Another 2nd floor aquarium weight question to add to the pile (I brought pictures at least lol)

[Supertoast]

First off nice to meet you guys and thank you in advance for reading! Second: I take all advice as just that and understand that its my responsibility if I don't do diligent research and cause damage. (HOUSE WAS BUILT IN 2000) This is an age old question but I have a picture of my specific situation so I felt posting would be ok. So I want to put a heavy aquarium (75 Gallon) on the 2nd floor, specifically in my bonus room over the garage and I'm unsure about adding up to 1,000lbs of aquarium weight so below are some pictures and crude MSpaint drawings of where I want to put the tank lol. Thanks for pitching in!!

In this first pic, The wall with window that you see is the same exterior wall that I assume is load bearing. I point out this same wall in the next image with green text.

https://imgur.com/V4GaO8R

This second image is looking up at the floor above. This is directly beneath the 20gal aquarium in the first picture. The wall has double and triple 2x4's under the support beam that run all the way to the concrete garage floor.

https://imgur.com/ufC4rwW

View of lower wall without text in the way

https://imgur.com/e7w50F7

Thank you for any input!! Obviously any opinions will be taken with a grain of salt as every house and situation is different.

 

[kwi]

Firstly was that "bonus room" built as a live room or as storage? That quad beam seems to be the center line beam, are there any more support beams before the exterior walls, how far do the 2by4s run unsupported and what are the measurements betwen their centres? You can look up the codes you need to see if that really is a live load bearing floor, but beams at about 8' with 18" joist centres is required here. (Every 6' if 2' centres)
I can go into my attic and store stuff but I cannot use it as a live room without doing some major works, and my walls are brick.
Mind you I am not familiar with US codes so hopefully someone who is could help better.

If in doubt ask a contractor. And tell them what a filled 75g tank weighs.

And .

 

[Supertoast]

Firstly was that "bonus room" built as a live room or as storage? That quad beam seems to be the center line beam, are there any more support beams before the exterior walls, how far do the 2by4s run unsupported and what are the measurements betwen their centres? You can look up the codes you need to see if that really is a live load bearing floor, but beams at about 8' with 18" joist centres is required here. (Every 6' if 2' centres)
I can go into my attic and store stuff but I cannot use it as a live room without doing some major works, and my walls are brick.
Mind you I am not familiar with US codes so hopefully someone who is could help better.

If in doubt ask a contractor. And tell them what a filled 75g tank weighs.

And .

Thank you much!!! It was built as a live room I do know that. The couple that built the house had the room built as a entertainment room/home theater. There is one more joist tucked in there resting directly over that exterior wall. The quad beam runs the full length of the room at 20 feet (about 6 meters) and rests at both ends on load bearing walls. Also the gaps between the joists are at 18''. the joists all rest on the center quad beam and are all once piece from end to end.

Edit: As far as the unsupported 2 x 4's? im not sure im seeing that but the boards naild to the outside of the center beam are actually little 2 x 2's with power lines mounted above them. So the center beam is two 2 x 4's

 

[kwi]

How far from the centre beam to the walls?
And are you sure it was built, or did they decide to put a room up there?
In the UK such works need a certificate from building control.

A house locally has been rendered unsellable due to the diy attic conversion........

 

[Supertoast]

How far from the centre beam to the walls?
And are you sure it was built, or did they decide to put a room up there?

A house locally has been rendered unsellable due to the diy attic conversion........

Correction. The two boards that make up the center beam appear to be two 2 x 9'' beams (not totally exact on those measurements as I held a measuring stick up to the ceiling lol). They are not 2 x 4s.

The distance from the center beam to each wall is 9 and 1/2 feet.

edit: also yes they had the house built in 2000 the way they wanted it. She had custom paint and sculpting work done on the walls

 

[Supertoast]

Im considering playing it safe and starting with a 40 breeder or maybe a 55 until I move lol. I've read that up to a 55 you shouldn't have to worry about being on an upper floor.

 

[kwi]

Sure them 2by4 aren't 2by6? That would make me happier.

Again just to say I am not familiar with US codes, some of your wiring stuff makes me shudder, if you have doubts ask a contractor to pass their eye over it.

 

[Supertoast]

Sure them 2by4 aren't 2by6? That would make me happier.

Again just to say I am not familiar with US codes, some of your wiring stuff makes me shudder, if you have doubts ask a contractor to pass their eye over it.

Yea im probly gonna grab a little 40 gallon breeder tank for now lol. Id still like to know what my options are though of course. I attached a picture. so the white lines are 2'' x 10''s and the blue lines are indeed 2x4s.

 

[kwi]

And the timbers on top of the 2by10? Those are what I would like to see as 2by6 over that span.

 

[madmark285]

To increase the strength of the joist, you can cut 3/4" plywood into strips and glue them to the exist joist. This is an easy project and very effective.

You can also nail/screw 2x6s between the joist, this will help to distribute the load to more joists and the wall.

Personally I believe you will be fine without any modification. You are putting a tank centered on a load bearing beam which is perfect! The beam is 3 2x10's supported 3 2x4s, who ever built your house knew what they were doing! The weight difference between a 75 gallon and 40 gallon tank is 300 lbs which is not a major difference. I would go with the 75 gallon tank.

They don't build houses like the old days and thank god for that. New houses are far superior compared to the majority of old houses.

 

[madmark285]

A house locally has been rendered unsellable due to the diy attic conversion........

Glad I don't live in the UK, I have completely remodel my house with no permits/certifications. Using contractors with full permits is great until to see the total cost.

 

[ClownLurch]

A home owner or descendants may one day need to sell a house. Most probably to someone borrowing money to buy it. The lender will want assurance that the house isn’t going to fall apart or burn down due to dodgy wiring or crappy gas fittings and is structurally sound so that if THEY have to reposess it THEY can sell it.
A surveyor and building control certificates provides that assurance. Without em a sellers only hope is for a stupid cash only buyer which will itself attract money laundering guestions.
With no cash buyer around the price of the property will fall and fall and fall until it reaches a point where applying for certificates and getting work done makes the house purchase feasible.
Plus the general public have some assurance that a random house isn’t gonna collapse on them and their infant children as they pass in the street.
Ive been in the sawdust manufacturing lark for 44yrs now. I’ve helped put right dozens of jobs where people have tried to circumvent or weren’t aware of building regs. Keep em coming I say though I don’t get involved with that sort of work now. Of course we charged more than if asked to do the job first time around. Idiot tax it was called.
Ill stick with the U.K. building regs if that’s alright as I don’t want our nieces and nephews having hassle selling this place when they’re shovelling us into a care home.

 

[kwi]

I thought the US also had a building code, which was based on physics and material properties and enhanced by reports and recommendations from investigations into structural failures like ours in the UK.
When corners are cut to safe money you start to see things like what happened at Grenfell a few years ago.
Just because you can walk on it today doesn't mean it won't catastrophically fail next week........

 

[madmark285]

Ill stick with the U.K. building regs if that’s alright as I don’t want our nieces and nephews having hassle selling this place when they’re shovelling us into a care home.

I fully understand, I was the idiot who bought an old house built before they had proper building codes in my mid-20's, the building inspector we hired was useless.

What can you do if the cost of the house plus remodeling far exceeds the value of the house? What option do low income families have on fixing up their houses? After a plumber tried to rip me off, I learn how to do it myself and corrected the majority of issues. In the end, my work was on par with professionals.

I sleep well at night knowing the house is in far better shape than when I bought it.

 

[madmark285]

I thought the US also had a building code...

When corners are cut to safe money

We have building permits. The issue I had, my house was built before they had proper building codes.

By DIY, I saved alot of money so I didn't have to cut corners.