Floor support advice.....

[mxracer19]

Dude, get off the fish forums and register on an engineering site. You're asking the right questions to the wrong people. I wouldn't ask a chef to fix my car...you're looking in the wrong spot unless you're only looking for opinions...and well...you know what they say about those...

 

[Frank512]

Just curious where you picked up those brick supports, and if you know how tall they are off hand? Thanks.

 

[M_Jaco]

i don't think the clay was the reason for the lean…the soil was in adequate for building on and was not amended or removed prior to building…everything i have ever read on the tower states its soil base consisted of clay, silt, and sea shells…none the less….he is not trying to build a tower nor is his structure likely to see any weight…it should only be built in place to catch the floor, not support it…applying an upward force on the floor would be a bad idea, however preventing the floor from deflecting won't harm the floor…

another thing that can be added to the joists is more plywood to fill the web spacing as the builder has already done to a portion of the joists...

In order to keep the floor from deflecting, a load is being placed into the structure, therefore it is seeing weight, and technically applying an upward force. the upward force just isn't causing a camber in the floor beam.
Like I said before, it probably won't do much at all, but for peace of mind, I understand why he is doing it and cant argue with the man!


back to the leaning tower:
Clay essentially acts as a giant sponge. When the load from the tower acted on the clay, it slowly leaked water out and consolidated, much like a sponge would. Change in consolidation = change in volume = movement of the surrounding soil = leaning tower

 

[NanoReefWanabe]

clay only acts as a sponge if it is wet, if it is dry hard pan clay it will hold up just fine…if he has to use a pickaxe to get through it isn't wet loose clay…i am sure the silt and sea shells were of far more concern then the clay.

this can be easily built to not apply any forces to the floor unless excessive force is applied to the floor, only at that point will the support structure apply force back to the floor...

 

[radobahn]

Just curious where you picked up those brick supports, and if you know how tall they are off hand? Thanks.

I got them at our local hardware store (Arrow Lumber) in town and think they're around 12-14" tall. I've also seen them at either Home Depot or Lowes.. can't remember which one though.

 

[SPotter]

Final Decision.....

Final Decision.....

So I was able to speak with and meet onsite with one of the engineers the home builder uses. I showed him exactly where the tank would go, gave him total weights and then added an 20% in weight to that number and his opinion is that any additional bracing is not necessary but totally understands my concerns and after looking at the plans for the foundation we decided to do this....

I will be adding an LVL that will placed 40" from the wall where the tank will be. The forward foundation has a footing that can used to build one pier on to hold one end of the LVL and then a 30x30x12 spot footing will be added on the other side of to support the other end of the LVL. The project manager for my house said he has an extra LVL that I can have, there are plenty of blocks around the neighborhood where other houses are being built so material costs should be minimal.

I will post some pictures when its all done.

EDIT....trying to attach a pdf of the foundation plans but not having any luck. I will keep trying.

 

[SPotter]

Just realized I never updated this thread with what I did so here's the picture of the support I built.....

 

[radobahn]

Nice.. looks good! :thumbsup:

 

[woodnaquanut]

Looks good. That ought to hold up just about anything!