Would My Floor Hold A 55g?

[Exodus]

I'm thinking of putting a good size tank in my bedroom, which is on the 2nd floor of our house. Its an old (50-60yrs) house which is constructed as a balloon frame.

I'm thinking about putting a 55g in there. The floor joists are 2x6's @ 16" on center. The flooring in here (there's no subfloor, just boards on top) is 2" thick and 8" wide, pine most likely. Under the tank I'd be putting a 1/2" sheet of ply.

This all seems to me like it would hold, but since its a balloon frame I'm not really sure. My dad says its fine with him that I put a large tank upstairs providing that I'm sure the floor wont collapse.

Can anyone provide some insight?

Thanks!

 

[Tolak]

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

It's surprising that they would use 2x6 joists in an area designed for living, though 2" floor boards probably compensate for that. Most older houses are built more sturdily than newer ones, my 50 year old house has 2x10 joists, which is pretty standard for a house of that age.

If you place the tank on an outside support wall, with the tank perpendicular to the joists as opposed to parallel you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Exodus]

http/badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article28.html

It's surprising that they would use 2x6 joists in an area designed for living, though 2" floor boards probably compensate for that. Most older houses are built more sturdily than newer ones, my 50 year old house has 2x10 joists, which is pretty standard for a house of that age.

If you place the tank on an outside support wall, with the tank perpendicular to the joists as opposed to parallel you shouldn't have a problem.

There's a partition wall on both sides of the room that I would be putting the aquarium in (excluding parallel positions), and the closest place I could put it would be about 4' from the outside wall.

The floor boards run the entire length of the room (planked as a deck would be, rather than laid down like a hardwood floor - one board runs all the way from one wall to the other), and they also (duh) run perpendicular to the floor joists.

Since the boards are so long and thick, I'd think with a piece of 1/2" ply under the tank that i'd be fine..

But again, I've been wrong before

 

[vancouver]

Get a bunch of ppl to stand on the spot u wanna put the tank... 600 lbs worth of people.

 

[Teelie]

Won't work. It may hold fine like that, even for a few months but eventually the strain would crack the floor if it wasn't properly able to hold the weight.