a miracle delivery... need advice

[Haffs09]

Geez...I didn't pay attention that you're planning on using I-beams. What I suggest would work well with regular 2 x **. See what your contractor has to say. X-braces may not be necessary if you go the I-beam path?

No build thread yet...need to gather some pics together and start one!

 

[Capt_Cully]

Special attention is one thing, but drinking my beer is an entirely different story! I hope they bought those beers for you Lang.

Hangin in there for some photo updates...this is one serious build, I'm jealous of all your new stuff...

 

[solRNY]

Geez...I didn't pay attention that you're planning on using I-beams. What I suggest would work well with regular 2 x **. See what your contractor has to say. X-braces may not be necessary if you go the I-beam path?

No build thread yet...need to gather some pics together and start one!

will ask the contractor what he thinks... so you going to keep this 3/4" glass box a mistery till then

Special attention is one thing, but drinking my beer is an entirely different story! I hope they bought those beers for you Lang.

Hangin in there for some photo updates...this is one serious build, I'm jealous of all your new stuff...

hi mark, when i saw your tank for the first time i was in awe, incredibly amazed on how successful you are at this hobby, so much SPS, should be one of those TOTM! i will have to visit you again for lots of frags!

we acquired a lot of equipment to try and make up for the lack of knowing how to do it succesfully with very mininium

as far as i know this can be the worst, and expensive disaster documented on RC! i can imagine, humidity running out of control, water droplets on all the walls, a glass box full of RTN SPS frags, and the unforgiving hairaglae take over!

heinkens are the best... think i'll goto the fridge now... :beer:

 

[Haffs09]

No, it won't be a mystery. Just finished uploading album #1...that only took 4 hours! Working on album #2! Build is coming soon!

 

[Willistein]

Great build! I was checking out your flooring plans, are you really trying to keep the room below free of any walls or support columns? Other options (which I'm sure you've already thought of):
1. add a 6x6 steel i-beam running perpendicular and under the joists and support it on the ends only.
2. add a center support column to the above

I think it may even be cheaper to buy one steel beam than several I-joists, and if you don't add a column, you're still going to have a bit of a trampoline with your floor spans being 16'.

 

[solRNY]

Great build! I was checking out your flooring plans, are you really trying to keep the room below free of any walls or support columns? Other options (which I'm sure you've already thought of):
1. add a 6x6 steel i-beam running perpendicular and under the joists and support it on the ends only.
2. add a center support column to the above

I think it may even be cheaper to buy one steel beam than several I-joists, and if you don't add a column, you're still going to have a bit of a trampoline with your floor spans being 16'.

thanks for you advice, i might end up adding a beam running perpendicular but not sure yet, this mean i have to drop the ceiling... the feeling of being claustrophobic comes on

what is the trampoline? is it deflection? sounds like bounce... that when i walk on it that i can see my waterline go up and down?



i sure hope this all works out... so i order these from "84 lumber", 4x 16Lx12Hx2W lvl last week, and they are heavy!

it wasnt too difficult getting one lvl up and laying on the support ends,
failed horribly hammer them to go veritical :hammer:
even used a hydralic jack to push it vertical but at some point i wasnt liking this idea...

so after a few days we came up with this:

1. because the lvl corners are squared it want to cut deep into the support, pretty much wedging itself stuck
2.so we decided to round off the corners, use a spacer to center it, and then use tape on the top and bottom of the support area so there is less resistance...

 

[solRNY]

i love this router, its been extreamly handy

yesterday we installed the first lvl before it went completely vertical i manage to put some "liquid nail" along the run... i will do this alot sooner on the next three...
to be honest this technique made installing the first one very easy... the spacer was a tad short so it was not completely centered, but will fix that on the next three

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

How are the beams attached to the subfloor above them? Just the construction adhesive?

What's supporting the new beams at each end?

Back on the last page you said there's no blocking. I'd add some if I were you. Just for the sake of your regular floors, much less this one with the fish tank on them. It'll prevent the beams from twisting/buckling sideways under load, AND it'll reduce the springyness of the floor by locking them all together.

You mentioned you had your contractor look at it - if you want a second set of eyes, two of my brothers are in the home remodeling/construction business, I'm sure they'd be happy to stop by.

 

[solRNY]

How are the beams attached to the subfloor above them? Just the construction adhesive?

What's supporting the new beams at each end?

Back on the last page you said there's no blocking. I'd add some if I were you. Just for the sake of your regular floors, much less this one with the fish tank on them. It'll prevent the beams from twisting/buckling sideways under load, AND it'll reduce the springyness of the floor by locking them all together.

You mentioned you had your contractor look at it - if you want a second set of eyes, two of my brothers are in the home remodeling/construction business, I'm sure they'd be happy to stop by.

the beams are attached to the subfloor with only construction adhesive, should i put some screws thru them along the run?

yup there are no blocking at the moment between any joist, when we get all 4 beams up we will add blocking for the issues you mentioned, will also add some along the run as well, thanks!

i called the contractor off becuase he was too busy, becuaes he does mansonary he is most busy when its warm out, said "i can work on it on a rainy day", and this rainy day has to line up with a day i am off, ect, ect... thought he understood my urgency... he does a pretty awesome job with stones though

a second set of eyes would be very helpful but i dont want to trouble any more people, thanks for your advice

 

[alphaferret]

whewwww! Lookin' good!! Alot of what we talked about makes more sense now!

A sick t5 set up and man you are in the future w/ that baby-

And that skimmer-you could clean Onondaga lake w/ that thing! Looks like something that should be on the spaceshuttle! BLASTOFF!!!

Keep up the great work!


Dean

 

[Hungriee]

wow i thought your previous tank was nice, THIS BUILD IS outrageously nicer.

tagging along with this build.

 

[superkat]

i'm liking what i'm seeing...however...i'd be cautious about the beam just being held in with adhesive. i definitely think that once it's complete...you should have no issues. LOVE forward planning...nice job!

 

[solRNY]

whewwww! Lookin' good!! Alot of what we talked about makes more sense now!
A sick t5 set up and man you are in the future w/ that baby-
And that skimmer-you could clean Onondaga lake w/ that thing! Looks like something that should be on the spaceshuttle! BLASTOFF!!!
Keep up the great work!
Dean

thanks for the compilments dean! i am really shooting for t5s, but after seeing brandons tank with halides, my mind like a yo-yo

wow i thought your previous tank was nice, THIS BUILD IS outrageously nicer. tagging along with this build.

thanks! this is a realllllly sloooooow build, i hope it keeps your interest as i am learning as i go

i'm liking what i'm seeing...however...i'd be cautious about the beam just being held in with adhesive. i definitely think that once it's complete...you should have no issues. LOVE forward planning...nice job!

thanks! i will be adding some "blocking", as you and der suggested, at both ends and some long the run

this is what we have done so far, the tank sits in between the two duct, the 4x red color beams are the new, and the 5x others are the old:

 

[stone.david]

any updates.... please tell me its wet

 

[solRNY]

any updates.... please tell me its wet

hi david, its still dry we havent put any water in it yet, the only thing in it now is my wifes seedling flats so to protect them from the cats! to keep your interest, i can gladly post some toys we been aquiring later tonight when i get home

to be honest i dont think well see water in the tank until i get the basement framed, then add the sink and its waste water return, and then plummed the water lines, lots of work ahead and i am a extreme procrastinator CODMW2calls me all the time!

worked on the "blocking" for the new beams this weekend, was using odd left over pieces of lumber, a hand saw and a table saw, being very mixed up and that i can not cut it straight, things did not come out well.

i think i need a miter saw, told my wife i needed it for the frameing, so with a resupply of fresh lumber and a new tool, hopefully i can get the blocking done this weekend

...this blocking requires so much effort, and expense.... sigh...

 

[Pacific Reefs]

It's hard to take your time and not rush filling the aquarium. Sounds like you are doing the right thing so keep it up!

 

[Jacwil]

IMO....(10 yrs of framing houses), you don't need any additional blocking. We typically used the same TJI's, LVL's, and Microlams that I see in your floor system. The only time we would put solid blocking in, is along the steel I-beams, between the joist.

The new LVL's are supported by the exterior foundation and sill plates yes?

 

[solRNY]

It's hard to take your time and not rush filling the aquarium. Sounds like you are doing the right thing so keep it up!

thanks tom! i am subscribed to your build thread, but did not get any email updates, have you rescaped your tank?

IMO....(10 yrs of framing houses), you don't need any additional blocking. We typically used the same TJI's, LVL's, and Microlams that I see in your floor system. The only time we would put solid blocking in, is along the steel I-beams, between the joist.

The new LVL's are supported by the exterior foundation and sill plates yes?

yes in a way, the new LVLs are only 16ft long, from foundation to foundation i think the span is 23ft, so being only 16ft long the one ends are sitting on the foundation sill plates and the other end are sitting on 4LVLs sandwiched beams that runns perpendicular,

you mention "solid blocking".... a thought came to mind, since i was trying to reuse the left over lumber, i think it be soo much easier if i were to use angle brackets on the ends instead... have to figure out how to finish now, thanks for your advice

 

[Jacwil]

Ok...well then you don't need any additional support. Most likely the LVL's that you added, went in pretty hard, (I see you routed the edges to ease installation). If you glued the tops that will be fine...ideally you would want to send some screws down from the top to tighten it up a bit to eliminate floor squeak, but I'm assuming the floor is finished above. If you wanted to you could toenail some fasteners through the lvls and into the subfloor but be careful .

Also...I'm not understanding where the "angle-brackets" are needed or would be located.

 

[solRNY]

Ok...well then you don't need any additional support. Most likely the LVL's that you added, went in pretty hard, (I see you routed the edges to ease installation). If you glued the tops that will be fine...ideally you would want to send some screws down from the top to tighten it up a bit to eliminate floor squeak, but I'm assuming the floor is finished above. If you wanted to you could toenail some fasteners through the lvls and into the subfloor but be careful .

Also...I'm not understanding where the "angle-brackets" are needed or would be located.

i am having to cut some solid contruction lumber to fit inbetween each existing I-Joist on both sides of each LVLs so to keep them from "tipping over", is this called blocking? so instead of cutting solid contruction lumber i figure i can do the same with 4 or 2 angle brackets on each end of the LVLs,

i googled toe nail fasteners and came up with lots of fungus related issues, is this something like pocket screws?

i think i am making this way to difficult... thanks for your ongoing advice, much appreicated, i want to tackle this and get it behind me