Tank Not Well Supported: Insulation BENEATH Plywood To Rectify?

[Kengar]

Has anyone ever used a sheet of insulation BENEATH sheet of plywood on a tubular steel stand (as well as on top of it)?

After two years fixing it (workmanship by Coast to Coast on the eurobracing was pathetic), I finally got my tank downstairs and onto stand. Unfortunately, as you can see, there is some irregularity somewhere which has about a third of the tank not making contact with the decking, and the Homasote material -- CTC's suggestion...... -- is unable to make up for the deviations.

I won't be able to get the tank up off the stand until Thursday to rework things, but eyeballing along the rail of the stand and looking for gaps between the plywood base and the tubular steel has me concerned that the stand itself (purchased from Miracles In Glass) isn't perfectly flat across the tops of all segments used to construct it. Hence, I'm thinking about putting down a sheet of insulation on top of the stand to "absorb" the imperfections; then the plywood; then another sheet of insulation on top. Clearly the Homasote isn't working as it should have. (Did I mention it was CTC's suggestion.........)

Thoughts?

[/url]IMG_4629 by Kenneth Fagin, on Flickr[/IMG]

IMG_4630 by Kenneth Fagin, on Flickr

 

[Misled]

Honestly, that would scare the crap out of me.

 

[Kengar]

Honestly, that would scare the crap out of me.

Wellll, it does!

 

[Misled]

Does it do that on both ends? Can you show a pic of the full length? Try sitting the tank flat on a known level floor. See if it's still there. If not, you know it's the stand. I'd use shims, glue and a sheet of plywood to level the stand out. I wouldn't use insulation. Just my 2 cents.

 

[falconut]

Have you tried the tank directly on the stand to see if maybe it's the wood that's making it look that bad.

 

[Kengar]

Just one end.

Re setting tank on floor, it's carpeted, so any imperfections would be masked. I doubt it's the tank. (Then again, given my experience with CTC, who knows?)

Basically, I feel like this whole build has been cursed from the get-go.....

 

[Kengar]

Have you tried the tank directly on the stand to see if maybe it's the wood that's making it look that bad.

That will be Thursday when I rent equipment to lift the tank off the stand. It's a 250, so about 600 lbs. Plan is to spin the tank transverse to stand, lift using a duct lifter at each end, slide stand out from under, and do what needs to be done.

Certainly plan to put tank directly on stand first. You know, trouble-shooting to find the source of problem. It also appears as if one of the screws used to attached the homasote to the plywood may be bearing against steel. I wonder whether that could "lift" the plywood away from the stand as I tightened it down. So I guess test one is to remove screws anywhere near the tubular steel and see

In fact, I suspect screws to attached the homasote to the plywood aren't a good idea to begin with. Even though they are screwed down and recessed well into the homasote, they could still be point-sources of pressure.....

 

[Kengar]

I think I've identified source of problem. As noted above, screw holding homasote to plywood was contacting steel of stand. On other side, it was even more noticeable how that was causing the plywood to lift away from the stand (rather than just stripping out wood as I continued to turn the screw and it was blocked from advancing by the stand). So, I will obviously need to yank all those screws and only screw down where I am clearly well away from the tubular steel of the stand. (I do think I'm going to replace the homasote with foam (on top of plywood) since it is more compressible than homasote and should compensate for any remaining imperfections.) Assuming the planned fix on Thursday takes care of it, this will be a relief......

IMG_4637 by Kenneth Fagin, on Flickr

 

[falconut]

That's good news. Always nice when a problem is solved.

 

[Joe0813]

Least that's fixed. No way I would have left it that way

 

[Misled]

Way to go Ken!!!

 

[Kengar]

Way to go Ken!!!

now if i could just figure out what the electrical thingy is on the ceiling of my fish room....... LOL!

 

[Misled]

Thanks, I deserved that!!! :lol:

 

[Kengar]

Thanks, I deserved that!!! :lol:

'twas the gift that keeps on giving......