How to know if your floor is strong enough for a tank?

[tomboys]

I think you meant perpendicular to the floor joints. You want to spread the tanks weight across as many joints as possible. Preferably being close the a load bearing wall at the same time.

It would be in the corner of 2 load bearing walls, but it would run parallel to the joists.

 

[TCoach]

You are probably going to be fine as it is only a ~80 US gallon tank. However, if you can get underneath the house (sounds like it has what we call a crawl space here in the US), you could add 2 floor jacks to add support and directly transfer the load to the ground.

HTH, TCoach

 

[Weasel1960]

Suspended floor basically means that the floor is on joists, but the joists are about 1-2 feet above the ground. There is a layer of insulation under the floor. It's an old method of building (as someone said any modern home should be fine, but this isn't a modern home it's 120 years old)

Thanks we call that a crawl space here. It’s allowed but only in the warmer climates.

 

[tomboys]

Thanks we call that a crawl space here. It’s allowed but only in the warmer climates.

We're definitely not a warmer climate in the UK! It's basically the style used to build most of the houses here 150-120 years ago though.

 

[ying yang]

Usually under the suspended floor you can crawl either sniper on chest or on hands and knees (not very nice as lots dust/ dirt spiders / creepy crawlies and all the old building materials that got dumped down there as house was built ( old broken bricks/ wood and concrete etc.the victorians as a general rule made things bigger/ stronger than these days standards) without getting a structural engineer in you can only have educated or expierenced guess.
I know when i used to work for myself as plumbing and heating engineeer and had to put for example a large unvented cylinder holding alot water plus weight of cyclinder and fittings etc we used to brace the floor ( basically means attaching and connecting the joists together to make them more load bearing and hold more weight.
Strongest part of a timber floor is always closest to external or party brick wall and weakest part is in centre of floor.and as previously said have the tank on as many joists as possible running against the direction of tank rather than running parallel with tank as this way you load bearing on edges of joists ( where sitting on bricks at end of joists) rather than tank running along the joists so if any concern then brace your joists .
If use any jacks under floor in crawl space ,just be careful as this usually loose dirt and jacks can sink into the loose dirt so would need say concrete slab on crawl space then jacks on that then jack up the joists to hold the weight.but i think 99.9% victorian houses especially if put tank in corner of room would easily hold a 300 litre tank but brace if concerned

 

[ying yang]

Just to add once pull up floor boards check for electric cables/ pipes and put same boards back in same place and make sure any screws/ nails or hammered/ screwed all the way in and none sticking up and get floor boards level as possible ( some floor boards can warp at the edges as getting old and possible homeowner as blocked up the vents as think more energy efficient and dont want drafts under the floors, ) but ventilation is needed/ very important as materials always contract and expand in heat and cold etc without getting to technical.