Hello everyone. It's been a few days since I posted. While I wait for the glass to arrive, much progress has been made on the support structure underneath the tank. The supports will go in an unfinished room in my basement.
There has been quite a bit of discussion on how to support the weight of the tank. I decided to build a large wood structure to spread the weight out over a larger surface rather than a few jack posts on a few small points on the floor.
I started by re-enforcing the 4 floor joists directly beneath the tank. Two issues are apparent. Unfortunately the joists run parallel to the long axis of the tank and the space under the tank is only about 7.5 feel long meaning I dont have access to directly underneath about 1 ft of the tank.
I doubled up the 2 x 10 joists and also sandwiched a piece of 3/4 inch plywood in between the 2 x 10s. This composite design will make the joists several times stronger. I did this a full 10 feet meaning the composite joists entend 2.5 feet beyond the length of the tank. Since I have no access past 7.5 feet, I used a 9000 grade construction adhesive to bond the composite joist design together along the full length. Unfortunately because of a steel beam. I was unable to slide a full 10 foot 2 x 10 into the joist space. I cut it, placed the two pieces, then added an extra piece of plywood to coiver the joint. I then added some headers in 3 spots where 3 cross beams will be placed.
I then cut a 3 pieces of 3/4 inch plywood to fit up along side the headers and around the joists, but hang down perpendicular to the joists. I glued and screwed them to the headers and then sandwiched another header to the other side of the plywood.
I then sandwiched two more 2 x 10s on either side of the plywood hanging down to create 3 very strong beams to run across all 4 joists in 3 seperate areas along the length of the tank.
. will there be any Starphire?
