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Old 06-04-2012, 10:17 PM
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StirCrazy StirCrazy is offline
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Jason, you need to get a building permit to do this, and the city of victoria will be able tto help you with the requirments. Ie. how many piles and ect.

you could do it with out one, but..... if you have one niebour who calls you have to tear it down.. if you go to sell the house you have to disclose you built it with out a permit, or if they find out they can sue, ect... since you are putting a big tank in there your going to want insurance coverage, no permit no coverage.....

I did a simular adition (not for a fish tank) but to close in a deck on a friends home with him. Because it is attached to the house and will be closed in all the regulations change from the min code from a deck to the house ones.

we had to sister bigger joists to each one under the deck, we had to cut the concreat under the deck and dig out for footings (which had to be inspected before we could pour the new cement. and so on and so on.

my recomendation to you would be to go to the city and inquire what would be required to turn a 2nd story deck into house living space. do a basic drawing of it or take the pictures you posted here and a sketch of the size and information like what the joists are size wise and how long, how far apart and what kind of exhisting supports you now have. you don't need to tell them it is for a big fish tank, just add more footings and beef up the floor suports later.

we did all ours with a home owners permit, but we had a footing inspection, and a structure/electrical inspection. I found they were most concerned with the way we were going to tie into the house, the support and the electrical. the inspector asked us how we were going to insulate and saw everything sitting around so he decided he didn't need to come back and see that and the Vapor barrier ect befor we drywalled when he was at the electrical inspection. I assume you going to have plumbing so theres another permit and thoughts.

I have books here with lumber types and what weight you can handle with size and span, so if you PM me some numbers I can let you know minimum amount of suports and size of the new joists and beams you'll need

Steve
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