Fishroom floor... what to do? Any Flooring experts?

[NeverlosT]

When we built our home, I had a spot in mind for a big tank, and planned to use the under-stairs closet area for a small "sump room". To that end we:
1. Had extra 20A circuits installed in wall near where tank will go for lighting/flow
2. Had extra 20A circuits installed in wall in fish room about 3' up for filtration gear
3. Had a vent hole installed in the wall of the house that leads to the sump room for exhaust vent (under drywall inside still)
4. Planned to have the builders tile the fish-room/closet (the rest of the downstairs other than the tank area is engineered hardwood).

#4 is where things went wrong because they put hardwoods in the closet too, at the time, they said sorry, we won't charge you, and that was 3 years ago, so we said fine. Furthermore in that three years two toddlers moved into the space who will need to be evicted....

Right now it is engineered hardwood on post-tension slab, so I can't cut into the slab to install a drain unfortunately. So the question is, what is the best floor for this space?

- Just leave the hardwood and let it get wet? We have extra so I don't care much about it, but might get moldy? Try to seal edges?
- Tear up the hardwood and put down pond liner?
- Tear up the hardwood and tile the room?
- Tear up hardwood and put epoxy down? (seems like a nightmare, I did it in garage and it was a PITA)
- Leave the hardwood and cover it with pond liner?

I'll post a pic of the room below (you can see the current tenants stuff is still in there...)

What kind of a nightmare is it removing this flooring? Any other suggestions?

I am stoked to have a sump room and just want to do it right. I am also open to suggestions for re-painting the walls to add moisture resistance (even though the exhaust fan will run most of the time) or any other suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[NeverlosT]

 

[Gareth elliott]

I would leave the foor.

If you can, raise the aquarium stand. If you can clean under your aquarium, you can clean up a spill. If building yourself, just connect the bottom frame board above the floor.
Use leak detectors

add a fan to the room, if it gets too humid in there. Your sheet rock walls will appreciate this more than the wood floors

 

[TheOne]

I would tile it. I moved my tank from a room with engineered hardwood flooring into a room with tile. There was always water getting onto the floor and with tile over a concrete slab I'm not worried about it anymore. I had to tear up all of the flooring in the room with engineered flooring after moving the tank because it was ruined.

A room that size wouldn't even cost much to have done by a professional.

 

[SandJ]

I would redo the floor before using the room. We have engineered hardwood and I hate it. We are in a costal area so lots of rain/humidity/sand/water and the flooring is not made to withstand these conditions. It is just a thin piece of actual wood glued onto a backing. Anywhere there has been water on the floor, the planks of wood have popped off the backing and I have had to glue them back down. Some places the wood has curled up and will not go back down.
Someday it will be replaced with the vinyl flooring that looks like hardwood. I absolutely love it. I purchased an aquarium from someone who had this flooring. They had a water leak and it did not affect the flooring at all.

 

[NeverlosT]

Thanks for the replies! I am leaning toward having the flooring removed and tiling.

The exhaust fan will be hooked to a humidistat that will run it any time the room gets too humid (which in a room that small with a big sump will probably we all the time).

Does anyone have experience pulling up engineered hardwood on slab like this? Any suggestions how to waterproof the floor where it meets the trim? Just some silicone and waterproof paint?

Any suggestions of a coat of paint to put on existing walls to prevent moisture damage?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Nice wide planks =)

 

[Ashish Patel]

If I had your space I would do something like Mark

 

[NeverlosT]

If I had your space I would do something like Mark

I would love to, I wish I could put in a floor drain! I suppose if I elevated the floor I could... Maybe put in a 2x4 floor frame with a floor drain and run it out the wall where the ventilation exits... thats an idea.

 

[flsalty]

A wood floor over a concrete slab is either floating or glued down. If you're lucky it's just floating with interlocking connections. The biggest pain will be cutting that piece in the doorway. However, you should be able to find a matching T piece. You just need to look up the manufacturer to figure out how it's made.

Not sure about paint, but I would think exterior grade would help.

 

[Ashish Patel]

If your home has a basement you can easily put a floor drain, if not then don't sweat it. If your not sure how thick your wood floors figure it out so you know how to make a transition from the wood flooring to the tiling. My apartment has very nice carrera thresholds which slope down from the woodfloor to the tiled bathroom. This serves as a moisture barrier

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

@NeverlosT

When I lived in Ventura I put down engineered hard wood under the tank and the first leak swelled the wood right up. that was an ordeal to move the tank remove and replace with wood looking ceramic tile.

I definitely would remove the wood floor and add a tile that complements the rest of the house and never have to worry about it. As already stated, cross your fingers that your wood floor is floating, if not there's a lot of elbow grease involved.

I too converted my understairs closet into a fish room and everything that you've stated parallels what I did (extra circuits, vent, humidistat, and NO drain). I wish I had a drain in the floor but in reality it's not missed until the day something catastrophic happens.

To answer the question about water seeping up the walls through the baseboard, I made sure that the dry wall was at least 1/2" off the finished floor and then filled that gap in with spray foam followed immediately with nailing in plastic composite base board (that way the foam expanded into the crevices and not outward) and finally adding a bead of clear caulk between the floor and baseboard. I was lucky and found the exact contoured base board that was in my house in that plastic composite.

And if you get a chance to peruse my build thread, you will see that I also used schluder kerdi in a few spots where the tank sits so that if there ever is standing water that I can't see, I would at least be confident that it's not soaking into the structure.

 

[pdxmonkeyboy]

I have a similar situation but likely a much larger tank. I have a drain but without a drain I think its even a better idea for you..

Leave the wood floor. Buy pond liner, the reinfoced kind, not the 40mill rubber stuff. Cover the floor and staple it up the wall 3-4". Then just buy some rubber kitchen drainage mats.

If you tile, and have a big spill... and lets face it, that happens.. it will leak out of your room and ruin your wood floors.

Ask me how i know....

 

[SandJ]

I would consider putting tile in the room, treating it like you would a shower. Put down a moisture barrier, install a barrier across the doorway (maybe 2-3” tall), then tile the floor and part way up the walls.

 

[NeverlosT]

Update: I tore out the engineered hardwood and it is now bare slab.

The hardwood was glued down... everywhere. It was awful. Very tough manual labor for hours.

But here it is:

 

[NeverlosT]

I ordered tile and have the ground and thinset and such. So I will likely tile this weekend.

One random idea...

What if I run small PEX like 3/8" or even 1/4" RO/DI line under the tile in the thinset as if it were a radiant heat floor. Then I could circulate fresh water through that zigzagged loop on the slab and through a heat exchanger in the sump when the tank is too hot. Basically using the slab as a cooling heat sink and cooling the tank almost for free. Kind of the opposite of radiant heat.

The slab always stays cool, so I think it would work, but not positive.

Thoughts? Awful idea? Might work??

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I like that idea, bear in mind to accommodate the tube you'll raise the overall height of the floor. If you have the space to add it then it would be an outside the box idea.

 

[NeverlosT]

@Sisterlimonpot yeah i am hoping with 3/8” line it’d be minimal additional height. Going to talk to a concrete industry friend tomorrow about his thoughts on the idea. I just dont want to destabilize the tile or not end up with much cooling from lack of conduction between PEX and slab

 

[homer1475]

I did as @Sisterlimonpot did and put down tile, that composite(plastic) baseboard and caulked around the edge. Painting the walls with a high gloss paint will also allow any water that accumulates on the walls to be easily wiped up, andnot create any issues with the drywall. With an exhaust fan running 24/7(or on a humidistat) I don't think you'll have that issue though.

 

[NeverlosT]

I got some Schluter Kerdi material for the corners and wall/floor transitions, and so I will paint the room today, then paint with red guard in another day or so, then we will apply the schluter kerdi and thinset before applying tile this weekend. I need to study order of operations on all of this, but I think that will all work well. Should result in a nice, watertight floor and we will be running tile 3" up the wall, so there will be a little bit of a spill basin created.

Last part to source is a granite "eve" that will act as a dam just inside the door to keep any spills from proceeding out the fishroom door. The granite eve will ideally be about 1" thick and be caulked in place.