Basement Setup ? Wood Foundation

[Sleepy Pete]

Basement Setup – Wood Foundation

I’m in the final stages of finishing off the basement, turning it into a combination family room / entertainment area. Reminiscing the salt water tank we had back in the early 80’s the Mrs.’s has successfully encouraged me to start up a marine aquarium along one wall. Back then I had a 55 gallon setup with anemone and clown fish. Then along came the kids. Long story short, they are off to college allowing me the opportunity to claim back the basement.

My question concerns the structural integrity of a wood foundation. My plans are to place my new tank in the basement along an outside wall. There is a “Great Room” upstairs, with no structural integration with the rest of the house.

The foundation of our house is wood. However, I’m not familiar with the building techniques used in this construction. Can I assume since the aquarium will be placed at ground level that I can structurally support a 120+ gallon setup?

Note: there is no access under the house as it presumably sits directly on the ground. The floor consists of ½ inch treated plywood, cover with 5/8 inch sub-floor, covered with ¾ inch hardwood floor. This should disperse the wait. ?

Thoughts or suggestions are appreciated. Note: I performed a search on this site but nothing came up relevant to the wood foundation.

Thanks!

 

[5xevy]

Welcome to AC Sleepy Pete! Glad to see you're returning to the hobby.

I'm sorry I can't help with your question but I suggest asking the same thing in the freshwater sections as they're more frequented than these marine boards are.

Good luck!

 

[Sleepy Pete]

Thanks - Will Do.

 

[rsw686]

Note: there is no access under the house as it presumably sits directly on the ground. The floor consists of ½ inch treated plywood, cover with 5/8 inch sub-floor, covered with ¾ inch hardwood floor. This should disperse the wait. ?

Are you sure theres not a poured foundation under this? Since you have hardwood the sub floor could just be there to nail the hardwood floor into. Otherwise I would think you would have to have access to under the house.

 

[Sleepy Pete]

Actually, I installed both the sub-floor and hardwood floor. There is a location in my shop that I could pull up the plywood and look underneath. I may wait till I'm home alone..