Can the upstairs of my house hold 2500lbs?

F

FishSuperStore

www.FishSuperStore.org
Feb 25, 2009
75
0
0
Big Lake, MN
Hi I have about 2500lbs worth of water weight in my fish room and my upstairs is not a concrete floor, Its all wood flooring and Im just wondering if my fish room can support all that weight?

The house is about 12 years old.

I was looking at my local pet store and all there tank are just held on a rack made with 2X4 so I would think that my house could support that much weight no problem.
 
Its all a matter of common sense. If the house was built to county code requirements then 2500 pounds worth of people about 18 people could spend all day jumping, dancing and wrestling upstairs without bringing the house down, or even twice that many, then a calm quiet 2500 pound aquarium should have no problem. However! If you have nice pretty wood floors, you may want to invest in some wight distribution pads for the legs like 2x2 inch plywood coasters. Otherwise depending upon the feet size it may leave dents or marks on the floor that you have to sand out later.
 
^^^ and this is the truth about house construction? I doubt it.

FWIW, I would do everything I could to minimize any "point loads"...orienting large tanks so they span several joists, preferably over a load bearing wall below.
 
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The weight just need to be evenly distributed across the joist
 
there should be blueprints of your house at your local municipal building. those should give you a good idea of what it can handle and where. a load bearing wall is a great idea. wood with constant pressure tends to bow. water makes it bow more. getting wet and dry often makes it age and dry faster making it more brittle. in this case it could go either way. things could work out great or go horribly wrong.

do your homework. not only are the thickness and width of your floor joists very important but length and overlap as well as grade, cupping, warping, leaning and supports to prevent such a thing must be taken into consideration. floor joists can lean and collapse sideways causing a major conundrum... i have seen it.

in any case... and in most newer houses i'd say it should be fine. especially if you don't commonly entertain lots of guests in that space. in your case with your house i don't know honestly. i don't think you've got any bad advice so far. i just think it's best to know for sure.
 
IF IN DOUBT BEST YOU LEAVE IT OUT..........I WOULD GET SOME PROFESSIONAL ADVICE BEFORE GOING FORWARD..GOOD LUCK....
 
I have a question for ya:

Would you put a water bed in that room?
 
this is true, a lot of people own waterbeds and they're big and heavy and at times hold an additional person or two, lol
 
jus get a water bed and put some fish in it lol
 
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