Floor Strength?

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AC Members
Aug 12, 2009
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VA, USA
According to this site, http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html , and that my home is 20 years old, my floor should be the real 2x10, so I could put my 120-125g tank in my living room against my outer roof bearing wall with it being a problem? I'm not saying the site is making it a 'yes', but that it might be able to work, yes/maybe? That it would be slightly safer than other homes that are newer/smaller framing/etc?
 
It'd probably be safe to go ahead and get a floor support, 125 gallons is ALOT of weight. You can get them for around $40, alot cheaper than repairing a floor.
 
As long as it does not sit parallel with the floor joists,you should be fine.

If your basement is finished a floor jack probably won't work,but you can reinforce the joists if you are worried about it.
 
Hm, I remember moving crud under the house in the crawlspace and the beams went perpendicular to that wall. So that's good. My 55g is in the spot I'd want the 120g at. \
Ah Jacks. Those would go under the 2x10s, right? 2 in the middle of the last two side beams the tank sits on or 4 in each corner on the beams the tanks at?
 
What my dad and I did was take 4x4s had them vertical right under the tank in are crawl space the tank is perpendicular to the floor joists even tho its a new addition on the house it's always good to have more support.
 
If you have 2x10 that's good. Now one important factor is how long these run (span). if it's a big floor you can't hold as much. figure 125g * 8.25 Lb/gal = 1000+ Lb. just water. My living room for example is 14' wide. If the joists run perpendicular to the tank width direction you will catch at least 4 of them on a 72" tank and (16" spacing). Personally I would have no fears setting up a 125 in that room. If you are concerned or experience some flex you don't want when people walk by the tank then i would consider blocking up the area under that floor with jacks, 4x4, or similar or you could try cross-bracing the joists. one option is to get 2 jacks, nail together and set up a 2x8 header perpendicular to the joists long enough to span at least one joist beyond the ones bearing the tank and crank it in place. that should do it.
 
I'd double check what you actually have. While it was more common to have 2x10s back then, it's still possible the contractor actually used a different size. You just never know.
 
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