Any Engineers out there?

[spiff]

I threw this idea around before, but now I have someone who might seriously be willing to do it. (I'm a positive influence!)

The idea is to turn an entire basement into an aquarium. Move all the appliances out to the garage or upstairs, plug the floor drain and seal the whole thing. Then where the steps go down into the middle of the basement will be a small glass viewing area for a 360 degree panorama of the tank.

His basement has 12in thick poured concrete walls and the whole thing is one piece except for the floor. The whole of the basement ceiling would be permanently sealed for moisture control.

Would having 5-6ft of water pushing out on all four foundation walls compromise the home?

Are there any complications to plugging a floor drain?



Any other complications we're overlooking?


We're going to ask a local engineer, but thought we would see what responses would be here too.

 

[Noto]

I am not an engineer. Your project intrigues and worries me. I think it would be much easier to do with a new basement that can be appropriately reinforced as it is built, rather than trying to retrofit it.

If you do go forward with the project, I suggest that instead of plugging the floor drain, you should just put a valve on it to facilitate draining for water changes or maintenance.

How would you filter this thing?

 

[MadRussian79]

Depends on the construction and the surrounding area. It can be done but a structural engineer will have to look at the plans and evaluate the individual house's construction, age, and structural integrity.

 

[Glasman]

Nah....just do it and let us see pics of how it goes

 

[spiff]

Its a 22 year old house. The basement walls have been back filled outside to around the 6ft mark from inside, all the way around the home. It has no existing drainage problems; so no sump pump or drain fields around the footers. The walls are perfect, only one crack running from the corner of a basement window.

The house is at the top of a hill, so no likely future drainage problems. Everything slopes downhill from his house.

We're trying to contact the manufacture to get specs on footer size, amount of rebar used and stuff like that.

The basement is 1300sqft.


We haven't even looked at filtering and other stuff yet until this gets past the idea phase. Except his expected budget, which should way exceed what is required to make this work.

 

[MadRussian79]

Except his expected budget, which should way exceed what is required to make this work.

If they have the cash for it why not just build a pool and slap an insulated shack over it. This way you can be absolutely sure the concrete will hold. That crack could be cosmetic or it could be very fine but going through the whole foundation.

 

[BIG-G]

Im no expert but i would think even with sealing. The house would soon be overcome wuth mold and rot from the moisture that would rise up through out the house. I could be wrong???

 

[bob965]

I'm not an engineer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, and I say get the hose and start filling.

 

[spiff]

If they have the cash for it why not just build a pool and slap an insulated shack over it. This way you can be absolutely sure the concrete will hold. That crack could be cosmetic or it could be very fine but going through the whole foundation.

Because the budget difference isn't even close on these. And he already has a pool and never uses it. The point is he wants a giant aquarium, not a glorified pond.

His basement is already there and I'm pretty sure that 12in thick walls would be fine. It would be about 10k to move his power to the 1st floor, the HVAC to the attic and his other utilities to the garage. What's left is the cost of sealing his basement and a few other things versus building a whole different structure.

 

[vnzlnboardguy]

Then you can go swiming in your basement. Good luck, it would be cool to see this happen.