like a riser box or something) for an existing stand? Let's say you have a 30" stand, but want to make it taller (say, 40" or so), could you just build another 10" box, sit the 30" stand on top of it, and skin the whole thing so it would look like a single stand? Is this highly unadvisable? Why or why not? Thanks.

[mling]

I am going to make my stand higher by adding cinder blocks to the existing stand.

Putting the cinder block at the bottom and framing the base of the tank with 2x4s.

[AlanM]

This might be a crazy question, but has anyone seen or heard of anyone building a stand (kind of like a riser box or something) for an existing stand? Let's say you have a 30" stand, but want to make it taller (say, 40" or so), could you just build another 10" box, sit the 30" stand on top of it, and skin the whole thing so it would look like a single stand? Is this highly unadvisable? Why or why not? Thanks.

 

Seems like it would work fine if you built a box that transferred the load bearing points of the existing stand down to the floor. So wherever the current stand is touching the floor you'd have to have wood under there that also went to the floor.

[wade]

Or even go slightly larger than the existing stand. A box on a box.

 

Now, if you wanted the inside to be larger as well, that could be tough. I bet it can be done (houses are built that way), but will certainly take more work.

[Origami]

This might be a crazy question, but has anyone seen or heard of anyone building a stand (kind of like a riser box or something) for an existing stand? Let's say you have a 30" stand, but want to make it taller (say, 40" or so), could you just build another 10" box, sit the 30" stand on top of it, and skin the whole thing so it would look like a single stand? Is this highly unadvisable? Why or why not? Thanks.

Yes. Ryan S. did just that with his cube. You can see it in this post.

[howaboutme]

This might be a crazy question, but has anyone seen or heard of anyone building a stand (kind of like a riser box or something) for an existing stand? Let's say you have a 30" stand, but want to make it taller (say, 40" or so), could you just build another 10" box, sit the 30" stand on top of it, and skin the whole thing so it would look like a single stand? Is this highly unadvisable? Why or why not? Thanks.

 

This would work. You have the gravity load taken care of. Use good plywood to tie the existing stand framing to the new stand framing to cover your lateral movement. (Think plywood over 2x's on a house wall frame or plywood subfloor on joists/beams.) Then you can use hardwood for finish or just paint the plywood. You'll be fine.

 

I am going to make my stand higher by adding cinder blocks to the existing stand.

Putting the cinder block at the bottom and framing the base of the tank with 2x4s.

 

This would work, probably easier but I would tie the old stand to the cinderblocks w/ anchor bolts or something. Your stand will probaby be okay if you don't because of weight but I'd consider it. The next earthquake may hit and you would be cursing yourself.

 

Or even go slightly larger than the existing stand. A box on a box.

 

Now, if you wanted the inside to be larger as well, that could be tough. I bet it can be done (houses are built that way), but will certainly take more work.

 

You can do this, just make sure your corners are hoovering over a horizontal that is then transferred to the floor. This is a bit more complicated.

[PK3]

Thanks for all the suggestions and ideas! I'm going to have to think this through, plan it out right, and decide whether to do this at all. Why are tank stands usually made so short? It seems like they're made for midgets or something.

[wade]

Mine is 36" (instead of 30) - my last one was 40, which I actually prefer - it lets you look into the tank head on and not stare at the top of it where the lights are the brightest.