Fishroom Planning

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nterry

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Dec 10, 2005
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Hi everyone,

I'm setting up a fishroom in the basement of the new house! So I have a few questions. The fishroom is about 15x14. But there is a furnace, wateheater and water softern in one part of the room. The rest of the room is basement--two walls are exterior walls, one wall is to next to the stairs into the room and the other wall is to the rest of the basement. The furnace, etc are agains that wall and one exterior wall. I haven't been in it yet--my wife chose it, so hopefully the online pictures are acurate?Here are my general thoughts:

1. The top half of the exterior walls are covered with a large white tarp--I am guessing there is fiberglass insulation underneath? I think I should remove this. Good idea? If I'm careful...
2. Paint the exterior walls with drylock or something similar.
3. Insulate the exterior walls with foam board, R19-R30 (the house in Dayton, Ohio, so I'll probably lean towards more insulation if the cost isn't insane.
4. How important would it be to put drywall up after I put up the foam board. I'd rather not to save time and money, but it would be nice to hang posters on the wall I'm mentally reserving for storage/maintenance. But I figure I should cover the foam board. Ideas? I figure I'll need to put a vapor barrier (just a sheet of plastic?) up before I put up dry wall. Correct?
5. I plan to install a linear air pump and filter the tanks that way. So I'll install the pump and connect to a ring of large PVC Pipe attached to the ceiling.
6. I plan to keep the tanks covered, but to manage humidity I plan on getting an Heat Recovery Ventilator and getting the room hooked up to get negative pressure in the room.
7. Once the airpipe is hooked up and the HRV is ready, I then plan to cover the ceiling with insulation foam.
8. I'm thinking having a door to the room would be good (right now the room connects to another storage area on the other side of the stairs. So if I drywall one part of the room, I might need to drywall the rest just for symmetry.
9. As for the number of tanks, I'm still working on that. Probably that depends on how much time and money it takes to set the room up. Knowing me, I'll have a beautifully room stocked with a single goldfish living in a plastic cup!:y220d: Seriously, I have a rack plan (20-25 tanks, mostly 10s and 20s), but I will probably need to redo it once the room is actually setup.

Any other thoughts or ideas would be appreciated...

Nate
 

dudley

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Feb 9, 2005
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Congratulations on the new house purchase with room in the basement for a fish room!!!

#1 - I would hold off on removing the white plastic barrier until you find out more info about it. Is this basement fully below grade or is it a walk out?

#2 - I used Drylok on the below grade portion of my block exterior walls.

#3 - I used the 1" thick pink foam board the full height of my exterior block walls, attached with adhesive.

#4 - We installed 2 x 4's, flat side against the walls to provide structure for drywall. The 2 x 4's had slots routed behind them to allow electrical wiring to pass through for the shallow outlets boxes. This worked great. We left a gap at the top of the wall that connects to the rafter bays of the first floor to allow air circulation behind the walls.

#6 - I'm not sure if the HRV is necessary, definitely do more research on this. Are there any windows in this section of the basement?

#7 - We used a zero clearance drop ceiling system to finish off the fish room ceiling. This allows for removing the ceiling panels for access to the rafter bays above. We've had to remove the occasional panel for access.

What are you planning on doing with the floor? We chose a thicker vinyl flooring for comfort with bare feet in the winter and easy water spill cleanup.

Take your time setting up the room and when you get a chance, post some pics of the space you are planning on using; this will help get more accurate suggestions.
 

nterry

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Dec 10, 2005
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#1--this is fully below grade basement

Floor--hadn't thought about that--would rustoleum or something similar work OK?

How did you keep the 2x4s and drywall from getting wet or ruined from water spills on the floor?


 

dudley

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You could possibly paint the floor with an appropriate epoxy paint or similar finish but the floor will need to be properly prepped first. You also need to determine if there is any moisture coming up through the flooring before applying any coating to prevent deterioration issues in the long run.

When we installed the drywall, we kept it at least 3/8" off the floor to reduce the chance of water wicking up it. We installed the vinyl flooring, added baseboard (stained and sealed with polyurethane) and then caulked the seam between the baseboard and vinyl. Hopefully this will reduce the chance of water getting through to cause any damage. I have not yet experienced any major water leakage. I'm using racks for my tanks so there is space underneath the bottom tier to allow easy access for mopping up any spills.

Nice looking basement! It looks clean and dry and actually fairly new. I'm assuming that is a sump pump in the bottom picture, correct? Do you know where the water is discharged to outside?

You might want to take your pics down because they show the address of the property. Put more up when you have a chance to take your own pics.
 

nterry

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The white plastic stuff is fiberglass insulation. Should I keep it behind the drywall or replace it?
 

dudley

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I would remove that existing insulation, use insulating foam board on the exterior wall(s), put up the studs for the walls and then drywall. Others may elect to do it differently but that would be my choice.
 

Pinkey

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Nov 16, 2004
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Hello Nate,

I was thinking about your fishroom wall situation at work recently. Commercial kitchens have waterproof walls covered with plastic sheeting. I found the same stuff at Home Depot (but I'm sure you could find it elsewhere, too). http://www.homedepot.com/p/Unbrande...0-FRP-Wall-Board-MFTF12IXA480009600/100389836

Using this would make a waterproof barrier that would allow you to keep the insulation in your room which would help with heat regulation and that is always good. Doing this would also allow you to skip a lot of the other treatments you mention which could save loads of time and possibly money.

The air filter system sounds very practical.

It looks like you have a sump well built into your floor in case of any huge disasters. Any treatment on your floor will make the concrete easier to clean. Garage floor stuff would work great for that and you could do the whole thing for less than $100 using products designed for any end user to succeed with.

I had a fish room many years ago. I live in Colorado which is fairly dry. I never had major issues with humidity. I had 1 125g, 2 90g, 3 55g, and about 15 10g all with lids. I also used a central air pump for all the little tanks and the 55's. I used UGF's for all of them and they performed consistently well. If I were planning the room again now, I would seal the floors, put up the walls, install the tanks and see if the house got humid before investing in installing additional doorways and ventilation systems. The room I had was in a small basement living room without a door so the air always circulated without much work which sounds similar to what you may have.

Do you have a convenient drain on that level? Would it be practical for you to plumb faucets in your fish room? A close drain below water level will make your life so much easier. Filling from the same room will also make your life easier. I don't know if you already have a ton of tanks so I may be stating the obvious BUT keep in mind that whatever time it takes you to clean one tank must be multiplied by 20. These time savers will make all the difference in the world to you after you have had your room for a while and the newness has worn off.

Keep your thoughts and photos coming.

Good luck,
Nate
 

FreshyFresh

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Jan 11, 2013
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nterry, nice looking basement. Brand-new too! So jealous. I'm in our 3rd home and newest one, having been built in 1973. LOL! Did they wrap the exterior of your poured basement walls with a moisture barrier? Hope so. That's the latest and greatest. I'd be inclined NOT to paint your walls or floor for a year or two, just to verify you have no water problems down there. Better to know the exact spots IMO.

Unless you want to do some crazy expensive, serious overkill (Mike Holmes) Holmes on Homes, I think most would stud out the basement walls will conventional 2"x4" wall construction, with full vapor barrier having been applied first. Not sure if they leave that new construction insulation blanket on the top half or not. With that insulation in place, you should stay reasonably warm down there in the winter. The rest of the wall/floor is way below grade and should stay ~60F or so.
 
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