Anyone know how much weight a floor can support roughly

Dave1993

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i don't understand 50 pound by square foot stuff so wondering if a floor can support 90 stone of weight running parallel with joists in a 4foot by 2 foot radius

my house was built pre WW2
 
All I can tell you from personal experience working on houses that old, is that if id my much more faith in that house to hold weight over modern ones but that depends his well everything's held up and been maintained.

I also don't know code where you live but

90 stone of weight running parallel with joists in a 4foot by 2 foot radius

Doesn't make any sense to me as a statement. 90lbs or kg on the first story I'd yes but radius is used for circles right?
 
I'm struggling to visualise the layout from your description but the only person who can/will tell you with any guarantees will be a structural engineer.
 
All I can tell you from personal experience working on houses that old, is that if id my much more faith in that house to hold weight over modern ones but that depends his well everything's held up and been maintained.

I also don't know code where you live but

90 stone of weight running parallel with joists in a 4foot by 2 foot radius

Doesn't make any sense to me as a statement. 90lbs or kg on the first story I'd yes but radius is used for circles right?
forget the radius remark 90 stone = like 1275 lbs
 
I'm struggling to visualise the layout from your description but the only person who can/will tell you with any guarantees will be a structural engineer.
how lol its a rectangle do you know a 4x2 reef tank thats what i mean
 
aquarium.png
 
I hate this is the topic today. It’s a bad omen. I know it.

90 stone is 1200lbs so a 120g aquarium I’m guessing.

An engineer would need to know:

Joist size. Joist material. Joist spacing. Load above (second floor, roof, etc). Footprint of tank.

Older homes tend to use better wood than newer homes. They often had the benefit of being overbuilt (or if your builder was bad 100 years ago underbuilt) vs today where it’s down to a science in a lot of cases and builders do the minimum (take it or leave it).

Most people have no issue running up to a 120 gallon (and arguably 200g) aquarium with existing structure on a 1-2m by .75m footprint.

If you have concerns and a concrete basement or crawl space. Throw a couple boards and steel jacks under where it’s going. Cost you about $150USD.
 
I hate this is the topic today. It’s a bad omen. I know it.

90 stone is 1200lbs so a 120g aquarium I’m guessing.

An engineer would need to know:

Joist size. Joist material. Joist spacing. Load above (second floor, roof, etc). Footprint of tank.

Older homes tend to use better wood than newer homes. They often had the benefit of being overbuilt (or if your builder was bad 100 years ago underbuilt) vs today where it’s down to a science in a lot of cases and builders do the minimum (take it or leave it).

Most people have no issue running up to a 120 gallon (and arguably 200g) aquarium with existing structure on a 1-2m by .75m footprint.

If you have concerns and a concrete basement or crawl space. Throw a couple boards and steel jacks under where it’s going. Cost you about $150USD.
i'm in the UK can't get under my floor basements are not really over here
 
The best place to put that (any) tank would be with the long side perpendicular to the floor beams and against a load bearing wall. That way the weight is spread over as many joists as possible and being near to a load bearing wall creates more of a shear load on the joists which they can handle better.
I don't know where you want to put the tank and what the layout of your house is so will not say if it will work (nor am I qualified to say so even if I did know).

My biggest worry with this would be flexibility. The joists and structure may well handle the load but it may flex and cause an uneven load within the tank. It's very difficult to ascertain how much a tank may sag when loaded and near impossible to adjust the legs when it's full. A sort of chicken and egg situation if you will.

If you can support the joists from underneath, even if it's under the floorboards then there shouldn't be a problem. Can you lift the boards and put something underneath or do you have laminate or similar?
 
For info, this is my 4' x 2', Red Sea 425 XL. The red line is where the concrete floor of my extension starts. I decided against positioning it on the wood due to this exact problem. If I needed to I would have supported the beams underneath but this would obviously be destructive to the flooring. It does get the sun in its current position but doesn't seem to suffer for it.
I am in the UK too.
20230513_175727.jpg
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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