If you will be barefoot a lot, vinyl flooring would be more comfortable but be sure to get one that is textured rather than smooth because it would be slipperier when wet.
What about doing an epoxied floor? Can be pricey but awful pretty.
Fishroom input
- Thread starter ahud
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What about doing an epoxied floor? Can be pricey but awful pretty.
Expoxy would be pretty sweet. I do walk around barefoot a lot. I'll jot this down on the list as well. Vinyl would be cheaper and not too bad to install.
I've laid some of the waterproof vinyl interlocking floors in other areas...including on the bottom of some DIY plywood tanks, after sealing with epoxy, because it acts a tough cushion to protect the bottom from dropped stones or scrapes from sharp objects. I have resisted using it on the concrete floor of my basement fish room only because I am concerned that water seeping underneath...which will happen...might be trapped for long enough to foster the growth of mold.
The tiles snap together, are easy to install, last forever, look great...but they are only made of waterproof material; they don't create waterproof seals when they interlock. Even if you lay a solid sheet of some similar material, I can't help but think that water would find its way underneath and stay there.
An epoxy floor would IMHO be far superior. The ones I've looked at are not significantly more costly than the high-quality vinyl tiles. More prep work, but overall probably less install time...and really, it's a one-time task either way. Who cares if one or the other is a bit more or less work, or costs a bit more or less? It's amortized over many years so these differences become almost insignificant.
The tiles snap together, are easy to install, last forever, look great...but they are only made of waterproof material; they don't create waterproof seals when they interlock. Even if you lay a solid sheet of some similar material, I can't help but think that water would find its way underneath and stay there.
An epoxy floor would IMHO be far superior. The ones I've looked at are not significantly more costly than the high-quality vinyl tiles. More prep work, but overall probably less install time...and really, it's a one-time task either way. Who cares if one or the other is a bit more or less work, or costs a bit more or less? It's amortized over many years so these differences become almost insignificant.
Thanks for the input.
Mold is not something I want to deal with. I'm not completely against leaving the floor plain cement.
A couple of questions:
1) As far as floor drains. How do I go about placing those? If I put in a floor drain, the standard is to slope the floor towards the drain. Will that not cause a lot of issues for leveling stands? Especially if there are multiple drains? My original plan was to run a drain out the side of the building
2) Does anybody have experience using the steel racks for larger tanks like 125g? I was looking at the stands at Home Depot, some of them look beefy. Seems like that would be more versatile than wood stands since I could change the height and levels. And if I went with 24" deep the rack could accomodate a range of sizes.
Mold is not something I want to deal with. I'm not completely against leaving the floor plain cement.
A couple of questions:
1) As far as floor drains. How do I go about placing those? If I put in a floor drain, the standard is to slope the floor towards the drain. Will that not cause a lot of issues for leveling stands? Especially if there are multiple drains? My original plan was to run a drain out the side of the building
2) Does anybody have experience using the steel racks for larger tanks like 125g? I was looking at the stands at Home Depot, some of them look beefy. Seems like that would be more versatile than wood stands since I could change the height and levels. And if I went with 24" deep the rack could accomodate a range of sizes.
Where will your drains be running to?
You mentioned being in the country so are you on a septic system? I would avoid running tank drain water into a septic system, especially if it's a large volume. You did mention wanting a mud sink which has the potential for other 'stuff' to go down the drain, not sure how your local authority would regulate that.
As to your 1st question, is that just the floor drain in the fish room or will there be more in the building? Leveling the stands shouldn't be a problem (use shims) unless your contractor does something weird with the floor slope.
You mentioned being in the country so are you on a septic system? I would avoid running tank drain water into a septic system, especially if it's a large volume. You did mention wanting a mud sink which has the potential for other 'stuff' to go down the drain, not sure how your local authority would regulate that.
As to your 1st question, is that just the floor drain in the fish room or will there be more in the building? Leveling the stands shouldn't be a problem (use shims) unless your contractor does something weird with the floor slope.
The drains will go out to a greywater only leach field. I think that is the term. There will not be any waste going into the drain. The mud sink will only be used for washing hands/cleaning dirty stuff. (No sewage or chemicals) I am fairly sure this is common in my area. I know of a couple of houses that run their greywater out to a drainage area instead of it running into the septic system.
As far as the rest of the building, originally, I was completely talked out of the floor drains. They clog, and catch anything with wheels. But now, I don't see how it would make sense to just have a couple of drains in one little spot of the building for the fishroom. I heard they smell, but if I am not connecting to a sewer system, that probably will not be an issue either.
If I decide to forgo floor drains completely, my only option would be to have all the tanks high enough that they would drain properly out of a drain plumbed into the wall. I can't wrap my head around how big of a deal this would be. I have seen where some people drain into a container and use a sump pump to empty said container, which sounds like a pain.
As far as the rest of the building, originally, I was completely talked out of the floor drains. They clog, and catch anything with wheels. But now, I don't see how it would make sense to just have a couple of drains in one little spot of the building for the fishroom. I heard they smell, but if I am not connecting to a sewer system, that probably will not be an issue either.
If I decide to forgo floor drains completely, my only option would be to have all the tanks high enough that they would drain properly out of a drain plumbed into the wall. I can't wrap my head around how big of a deal this would be. I have seen where some people drain into a container and use a sump pump to empty said container, which sounds like a pain.
The drains can be used to waste or to a central sump so location will vary depending.
Pipes can either be free draining with a slight slope or charged (U shaped and full of water) depending.
You can put floor drains under your racks for most applications. In middle to avoid rack legs.
Pipes can either be free draining with a slight slope or charged (U shaped and full of water) depending.
You can put floor drains under your racks for most applications. In middle to avoid rack legs.
