Should I reinforce my floor joists for a 180 gal tank?

[PaulPaul]

I have a 60 year old house and was wondering if I should reinforce my joists that are now 2x6's that are about 8-10 inches apart also with hardwood floors with carpet over them. I think I might do it just in case.

 

[cal91666]

60 Years old probably mean that your 2x6's are true 2x6's and at 8-10 inch centers thats a lot better than most of todays standards which are 12-16 inch centers. What is the span length of the 2x6 joists??

 

[PaulPaul]

ok, I went to the basement and measured. I was wrong about the 8-10 inch centers. The joists are 1 5/8 x 7 1/4. They are 14 inch centers and 14 foot span.

 

[cal91666]

It probably wouldn't hurt to do some reinforcing. Just imagine water at 8 lbs a gallon x 180 gallons = 1440 lbs + sand + LR + stand and equipment you could easily exceed 2000 lbs. thats over 175 lbs per square foot which is alot of weight.

 

[gsxrguru2]

this suggestion comes from what i was going to do in my crawlspace, so it may not work in your basement especially if it is finished. Anyways, i was going to buy some of those jacks that you can find at a hardware store that are supposed to raise sagging joists. supposedly they can lift several tons of weight and if you were to use 2 or 3 of them then you'd probably be able to park a car in there without a problem!

I figure its better to be safe than sorry, that could make a bit of a mess if things went wrong!

 

[flamingonhot]

I would do it as a precaution but it would likely never happen (going through the floor) since its able to hold a lot of weight and is probably holding thousands of pounds that you might not have already considered with no problem. But its better safe than to be sorry.

 

[PaulPaul]

its got 2 jacks already in another spot so Im gonna put a couple jacks under where the tank will be and put a couple more joists in ...later im gonna buy a rubbermaid 150 gal tub and put down in the basement cause its nice n cool down there