cost to brace a floor???

[jjj1100]

Hello,

Planning a future 240 gallon tank, and I just bought a new home. Of course I mention the tank first!!! lol.

Anyway the area in the family room I am planning on putting the tank was built above a crawl space in the basement. Not sure of the support that the floor has right now, but I KNOW i will need to brace the floor as the tank will probably weigh 3 to 4 thousand pounds.

I was just wondering what I should expect to be paying to brace the floor properly to ensure that the tank doesn't crash through the family room winding up in the crawl space...

any ideas on the cost involved? I would be contracting this out most likely as i don't want to take any chances with this.

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Johnsteph10]

It is very easy to do yourself - most people will buy some 2x10s, nail them/screw them/lag bolt them in place on the floor joists to beef them up and then buy jacks and put them under each reinforced floor joist.

Do you know if they run perpendicular or with the tank? Running perpendicular to the tank is best as it spreads the weight out much more evenly over several joists.

 

[Sk8r]

Well, we had a similar problem, not with a tank, but with a shower someone had lined with concrete and put on the second floor (middle). What it entailed was getting some 6 Xs that had a good long grain: the grain arched up, relative to the bottom floor. Those were glued, liberally, inserted (one on each side of the beam to be reinforced) onto the shelf that supported the other beams, and bolted all the way through the original beam with about a half inch bolt on either end. It looked like an operation someone could DIY, give or take the sheetrocking, if one had some good strong help to get both ends up. I hired it done, and the whole bill was around a thousand about 10 years ago, but this involved three beams and the entire downstairs livingroom. The thing was already warped, so it also involved several truck jacks to lift the 15x15 floor while gluing and bolting, and then resheeting a third of the living room ceiling. If it is a fairly narrow crawlspace, say, under 6 feet wide, you might have the option of inserting vertical rather than horizontal supports, or doing angle braces to your underfloor beam, and if that beam is exposed, and has a shelf on either side to support a reinforcing beam, your problem is much simpler. I hope that at least provides some view of the operation.

 

[jjj1100]

thanks for the replies.

I forgot to check if they would be parellel or perpendicular, I will be in the house in about 2 weeks...and that will be first on my list belive me i want to order this tank asap.

The crawl space is about 4 feet maybe 5 feet high, so i can't imagine it being terribley difficult or costly for someone who knows what they are doing to get in there and get it done right.

 

[cmulawka]

check my 540 fowlr forum to see how I braced my floor It only cost less than 200 dollars

 

[Bebo77]

did it myself.. cost was $100

You can see it all here...
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=734279