Snowman Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Just wondering what the maximum weight for a particle board floor would be, my house was built about 1976 but not sure of the thickness of the floor. I'm looking at a 4'x2'x2' 450ltr tank and the missus wants it in the lounge but i'm a bit worried that with substate etc it would be over 500kgs and may go through the floor. Any input/ideas would be appreciated. I don't want to go to the extra cost, hassle, time of bracing the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Our floor is particle board (I'm pretty sure that's what it is called) and our house built 1979. We have 4ft x 2 x 2 tank in the lounge no problem. It is also surrounded by a wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookcase full of heavy books. If I remember correctly we have an extra pile underneath though as originally the fireplace was going to go there. If it against a load bearing wall with the floor joists running at right angles to the tank length it should be fine. Think of it this way, if you had Greg Somerville (115kg - thanks to the Weetbix packet I know this), and 3 or 4 of his equally large mates visit, would you tell them they couldn't all sit together cos their weight might collapse the floor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 I had a 5'x2'x2' on a similar era floor, chip board flooring with 6x2 supports, the tank was running in line with the beams and the stand was designed to spread the weight evenly, and the tank was on an exterior wall. Because there was plenty of room under the house I was able to regularly check for signs of stress, and as far as I could tell the floor was fine. The stand was made of pine 4x2, so I figured it should break before the floor does... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 The design floor load for a domestic dwelling is 2 kPa, which is eqivalent to a fish tank with 200mm of water in it distributed evenly over the floor. Any aquarium is going to exceed that so the important thing is to distribute the load evenly over the footprint of the tank. The critical dimension is the height rather than length or width and to site it over the floor joists if possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 The design floor load for a domestic dwelling is 2 kPa I imagine that would be for the chipboard flooring, and the amount of weight that the joists can support would be much higher. Having a stand with a flat base that evenly distributes the weight rather than putting it all on 4/6 feet is essential for big tanks on wooden floors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 2 killopaskels includes the flooring, joists, bearers and piles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caper Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Can't help with the floor stuff...but thought I'd just say HI...haven't seen you in awhile! Caper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 If it helps: I have a stand with 2 x 1200mm long tanks which are 450 and 400mm high. Total is over 4 times design floor load (water only) and they are still visable above the floor. It lies the same direction and accross two floor joists and the stand is designed to distribute the load over the complete footprint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted January 28, 2008 Report Share Posted January 28, 2008 Personally I dont start worrying about floor weight until the total weight gets to around the tonne mark. Best thing you can do is make a small platform to distribute the weight along the floor, I doubt you'll have trouble with 500kg. Thats basically 4 overweight men. Only bad story I've heard so far was a friend who had a 450 litre tank on the 2nd floor of the house, overtime the house slightly moved causing things like doorways needing to be filed on the bottom floor. Nothing disasterous though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted January 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Thanks everyone, it's put a smile on my missus face LOL (wonder if i should go bigger ) Hi Caper, been busy with work, son, missus & fish, i'm up to 12 tanks now (13 soon ) the b/nose and GBA's just wont stop breeding. I've got 3 community tanks inside (so far) and keep finding GBA fry in all of them, sons 3ft been setup in his room for 3 weeks now and spotted a dozen fry in their yesterday. I'm always poppng in & out but don't often get time to post, bit like now, the missus is asking "coming to bed yet" standard answer.......soon LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.