Do I need to reinforce the floor?

[Gripenfelter]

I guess I should mention I have granite and marble tile flooring.

So the joists are about 12" in height.

On top of that there is plywood. On top of plywood there is a few millimetres of concrete, then a steel wire mesh, 2-3 mm more concrete, then a 12-14 mm thick granite or marble tile.

Originally Posted by Myka

I come from a carpentry background. I wouldn't do this. What is the floor like on the level below? Dirt? Concrete?

Here's the options I would use:

1. Turn the tank the other way to go across several joists.

2. Reinforce the floor with several short beams running perpendicular to the tank under the current floor joists with adjustable steel jack posts holding them up (don't forget to secure the tops and bottoms of the posts). This would be really easy to remove in the future should you move or take the tank down. However, you need a good base to set the jack posts on.

Basement is concrete. Floor is a floating concrete pad. I was told not to put a telepost there because it would shatter the concrete where it stood.

I can jump up and down all I want around my 120 tank and barely a ripple in the water. I had throught about joining the bottom of the joists together with 2x4s. Hmm.

[Myka]

Originally Posted by Gripenfelter

I guess I should mention I have granite and marble tile flooring.

So the joists are about 12" in height.

On top of that there is plywood. On top of plywood there is a few millimetres of concrete, then a steel wire mesh, 2-3 mm more concrete, then a 12-14 mm thick granite or marble tile.

Basement is concrete. Floor is a floating concrete pad. I was told not to put a telepost there because it would shatter the concrete where it stood.

I can jump up and down all I want around my 120 tank and barely a ripple in the water. I had throught about joining the bottom of the joists together with 2x4s. Hmm.

You're going to crack the tiles and/or dislodge them or the grout if you put that big tank on there without a lot of reinforcement.

Whoever told you that you will crack the concrete below was probably right (it won't "shatter" though). Do you know how thick it is? You would probably have to cut out a similar shape to your tank (except bigger each direction), and dig out the dirt below to pour a thick footing to put the jack posts on. Depends how badly you want to put the tank there I suppose!

[Gripenfelter]

Originally Posted by Myka

You're going to crack the tiles and/or dislodge them or the grout if you put that big tank on there without a lot of reinforcement.

Whoever told you that you will crack the concrete below was probably right (it won't "shatter" though). Do you know how thick it is? You would probably have to cut out a similar shape to your tank (except bigger each direction), and dig out the dirt below to pour a thick footing to put the jack posts on. Depends how badly you want to put the tank there I suppose!

My home builder told me it would crack. Sorry I said shatter. He said crack.

The concrete floor in the basement is 5" thick I believe. The house sits on 24 concrete piles with the exterior walls and centre steel post resting on the piles.

[Myka]

I'm not familiar with prairie building codes (my carpentry experience was in BC), why is your house on piles? I'm assuming you're calling it a basement because it is a living space under the tank, right? With a living space below it could be quite the eyesore to reinforce the floor. Why don't you just get your home builder to come in and suggest a way to reinforce the floor?

Personally, I would just figure out a different way to position the tank.

[Gripenfelter]

Originally Posted by Myka

I'm not familiar with prairie building codes (my carpentry experience was in BC), why is your house on piles? I'm assuming you're calling it a basement because it is a living space under the tank, right? With a living space below it could be quite the eyesore to reinforce the floor. Why don't you just get your home builder to come in and suggest a way to reinforce the floor?

Personally, I would just figure out a different way to position the tank.

Home builder suggested slipping in another floor joist and connecting the bottoms of the joists together with 8 foot 2x4s or one steel beam.

Just curious if anyone else had any better ideas.

Wish I had my blue prints handy. Reinforcing the joists will not be an eye sore because it will be behind a suspended ceiling.

Gonna put the sump in the basement.

[Myka]

Is the ceiling dropped in the basement or open floor joists or?

You could probably do it with a steel beam, but I would be inclined to use 2 or 3 smaller ones than one big one just to get a lower profile on the underside of the floor. You would have to use good hangers to mount the beam underneath and span at least the 2 joists under the tank and then at least another 2 on either side so the beam(s) would meet with 6 joists.

[Gripenfelter]

It's an office type tile ceiling. Very easy to expose the joists.

I'll look into more joists thanks.

[mike31154]

I've been gathering the pieces and planning for a set up somewhat similar to what you have in mind with basement sump. Decided to build a bit of a fish room more or less under the area the display will sit. It's about 6' x 5' and in addition to housing sump, fuge, etc etc, it should take care of any support issues that may arise. The floor joist span in that area is 9' & goes from outside wall to another support at the central chimney. Each side of that the span is longer, 11' to a wall that separates the basement roughly in half down the center. Joist support where they meet the chimney blocks looks a little iffy, appears there's just a cross member attached to the longer joists each side of the chimney. This is another reason I feel better about having the extra support the fish room framing will provide. Here's a pic, not great but should give an idea.




The plan is for a custom tank in the 5' range & it will be positioned above the far wall framing in the photo. This is a 5' span & top framing is directly under the joist, so should be well supported. Left side of photo you can just see the last 2x4 of the 6' wall. Anyhow, it appears you're still in the planning phase & with basement sump I thought I'd throw the idea out there for a fish room, two birds with one stone. Either way, I'd recommend some additional support.