tank upstairs, brick wall

[njackson]

hi

i find out that were i want to put a fish tank upstairs there a brick wall under the floor ,so my qestion would it be better for the brick wall in the middle of the tank (to have the brick wall in middle of the tank ,the tank will have to be 4ft wide) and my other qestion how much weight do you think a brick wall can handle and do you think it will be safe for any tank size. thanks

 

[fish_master2000]

yeah i think a 55 could sit there

 

[Toby_H]

As for how much weight a brick wall can hold... if placed correctly, many thousands of pounds...

If the floor below the tank is built correctly... and does not allow any bowing... it really shouldn't matter where under the tank the wall is situated...

If you question the structural integrity of this situation please give a more thorough description and describe what you are concerened about. But from what I understand based on your first post you have a very safe situation...

Naturally since you are the one who is there and can see it... don't blindly trust my encouragement...

 

[njackson]

thanks , i will draw pic of it
i was thinking what do you think the biggest tank i can have upstairs and will it be safe and would it be better if the wall is in the middle of the tank.

yellow is the joist and the wall is red.

 

[njackson]

i was thinking about getting a 5x3x2ft tank do you think it will hold the weight, then i found out that there is a brick wall running under my floors so do you think i could go bigger like 6x4x2ft ,7x4x2ft ,8ftx4ftx2ft tank what do you think guys and the wall is 8ft to 9ft tall under the floors .

 

[Toby_H]

How old is the building? What condition is the brick wall in? What condition are the floors in?

You are asking a general forum fairly specific questions when A) We cannot see the structure we are evaluating & B) very few if any are structural engineers...

If you read through the existing threads regarding keeping tanks upstairs the general consenus is up to 150 gal is usually safe assuming the building is properly built and in good condition... beyond that a more detailed analysis is suggested...

If the floor is well built and in good condition.... and if the brick wall below does truly support the weight from above... then there is a very solid chance you could safely keep a very large tank above it... but I'm not willing to randly say yes you can only to read 2 months later about something bad happening...

 

[njackson]

How old is the building? What condition is the brick wall in? What condition are the floors in?

You are asking a general forum fairly specific questions when A) We cannot see the structure we are evaluating & B) very few if any are structural engineers...

If you read through the existing threads regarding keeping tanks upstairs the general consenus is up to 150 gal is usually safe assuming the building is properly built and in good condition... beyond that a more detailed analysis is suggested...

If the floor is well built and in good condition.... and if the brick wall below does truly support the weight from above... then there is a very solid chance you could safely keep a very large tank above it... but I'm not willing to randly say yes you can only to read 2 months later about something bad happening...

all i know is that the house is more than 22 years old, the floor and brick are in good condiction, here a other pic , thanks

 

[jschall]

The only surefire way to tell if you can put a tank upstairs while maintaining a reasonable safety factor is to have a structural engineer look at the situation.
No one here can give you a yes-or-no answer based on the information we've been given.

 

[cichlid_starter]

The only surefire way to tell if you can put a tank upstairs while maintaining a reasonable safety factor is to have a structural engineer look at the situation.
No one here can give you a yes-or-no answer based on the information we've been given.

 

[Toby_H]

The only surefire way to tell if you can put a tank upstairs while maintaining a reasonable safety factor is to have a structural engineer look at the situation.

Has anyone actually tried to do this?

I work for an engineering firm and we do construction materials testing. Meansing we make sure things are built according to code. We also have a department that does design work...

So I would think if you wanted to do this, we would be the kind of company you want to call...

I also know there is no way in h#ll my company would accept a job such as this. At most we could charge a couple of hundred dollars to send out an engineer to look at a situation, make a few assumptions about quality of work/materials that he cannot see within the walls/floors. Make assuptions about the foundation. Make assumptions about any degredation or lack there of the structure may have experienced... and then give you a piece of paper than makes the firm responsible if anything fails...

I just don't see a company putting their insurance policy on the line for a few hundred dollars when there is no chance of it bringing in a MUCH bigger contract.

If you have a friend who is an engineer, by all means call him over... but I just don't see a firm accepting such a 'job'.