floor suppport questions

[Devaji]

SO I am kinda dreaming here...

thinking a a large FOWLR system either the WB 220.6 or a 300ish 96x30x25 ( both have there prs and cons )

my question is here is about floor support. I know I know you are not a structural engineer ( unless you are then even better )

so the only place i could put the tank would be in the middle of the house not close to the foundation over a crawl space.
then the joist are running the wrong way tank would only be on 1-2 joints boo I know. what could be done?
the next kicker is it only acceded from the stars going to the basement on that side of the house. I have a small window size door to access it. so getting in large I beams prob would not happen with out cutting them into smaller pieces.

so all that said think its possible to support the floor?

I was thinking 4x4 post in cement footers with some sort of beam either I beam, 4x6 or laminated beam prob. the latter.

but totally open to suggestions.
trying to take over the living room and make it my man cave and have 2 large tanks

 

[Devaji]

Here is the space in questions.begs for another tank up against that wall doesn't it?




here is a pic to get in to the crawl space. be hard to get long I beam down there.

 

[Devaji]

anyone? thoughts

 

[Tumey]

I was gonna comment earlier today while I was at work just after you posted. I think your plan for concrete footings and laminated beams would work just fine. I have a ranch with a full basement (unfinished but concrete floor) I upgraded from a 150g that was in the basement to a 235g peninsula I put on my main level. I used extendable supports available at the home improvements to sit under my tank on two of the joists. Close to 4 years now and I’ve not noticed any settling or sagging. It’s my opinion your plan will distribute and spread the load better than what I’ve done.

 

[jhuntstl]

I'm no engineer... a carpenter, but based on what I see in the field an engineer would probably suggest something like this for this specific load bearing application.

You might be able to get away with just a midspan beam. What @Tumey mentioned is viable as well. You could likely just land extendable supports on a concrete basement floor with no piers. Is this a 50+ year tank? Because that's what engineers plan for.

 

[Jekyl]

Add additional boards the same size as the current joists on both sides of the current ones that would be supports. Then create a solid foundation underneath and install some Jack's under the new and improved supports for additional strength. Make sure the new boards installed are longer than the tank. Longer the better. Glue and screw and install the jacks.

 

[vetteguy53081]

6X6' posts on top of the jacks provides excellent strength. I did this with my 660g

 

[Jedi1199]

Kind of makes me glad my house is a single story built on a slab... I could fill the entire house with water and aside from not being able to live in it, never have an issue with structural stability.. lol

 

[Devaji]

thanks guys its good to know it's even possible. before I pitch the idea to the other half.
i'll over engineer it for sure.

it's an odd house for sure . one half was built in the 30's and has a unfinished basement the other half was an add on in the 70's that has a crawl space. we pretty much did a full reno on the place ,took 1.5 years. so I need to get this right.

I thought about the FOWLR in the basement but I decided the tank would get neglected or I would have to spend a ton of $$ to finish it out. dont really have the time or $$ + we dont need the space really.
also getting a tank down there would be a real pain only way I thought it would be possible it to add it when we cut the foundation for E gress windows. but again we are talking about lots of $$ in a resort town things are 2-5X price as other areas.

so I came up with the idea of the media room as my man cave. I think it's brilliant!

 

[flagg37]

Just a thought for you; yes, you do have a door to the crawl space but I wouldn’t limit yourself to just using that for access. If you need to get something down there and need to cut a hole in the drywall to get it there then so be it. Drywall is easily patched. You can do this.

 

[Devaji]

Just a thought for you; yes, you do have a door to the crawl space but I wouldn’t limit yourself to just using that for access. If you need to get something down there and need to cut a hole in the drywall to get it there then so be it. Drywall is easily patched. You can do this.

good Idea dont know why I did not think about that too.
loving your get her done attitude here!