Will this work to reinforce floor for 220 gallon.

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M

mach2mack

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Oct 27, 2014
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Washington
I'm looking at getting a 220 gallon tank. I don't want it falling into the basement lol. Here's a pic of where I want to put it above. The beams are 5x8 and 55" apart.
20161230_164017.jpg


Now imagine the red and blue lines in this pic are 4x4's . Think this will work for supporting a 220?
20161230_164439.jpg
 
Will the tank be perpendicular to the beams (parallel to the subfloor/floorboards I see there)?
What's at the base of the proposed 4x4 pillars? Is it your concrete slab?
 
Yes perpendicular to beams. There's also 3/4" plywood above the subfloor in the pic if that matters. Floor of basement is concrete.
 
To the left of your proposed red & blue posts it looks like there is an existing structural wall carrying the weight of the 5x8 beams. Is your tank going to be above that wall?
 
Some things to think about:

- how does your tank stand manage the weight distribution above?
- what are the base dimensions of the tank?

You may want to check out the tank stand discussion started by Rocket Engineer on the reefcentral.com DIY forum:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1567110

Lots of info about joist size and loads supported by the tank stand. Rather than spanning your basement hall with a single 4 x 4, maybe think about using 2x6's with joist hangers spaced on 16-inch centres, hang them on 2x8's which are placed parallel to, and on each side of your basement hallway --that would mean 3 joists between the existing pair of 5x8's. Hang the 2x8's on the 4x4 pillars you describe which would sit under the existing 5x8's @ each corner in the hallway. Your goal is to avoid sagging over time. How thick are the subfloor planks? Do you know how thick your basement floor slab is?....if it's a really old house the cement floor could just be a thin (1-inch or less) skim coat of cement which may be an issue with the point loads created by the 4x4's.
 
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DarylMac said:
To the left of your proposed red & blue posts it looks like there is an existing structural wall carrying the weight of the 5x8 beams. Is your tank going to be above that wall?
Click to expand...

The wall on the left in the pic just frames a room it doesn't support the beams. The wall on the right does have posts that support them. The tank will be against the wall on the right.
 
Note, I am not a structural engineer at all.
The problem I see with adding 4 x 4 posts to help support the load is that the posts do not have proper footings underneath them, just a regular slab.
Since the wall on the left is not a load bearing wall, I don't think sistering the joist is going to help either (the right side will be ok, but since the left is not a load bearing wall, the left side is basically "floating").

This might be worth paying a few hundred dollars to get an expert opinion.. that way you know it will be done right and it might even save you labor and materials..
 
I think if you boxed the floating side out with the load bearing side you would be good. Not sure if you've got a toilet in that small room though.
 
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