reinforcing a floor?

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Fire Eel
MFK Member
Jun 1, 2007
2,084
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behind my iMac.... Southampton UK.
hey guys i live in a crappy built british house. i want to upgrade the tank in my 1st floor bedroom but i want either a 180 or 210 and dont think the floor would take it, short side would sit in the corner of two outside walls and long side would run along a outside wall but still wouldn't trust it as it is.... what is everyones opinions? is there anyway to reinforce the floor to take the load?
 
collumns and a plank in the basement
 
You need to get under the floor and see what support the floor has. This will also give you a good idea of how hard it will be to reinforce the floor.
 
What is the distance (span) between the two outside walls?

Sistering floor joists is a good way to reinforce a floor. But you lose headroom in the floor below or basement. If it is a crawl space then head room won't be an issue.

Another thing with sistering is that any electrical and mechanicals need to be moved.

Posts and beams is another option, less intensive as well. Lumberyards here in the US will size the beam for you, I don't know if they do that on your side of the pond. All you need is to pour concrete footings for your post bearing points.
 
Are the joists perpendicular (or parallel) to the length of the tank?

If they are perpendicular, the weight will be distributed across 6' (or 4-5 joists), so you're probably fine with just sistering, assuming your joists span is reasonable. If they are parallel, you're probably going to need a beam to help support the 2000lbs.

Mine were parallel (to where I wanted the tank), so here's what I did to not have to worry about it:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98489

Ed
 
I think in america they call the ground floor the first floor and the first floor the second! Are you in barret home? I'm in an ex-council house...I'll let you know if the floorboards hold up as I'm just putting in a new large tank...also in the 1 floor bedroom!...lol.

Edtriou...thats a good point about the direction of the beams....never thought about that! I,m gonna go check now!!!!
 
I built some beams and supported them with floor jacks for my 300.

You just have to use your imagination and make sure your bracing goes perpendicular to your current joists. I also added a couple of sisters so that each joist took an even load.

mkh987.jpg
 
Bud8Fan;1325943; said:
I built some beams and supported them with floor jacks for my 300.

You just have to use your imagination and make sure your bracing goes perpendicular to your current joists. I also added a couple of sisters so that each joist took an even load.

mkh987.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats ALOT of bracing for a tank.... thats EMPTY! :ROFL:
 
No kidding! :)

I got my pond liner in two days ago. I just may actually get started on the filter room this Sunday. maybe.
 
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