Worried: big tank above garage..need ideas

[toxic111]

Originally Posted by Dale

I have a 140 G. on the second floor positioned over the cantilever outset for a china cabinet in the dining room. It hasn't shifted in the three years or so that it's been there. Placing the tank against the wall with the joists running perpendicular to it like this:

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is the strongest position it can be in and I have seen many large tanks on second floors that way without additional support.

Toxic, your 40lb/15lb per sq ft idea just clouds the issue. It doesn't relate to placing a load in one area of the room. What it relates to is the total weight the room (floor) can bear.
For ex. A 10' x 10' room can hold 15lb's/sq. ft. DW min. 10x10x15=1500. The room can hold 1500lb's DW.
The formula can't be used to work out how much a specific part of the room can hold.

This is just the Building Code design criteria, shorter spans may hold more load. Remember dead load of 15lbs/ft2 is based on the weight of material only, not anything else.

I stand by my comment that 2500lbs over 12ft2 is serious overloading a floor based on the building code. Better be safe than sorry.

Again with out looking at the floor I can't say what it can hold exactly, and that is the reason for an engineer. It has been awhile since I have done the calculations.

Oh, and jsut beacuse your floor has not moved in 3 years that you can see does not mean there are no problems. I have seen enough over my 20+ years of experience in design & construction to say be careful.