Reinforce Floorboards?

[James9114]

basically i want a 330 litre 5 foot tank in my room upstairs, will i need to do anything to the floorboards or will it be ok? any advice appreciated as im worrying about this problem

Thanks James

 

[DrRob]

It's not really so much the floorboards that you need to worry about (although that can be an issue) as they tend to just get compressed as the tank spreads it's weight fairly well. If you imagine yourself standing on one leg the floor doesn't really suffer at all and the weight per section of floor board would probably be less than this.

The joists however are a different matter. You're looking at something that weighs about 400kg once it's full of water, decor and other bits and pieces and, depending on the shape and orientation of the tank you may be on limited numbers of joists.

So, overall, it depends on what is under the floorboards. How much do you know about the set up in your house?

 

[festo]

basically i want a 330 litre 5 foot tank in my room upstairs, will i need to do anything to the floorboards or will it be ok? any advice appreciated as im worrying about this problem

Thanks James

Should be ok if tank is running across floor joists,
lift a board and check it out.

 

[Mowbz]

As above, you need to know which way they run, and how many you are going to spread first.

Get lifting the boards, the width your tank will cover, or pull up enough to find two joists, and mark thir placing on the carpet above.

Normally its not too much on an issue, but thats a hefty size tank to put upstairs.

 

[James9114]

so if the joints are running the opposite way its ok? more advice would be great as this is the only thing stopping me getting it

 

[StandbySetting]

Current UK building regs state that a floor must be capable of taking 1.5KN per square metre, 330L of water has a mass of 330Kg, add the tank, substrate and stand and you're up to 430-450Kg which if we use 450Kg is 4414.5N, which means the tank must span an area of 2.943 square meters in order to comply, now obviously depending on how old your house is you'll either have floor panels or floor boards, panels are better, they're generally 1.2*2.4 metres so spread the mass better over a larger number of joists. No body on this forum can tell you for sure, if in doubt pay for a structural engineer, much cheaper than a new ceiling.

 

[James9114]

Wow! clever stuff your are a ledgend for knowing that, i work at a fish shop so il ask their advice also on this and have a good look at the boards. thanks guys much appreciated

 

[Mowbz]

No body on this forum can tell you for sure, if in doubt pay for a structural engineer, much cheaper than a new ceiling.

Tis true, its a tricky one. No two occurances of are going to be the same..

 

[James9114]

yeh i agree, won't getting someone to look at it cost a bomb?

 

[StandbySetting]

Ring around, but the cost of getting it checked properly will be a fraction of the cost of a ceiling repair.

 

[CezzaXV]

Agreed. I'd happily pay out some cash so I could sleep safe in the knowledge my house isn't going to collapse!

 

[James9114]

Right im going for the 260 litre instead because of the weight issue if the joists are running the opposite way will this be ok? i know no one can give me a solid answer but if anyone keeps this size aquarium upstairs please comment

also its between bedroom walls if this makes any difference