A questions for any structural engineers

[howdy20012002]

Hello all
first of all - No one worry about getting sued..i don't think I would have much of a chance of sueing someone for some free advice I got from an online forum. and even if I could, I wouldn't. So no worries there.
i do appreciate your inputs.
just to clarify about the structure of the house.
the room is 12 feet across.
beneath this is a crawl space.
the 2 x 10's are actually resting on the perpendicular 2 foot retaining wall at the 6 foot mark or halfway mark, which has the 2 - 12 inch by 12 feet deep pilings.
I am not sure if this was clear.
I don't really see how, being that it is actually resting on the retaining wall in the middle of the room, that there could be any movement at all really.
or am I right out of it?
the concrete wall is 10 inch thick reinforced by lots of rebar.
let me know what u think

[new but handy]

You should be fine with the joists but I would worry about where the feet of the stand are. (ie. between the joists.)

[Norseman]

aluminium doesn't rust. come in aircraft grades and is light weight easy to weld and looks nice and takes powdercoat well. just a thought.

[Fishward]

[/quote]
I don't really see how, being that it is actually resting on the retaining wall in the middle of the room, that there could be any movement at all really.
[/quote]

I trust the retaining wall, what i dont trust is 2 2x10s at a 6 ft span holding up 3000lbs.

http://www.awc.org/calculators/span/...rcalcstyle.asp

at 100 psf (pounds per square foor) this calc says your max span is 10ft. you've got 4 times that....

[new but handy]

doesn't that chart say 100 at 11'6? so double that because of the 6' span. and consider that according to the BCBC (British Columbia Building Code) 12kPa or 250lbs/foot is the required strength for loaded bus or all truck parking over living spaces. You should be ok

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by new but handy

doesn't that chart say 100 at 11'6? so double that because of the 6' span. and consider that according to the BCBC (British Columbia Building Code) 12kPa or 250lbs/foot is the required strength for loaded bus or all truck parking over living spaces. You should be ok

You should switch the chart to only allow for deflection of L/720. rigidity is important for loaded glass boxes... that will give you a different span

"250lbs/foot is the required strength for loaded bus or all truck parking over living spaces" - my point exactly.. he's got loading of over 400lbs/ft. would you park a fully loaded bus or truck on 2 2x10s?

[howdy20012002]

but the 2 x 10 have no where to go....they are completely supported by the retaining wall below them...they would basically have to be crushed for them to go anywhere or the retaining wall would have to be pushed down.
as well the the retaining wall will be dead centre of where the tank is going to be above it. so the tank will be stradling the wall.
as for the stand ends, I woudl be running a 3 x 3 beam along the bottom of the stand along the floor. that way the weight will be dispersed along the entire length.

[new but handy]

how wide are the stands? if they are 2' then you are only supporting 250lbs/ft
with the added support you will be fine

[howdy20012002]

the stands will be 2 foot wide.
I will also be putting cross members from one truss to the other along the 2 8 foot spans(probably at 2 foot intervals) and along the sides.
that way it can't go anywhere.
unfortunately, I no longer have access to the crawl space.
but I think we did put braces anyways.
I will definitely be posting pics of it when it is up and running and probably as it gets to that point as well.
this will be one of 5 systems I am going to have in my house.

[Fishward]

Originally Posted by howdy20012002

but the 2 x 10 have no where to go....they are completely supported by the retaining wall below them...they would basically have to be crushed for them to go anywhere or the retaining wall would have to be pushed down.
as well the the retaining wall will be dead centre of where the tank is going to be above it. so the tank will be stradling the wall.
as for the stand ends, I woudl be running a 3 x 3 beam along the bottom of the stand along the floor. that way the weight will be dispersed along the entire length.

The beam at the bottom helps a bunch. I was under the impression this would be point loaded at the feet of the stand. If you can truss the bottom beam into the uprights, that will help keep the load spread out. I would also still suggest putting braces in between the joists immediately below the tanks, to prevent them from buckling sideways.. especially near the retaining wall.

would love to see some pics of the setup when its all together.. sounds like quite the operation.