Wife is concerned about the floor.

[pdiehm]

Problem with that room is the foyer window gets sun, mostly during winter months and shines on the wall where tank would be for about 70-90 minutes because it's so low in the sky during winter.

 

[redfishbluefish]

Went to another room and tank would still be running parallel but these joists have cross braces. Only one though..extends about 4-5 joists from wall.

It's been too many years and I don't have the code book here, but if my pea-brain remembers, you need bridging (blocking) every 8 feet. Again, I'd suggest adding every four feet in the joists below this room....again, this will "stiffen" up that floor. Could be angled wood (like you show above), solid block wood or even metal ones now available.

 

[eeyore357]

I appologize for the mini-hijack, but feel compelled to comment.


I like the blocking (bridging). You wouldn't believe how this assists in transferring load and reducing deflection. I would have preferred it being in line to get the biggest bang for the buck.

Now as far as using 4x4's....one of the worst choices using it for horizontal support. You would have been better off screwing and glueing two 2x4's together. Granted it's between 16 inch centers, but I'm still willing to bet that if you hold up a steel straight edge, you'll see a nice little bend. Also, I'd suggest redoing this and grabbing at least three joists. The reason is that by only using two, the jack post could act like a fulcrum and have one joist "dip" while the other goes up, causing for a catastrophic failure. Hope that makes sense.

I appreciate it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

 

[pdiehm]

It's been too many years and I don't have the code book here, but if my pea-brain remembers, you need bridging (blocking) every 8 feet. Again, I'd suggest adding every four feet in the joists below this room....again, this will "stiffen" up that floor. Could be angled wood (like you show above), solid block wood or even metal ones now available.

That's our living room. The family room does not have them cross supports. This room is where the tank was originally going to go, until I saw that wall getting about 90 minutes of sunlight during winter months because of the sun shining through foyer window.

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

I was reading through and felt that I should just toss this out there. Years ago I had a 300 Gallon Tank set up. THis was before the day of acrylic being widespread through out the industry. THe tank was double paned 1 1/4 inch glass. It was a monster weighing in at 500+ empty. Once I had a real carpenter, not my redneck self, build me a stand that could take the weight. I started filling it. I had 150+ lbs of rock a 2 inch sand bed that contained over 75 lbs of sand. Right there you are at 725 lbs with out water. Salt water weighs roughly 8.6 lbs per gallon After the rock and sand took up volume I reckoned I had 200 Gallons of water in the tank and another 75 in the sump. So 275 Gallons x 8.6 you get 2,365 lbs + 725 = 3,090 lbs. Or 1.5 tons not counting live stock and other things.

I said all of that to say this. I put that tank on my lowest level on a concrete pad. IT was set up there for 4 years until my Army deployment changed and I was sent over seas. Before I left I broke the tank down, and decided to lightly remodel my house to rent it out. When I pulled the carpet back the solid concrete had spider cracker under the stand fo badly that I could literally pull pieces of it free.

Moral of the story is, do not discount how much your tank will weigh. Over time, the wood will lose some of its structural integrity do to natural process around it. Heating, cooling, moisture etc.

Also, if the one room with too much light is the best option, is the curtains that completely block sun not a viable solution, or blinds?

 

[pdiehm]

thanks for the story.

The room that has the cross braces...mine you it's only one set per joist about 5 joists out from the wall, would have to see if there are others in various sections of that joist. Anyhow, that room that gets "too much light" is from a 2nd story foyer window that the sun passes as it moves. It gets maybe 90-120 minutes of indirect sunlight on that wall. Only happens during the winter months, as the sun is lower in the sky. During the summer months, the sun hits that window, but the rays actually go the opposite direction.

My estimation is, Tank, Stand, Rocks, Sand, Sump, equipment will weigh about 1500 lbs total. It's just luck though. I couldn't get lucky to have the joists going perpendicular, in which case, it's no problem, none...zero, and i'm in the process of getting ready to fill it up.

 

[Jmcdaniel0]

Honestly, With out doing the Math, I have a BS in physics btw, I would think that it will be fine. Can you get inbetween the sub floor enough to put and extra cross brace or two?

 

[pdiehm]

No. Not enough room

 

[s2nhle]

thank you for sharing the information.