How To Know If Floorboards Will Support This Weight?

[VincentAquarium]

I live in an upstairs flat so how can I make sure the floorboards will support a 6ft tank?

 

[Tuxyu3]

Get a structural engineer in to check it, he only way to be sure.

 

[Clearwaters]

^^^ye like FA says get it checked, as 6' will be some weight not worth the risk.

 

[frapadoodle]

Hate to say it, but yep.

 

[VincentAquarium]

Is this expensive? I just don't want any troubles with the weight so would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Clearwaters]

No idea on price, gonna be cheaper if you know a friend of a friend maybe as they are only really advising you not giving any permits on it. Put an add on gumtree asking for advice and a price for it.

 

[CezzaXV]

I would definitely get a professional in. Some smaller tanks we could probably guess would be okay, but 6 feet is a very big, heavy tank.

 

[Mikey1]

Is this expensive?

 
it will be cheaper than cleaning up a 100+ gallon flood and broken floor....
 
there is no way i would EVER put a tank that size on any floor except concrete....unless you beef up the floor underneath using steel/iron jack posts to carry the load down onto concrete

 

[Mervin]

1 gallon equals about 4.5kg (not sure if that's imperial or US).

 

[VincentAquarium]

This is what I'm worried about, the complete sheer size of it, it's a beast of a tank.

See it wasnt my choice to have an upstairs flat anyways and if it was downstairs I'd have no problem or a house (then I'd put it downstairs only).

I was speaking to a friend of a friend about it and was basically telling me in a nutshell that this size/weight is not advised for an upstairs flat because it might be okay for a certain period of time and then one day just go bang.

I'm worried about underneath me and incase it does go through.

I think the safer option is a 4ft by 2ft by 2ft on a cabinet spread across the joists, I think the 6ft will just be too much.

Is there anyone on this forum who has had a large aquarium kept upstairs?

It's an older house and I know the floorboards are strong never heard any creaks or anything, I really want a 6fter but I'm worried immensely about it. !

 

[tribalbrit]

a 6ft tank is no bigger than a bath.. do you have a bath up stairs?? many people do and never think twice about filling with water and then climb in themselves.. 
 
granted it would be an advantage if the joists ran at a right angle to the tank so that the weight would be spread over several joists. 6ft would equate to about 4 may be 5 joists. Also I assume that the tank will be next to the wall so the weight is on the strongest part of the joists next to the wall. It would take considerable weight to snap these joists this close to the wall.
Many older houses have their upstairs internal walls built onto timber joists and they have been standing for years.  

 

[Mikey1]

Is there anyone on this forum who has had a large aquarium kept upstairs?

 

 
i had a 100 gallon upstairs 60 x 18 x 24 inches
 
i owned the house so i had full access to the basement, and i did exactly what i said in my previous post....
 
i placed the tank against a load bearing outside wall and made sure it ran perpendicular to the floor beams (accross them) instead of parallel with them....
 
then in the basement i hammered a 2x6 inch wood beam to the bottom of the floor beams, parallel with, and directly under where the outside edge of the tank would sit upstairs.....then i used 2 steel/iron jackposts (one at each end) from the wood beam directly down to the concrete floor....this carries the weightload down to the concrete.....
 
each jackpost is located directly under the outside corners of the tank....
 
bottom line is....dont do it, if you can not support the floor properly

 

[frapadoodle]

As for the tub, not normaly full of water and person for days, weeks, months or years at a time.
Floorboards creaking is the attachment to the joist. Also you are not only considering the weight of the tank, but everything in the room that is adding to the load.

 

[Zante]

I am looking for a new flat, and I refused one EXACTLY on those grounds. Not sure it will support a 5' reef and would rather not run the risk.

 

[Mervin]

What are the actual dimensions? With those you could work out roughly how heavy it is going to be, including gravel, stand etc...