Mountain Madness - My full floor reno's with 300 gallon centrepiece.

[VanJuKy]

I have bene asked by a number of people to start a thread on my new tank and my personal attempts at full renovations of my home. I put it off for awhile but finally decided to go ahead. The reason? I have enjoyed so many of these builds that, I would assume others would enjoy mine as well. As reefers, we tend to really like to tinker and build as well as just generally add gear to our systems.

I recently bought a house that was built in 1978 with good bones and clean lines. Unfortunately I don't really have the money to pay contractors to do the work I need.I am fairly handy and a mechanic by trade. I haven't worked on cars for 10 years but you get the drift. There are also lots of resources out there when you are determined. I have a few friends who are electricians and home builders and I will reach out for help out where needed.
The home is designed to be for entertainment, and the centrepiece will be a 300 gallon mixed reef of LPS, SPS and various other animals. Fish will be a nice selection with a definite contingent of high end species.
Now I have already started this, and am ahead of what I will start with. I will start posting some pictures to bring you up to speed. Time for internet is limited due to my work and of course building my home.
This will be a start to finish log that hopefully you will find entertaining.

First picture to bring you up is what it looked like when I moved in.

The room where that I will tear down and put in the tank. Notice the post in the middle of the room. The beam above it is two beams and there is plumbing running inside the column holding it up.. This needs to come out and have a new full length engineered beam spanned across the room to take the load. Engineer was called.

The reason I put this picture win is to show you how dark the room actually is if the sun is not shining in. I am redoing the home in a bright West Coast contemporary style. There will also be a lot of tree removal happening. City arborists are involved for the permits.

Oh yeah, it will be a high end build. Scott (slief), I told you I would do a build thread. Here is a package from Germany. My Royal Exclusive Dream Box.

Demolition is coming.

 

[VanJuKy]

And here comes demolition.

Bar is very outdated. I don't even drink but I want a nice bar.

Fireplace has got to go.

All the old oak wood is gone.

Will be a new bathroom through here.

 

[VanJuKy]

This is where the tank will go.

 

[ace_92101]

Looks like it's going to be a great room!

 

[Rilelen]

Wow! Love the demolition-in-progress pics. Can't wait to see the final set-up - the room's really going to look totally different.

 

[VanJuKy]

Fireplace and floor removed. Next is to remove the post and the two beams on the ceiling. Engineered beam will span the room.
Going to extend the left side of the fireplace insert to accommodate a linear fireplace. Basically turning the whole room around. Instead of facing towards the old TV wall, you will face the fireplace wall with the tank on the right.
The plumbing will go through the wall into the next room where I will have a fish room.

 

[VanJuKy]

Looks like it's going to be a great room!

I hope so. It is in my mind!

 

[VanJuKy]

Wow! Love the demolition-in-progress pics. Can't wait to see the final set-up - the room's really going to look totally different.

Won't even look the same! The room your looking at, the kitchen behind and the fish/laundry room through the pocket door.

 

[VanJuKy]

It took three of us to do this. Five for 15 minutes while we were carrying the beams in to the house. Started by building two walls to support the floor and wall above. You have have both beams inside and on the floor/lift before you start building the walls.

Used a lift to lower one beam and place it on the floor. Then put the new beam on the lift and raise it into place.

New room with a 22 foot beam across it. No more odd centre pillar which throws the room off. Now we can refocus the room to the west instead of the north. This allows the tank to come in. The tank is 96" long x 24" wide and 30" tall.
:bounce1:

 

[VanJuKy]

The framing for the stand complete.The plumbing will exit the bottom left overflow and go through the wall into the fish room. Under the tank will be empty with a door on the left side for dry storage.

There used to be a stereo stand on the floor under the TV holding all the components (where the stand is built). I will build the components into the wall to the left of the pocket door. This will enable easy access to the back of all components with a door on the backside and provide a custom sleek contemporary look.

The pocket door is being thrown out and a new door and frame put in to accomplish this.

 

[kzoo]

Very nice, are you going to have the sump under the tank ?

 

[VanJuKy]

Very nice, are you going to have the sump under the tank ?

Thanks! The sump will be in the room behind it (through the pocket door). I will demo the entire hallway, closet and laundry room and start over. There will be all new cabinets, countertops, tile floors and tile walls. Quarantine tanks and a refugium will be on top of one counter. The sump and skimmer will be underneath an open front cabinet I will build. The open front will allow for easy access as well as a live video feed. When I travel I want to have the ability to see my sump, water holding and tank with multiple cameras.

 

[VanJuKy]

Fireplace being altered for more room.

Kitchen is attached to the family room so it needs to be gutted as well.
Very outdated and the layout is just wrong. The fridge is in such a wrong place.
I had started doing small repairs to the wall when I decided to just start over.

Going to refinish all cabinetry and rearrange some of it.

.

 

[VanJuKy]

This is a great skimmer! Just needs a little cleaning and it will look beautiful with the Dreambox.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Were there/are there very few lights in that living room area? The first picture I see 2 recessed lights and a couple of directional accent lights, explains why it is so dark in there. But yeah that post is in a very awkward looking spot, I mean I get why it's there, but it almost looks like there was a wall there that was removed since it looks a bit larger than door size.

That said, reef tank will definitely spruce up the place Definitely look forward to seeing how this turns out, and so jealous of the dream box

 

[VanJuKy]

Were there/are there very few lights in that living room area? The first picture I see 2 recessed lights and a couple of directional accent lights, explains why it is so dark in there. But yeah that post is in a very awkward looking spot, I mean I get why it's there, but it almost looks like there was a wall there that was removed since it looks a bit larger than door size.

That said, reef tank will definitely spruce up the place Definitely look forward to seeing how this turns out, and so jealous of the dream box

That section where the bar is was an add on at some point. They also added on the fireplace and the pool house on the other side. The ceiling was there but they enclosed a small area under the house, hence the post with plumbing in the room.
They really under lit the house. None of the bedrooms have any ceiling lights in them, just outlet controlled switches. I will install 3000k LED lights through out the home. Here in Vancouver (and especially up at the foot of the North Shore mountains) it can get a little dark with the rain in winter.

The Dreambox was chosen a lot for its appearance. The sump (and for that matter fish room) will be visible to guests and not closed off. There will be a washer and dryer in there as well so it needs to look like a proper room. My wife needs to feel like it is a regular room.

 

[sfsuphysics]

Ah, an add on, that makes perfect sense now.

Just be careful with the humidity, I know in my fishroom/laundry room the washer/dryer has slowly gotten corrosion everyplace any sort of scratch occurred in the paint.

 

[ace_92101]

It's coming along nicely!

 

[VanJuKy]

Ah, an add on, that makes perfect sense now.

Just be careful with the humidity, I know in my fishroom/laundry room the washer/dryer has slowly gotten corrosion everyplace any sort of scratch occurred in the paint.

Good point! I have a large window in there that I am planning on keeping open a bit at all times. Hopefully I will be fine. If not I will have to remedy it. I am also putting a Panasonic Whispersense fan (vented to the outside) over top of the DT to keep it dry inside the space above. Another reason I liked the Dreambox was the close fitting lids on the sump. The last thing I want is a mold problem in my home.

It's coming along nicely!

Thanks!

 

[VanJuKy]

Fireplace framing and drywall completed and ready for new linear gas insert. Fire inspector has to inspect and check clearances. Fireplace installers can then put it in place, hook up the gas, electrical and venting. The remaining anchoring and covering by hardi backer board by me.

Old tile floor gone. This tile is almost 1" thick and required a ball peen hammer to break up.