Spare room, more tank space!

[Knowdafish]

Its not a house its a trailer. The only space underneath is inside the skirting which is uninsulated and exposed to the elements, it goes down to -40c (-40f) in the winter sometimes. There's about 2 feet of room under the trailer which you need to crawl on your stomach to access.

The insulation is in between the floor joists and is held up by a huge polyethylene tarp that covers the whole underside of the trailer, 1376 square feet.


EDIT: This tarp brings up another problem. There's no way to check where the joists are located because the tarp covers it all up.

You should be able to feel around through the plastic "belly" for any joists. You can also cut a small inspection hole in the general area you want to place your tanks and look up in there. Just duct tape a patch over any holes you cut. I've been under many a "mobile home"!
Be careful about placement as well as water leaks. The floor in many, if not most, mobile homes is particle board! Better check into that insurance!!!!
The nice thing about being to get under it is that you can place more support under it if necessary. With proper support, you should be able to get as large a tank as space (and your wallet) allows!!!

 

[Wulfonce]

Well 99.9% sure the joists are running the width not the length of the house.That type of building is usually only built one way.tarps are flexible,you can poke at it till you feel solid,that would be a joist.What kind of ground is it on?if its fairly solid you could just put cinderblocks under the joists for added support.

The joists run width wise, I knew that. What I'm concerned about is the amount of distance going from one to the next. I don't know what the standard is for mobile homes. I crawled under there just now and felt along the edges of the trailer and yes I can feel the joists! I figured the insulation would be thick right up to the edges but its not. The joists in the area I was feeling are spaced 12" apart. After crawling out I realized that that area is where my bathroom is therefor the joists are probably spaced closer together there then in the rest of the trailer. So basically I'll have to go under again sometime and double check. Not now though im feeling a might lazy.

Its to bad im getting such a horrible internet connection right now. I had some pics of the room and the underside of the trailer I wanted to show.

You should be able to feel around through the plastic "belly" for any joists. You can also cut a small inspection hole in the general area you want to place your tanks and look up in there. Just duct tape a patch over any holes you cut. I've been under many a "mobile home"!
Be careful about placement as well as water leaks. The floor in many, if not most, mobile homes is particle board! Better check into that insurance!!!!
The nice thing about being to get under it is that you can place more support under it if necessary. With proper support, you should be able to get as large a tank as space (and your wallet) allows!!!

particle board! Are you kidding? *runs off to start draining the 90*

I've built trailers for the oil sands up north in Fort McMurray, Alberta and we've always used plywood. Guess there would be no way of knowing without drilling a hole.

 

[Knowdafish]

You could always do an overlay of the whole floor in the fish room with plywood if indeed the original floor is particle board. Is there carpeting in the room now? If so pull back a corner and look. Exterior wall framing and joist wise they are built to housing standards at least from the mid 70's on. Interior walls can be a joke though. I've seen particle floored mobile homes well into the 90's. No rule or law on what they have to use for flooring except for minimum weight bearing requirements. 5/8" - 7/8" particle board is very common.

 

[Wulfonce]

You could always do an overlay of the whole floor in the fish room with plywood if indeed the original floor is particle board. Is there carpeting in the room now? If so pull back a corner and look. Exterior wall framing and joist wise they are built to housing standards at least from the mid 70's on. Interior walls can be a joke though. I've seen particle floored mobile homes well into the 90's. No rule or law on what they have to use for flooring except for minimum weight bearing requirements. 5/8" - 7/8" particle board is very common.

Yeah I thought about covering the floor with plywood. I suppose that would be a last resort. There's vinyl flooring in there now.

I just laid a bubble level down on the floor in different locations throughout my home and the results were a little shocking. The trailers sagging in the middle from end to end at the rate of about 1/8th of an inch per foot up until I get to the half way point. If I did my math right that means the ends are between 4" and 5" higher then the middle?

86' long / 2 = 43' half way point
43' / 8 = 5.375"

*8 feet = 1 inch*

And to allow for a curve we can assume less then 5.375"

Weird, don't know if that's normal or not for mobile homes. Perhaps this is why my 90 started leaking?



EDIT: Woot! my internet connections running strong right now. Time for some pics.

first off here's the room in question. Please excuse the mess this pic was taken months ago.

Here's an outside pic. You can see the hole in the skirting where I crawled under to get the next pics. It may look a little redneck but its still early spring. Give me a chance to clean it up

Here's the glory shot, the underside of the trailer. It may be a little dark but you can sort of see the black tarp holding the insulation up against the floor. The drain pipe off to the right froze up during the winter as it wasn't heat taped. The people who built this trailer are idiots. Who builds a trailer in Alberta and doesn't heat tape the pipes? That was a fun project to do in the winter, freezing my arse off when it was -35C (-31F)

Another pic. Wait a minuet... Is that a cooler down at the other end?
The previous owners were rednecks with 4 hunting dogs. I'm still cleaning up alot of their mess. At least the inside of the trailer was kept nice.

 

[basslover34]

Ah... Canadian RedNecks... Just like Americian Rednecks... only Nicer... and a lot drunker (canadian beer being like Moonshine and all )

I'd be putting in a bunch of 30-50 Gallon tanks in there... Although you could go much bigger (I have relatives in a Mobile home with a 180 )

 

[Ajno]

I have a 125 right now in my 95 Fleetwood. I went under and added concrete blocks,4x4's, and those huge wood shims. I am thinking of getting the floor jacks and re doing it since I want to go 200 gal plus. You are fine with having 55 gallons unsupported in there, just shim up your stands so their level.

 

[Wulfonce]

Ah... Canadian RedNecks... Just like Americian Rednecks... only Nicer... and a lot drunker (canadian beer being like Moonshine and all )

I'd be putting in a bunch of 30-50 Gallon tanks in there... Although you could go much bigger (I have relatives in a Mobile home with a 180 )

Ha! I'm no redneck. I haven't seen a tornado in weeks!.... eh?

The back wall running the length of the trailer would be able to support pretty much any tank size. The wall running the width is questionable. But if the reinforced floor joists continue on past the bathroom I'll be laughing. The bathroom is the next room over to the right in the pic of the room.

Gotta get down and dirty to figure this one out.

 

[Bee0912]

Well lets think about this a room of that size if you do 2 stacks of 55's with your 90, 10-20's or so for the breeding and maybee a 125 after a wile when you get the desire for something new! your at 525 gallons. I would just reinforce the floor and order a 450 with a 125 sump!!!!!!!!!