Floor reinforcement for 230g advice

[anthonymckay]

My waterbox 230.6 upgrade is arriving this week and I'm tackling floor reinforcement before it goes into its place. I have the old 80gal moved out of the room in preparation for this.

I went under the house today to have a look at the space. Joists are 2x6's spread 16" on center. Tank will be running perpendicular to them, up against the load bearing wall along the foundation. I was pleasantly surprised to see there was a 6x6 beam with cement footings running the length of the room ~5' from the foundation wall, a relatively short span. At the very least I'm thinking I should sister up the 2x6 spans between the foundation wall and that 6x6 beam.

Or just run another 6x6 on house jacks perpendicular to the joists ~2' out from the wall.

 

[TangerineSpeedo]

I am no engineer but I play one on TV...
Run some cross bracing in the area of the tank to make sure the beams stay perpendicular and get some 2x2 steel "L" 1/8 and run those along the length to the 6x6 beam, with a screw both vertical and horizontal (offset) every 10" or so to mitigate vertical flex. If you wanted to go over the top, you can get a cement footing and a screwjack underneath your tank area. In fact if that area is not level, you can level it this way.

 

[All_talk]

I think both ideas are good, either should get the job done, even if the job is just piece of mind. Tangerine's idea of blocking the joist is a good one, it will keep the them from twisting. I think I might wait on the second 6 x 6 and jacks, you can add it later if you measure any sag in the joists or if the tank tips away from the wall as Tangerine suggested.

(For what it's worth, I am a mechanical engineer, though I don't spend a lot of time on structural work) :)

I suspect your house is older, that looks like full dimension lumber and diangle sub floor of real wood. Its likely the quality of the timber and workmanship are much higher than modern standards. It would probably take the load as is.

 

[threebuoys]

Sister the joists with 2 x 8s notched to rest on the beam and foundation wall. Add blocking. Probably overkill but cheap and effective.

 

[Asm481]

Myself, I would create a beam of double or triple 2x6 running the length of the tank right near the front edge of the tank supported by 2 posts set down to solid ground. I hate crawl spaces. This beam will keep the tank from bouncing at all.

 

[exnisstech]

I suspect your house is older, that looks like full dimension lumber and diangle sub floor of real wood. Its likely the quality of the timber and workmanship are much higher than modern standards. It would probably take the load as is.

This is what I would do. Load bearing wall and the beam along with the lumber flooring vs osb or partical board like newer homes I wouldn't think twice. But that's the kind of guy I am. I belive most people over engineer stands and floor reinforcement but I'm not an engineer and thats JMO

I ran a 180 gallon in exactly the same type of location along a load bearing wall without the beam like you have for years on osb flooring with no reinforcement at all. I also had another 180 in the same room but it was running with the joist so I added one pole jack and a DIY beam spanning 3 joist. Never had an issue. Oh and there was also a 150g in the next room.