anybody on here an engineer?

[bigdaddyadam]

So is anyone on here an engineer? Or maybe just in the construction field?

I have been in the planning stages of a 75 gallon tank for about 5 months. I finally have enough cash to start buying the tank and equipment and suddenly my landlord tells me that he doesn't think the floor in our apartment can support that much weight.

He also says that the only load bearing walls in our whole apartment are the outside walls. Seems a little far fetched to me as there are four aprtments on each floor, including the floor above and the basement floor below. I just can't believe that none of the weight is transfered to any interior walls.

Also the jerks not only told us, but the website for the apartments say that it has "lightweight concrete floors between apartments". So either this guy is a liar about the floors not being able to support or he is just an idiot and just wanted to write me off.

I have discussed this with numerous people but most of them, such as Gary at Gary's Aquarium, seemed to use faulty logic to say that sure, I could have that tank in there because the floor can support 5 people on a couch right. According to everything I've read that logic is totally wrong when it comes to stationary weight like an aquarium.

BTW, I already checked everywhere under the sun to try and find plans for the structure and stuctural rating of the floor, but the buildings are so old that no city or county offices have them anymore. And the rental guy is of no help either.

So I guess I am just wondering if anyone local has any experience with this sort of thing and might be able to give me some advice or possibly take a look at my floor and give me an informed opinion. Any help would be more than appreciated. Thanks.

[Dubbin1]

The floor will support the tank with no problems. It sounds like the landlord is just covering his butt. He is nuts if he thinks there are no load bearing walls on the inside of the structure.

[bigdaddyadam]

okay, not to question your knowledge, but I am just wondering whether you are basing this on some kind of background in engineering or construction Dubbin. I have been hearing different things from different people and as yet none of these people has any qualifications that I can tell of that would qualify them to make a judgement.

It's not that I want to say you don't know what your talking about, I am just trying to be very careful who's word I take on this. I really would not want this guy to be right and the tank go through the floor.

Thanks.

[Dubbin1]

Adam, construction is what I do for a living. If the floor caves in I take no responsibility :)

[bigdaddyadam]

okay, then thanks for the information. :) I just have had a bunch of people with no background tellings stuff about "well, if a 200 lb woman in high heeled shoes stands on one foot and it doesn't collapse then the floor can obviously take such and such a weight." which I know is totally faulty logic when it comes to the way floors distribute weight along joists etc.

It's good to hear something encouraging from someone who actually knows what they are talking about. and I am sure that I would never hold you responsible if the floor did collapse, mostly I would be too busy freaking out. :eek:

My dad works for an engineering firm, so I am hoping he can do a little more investigation for me, but the chances of one of the engineers coming up here from Dayton to look at my floor is pretty remote.

Dubbin I don't suppose you might want to stop up some time and check out my place? Maybe give me an idea of which walls are load bearing? I have a pretty good idea that the one between us and our neighbors is, but who knows. I would definately owe you a few beers for a favor like that.

[Buckeye ME]

I would say it depends where you plan on putting the tank. To be safe I would put it along one of the load bearing walls. It would be no problem there, however I don't know if i would risk putting it away from one of those walls, if it is an old building like you say.

[bigdaddyadam]

well, I mean old in the sense that it was built in the 1970's, old enough that the plans for the building are no longer anywhere to be found.

putting it along a load bearing wall has always been my intent, the problem is that I can't get a straight answer (that makes sense) as to which walls are the load bearing walls.

I think the guy at my rental office just doesn't want me to put in a tank but since our lease doesn't say anything about no tanks, it is just easier for him to say that the floor can't hold this weight.

Any idea what they might mean when they say "heavily insulated, lightweight concrete floors between apartments"?

[Dubbin1]

What you need to find is the load bearing walls in the apartment under you and place your tank over or as close to those as you can. I'm guessing that the one below you has the same layout as you do. One other way to look at it is all the people that place these HUGE tanks in their house with a craw space under the house. What you are wanting to do is no different then that. Just try to get the tank sitting across the floor joists and not with them. Or you could tell the people below you that you need to place some beams and jacks in the middle of their living room so you can set a tank up :)

[bigdaddyadam]

so what is the easiest way to tell which way the joists run in the floor?

[hllywd]

If you're somewhere that had used a building when your apartment was put up you should be able to refer to that to get your answer. I don't know the layout of your building but it's quite possible the only bearing walls would be exterior, for example if the building is long and narrow say 24' wide or so the long walls would be the bearing walls and the joists would run perpindicular to those walls. Your floor joists should run perpindicular to the roof ridge as well. It's hard to say what the concrete floor business is but I'd be surprised by a well built modern structure that would be overloaded by a 75 gallon tank. My house was built in 1956 an I wouldn't hesitate to put one on any floor in the house based on loading.

[bigdaddyadam]

The building is much longer than it is wide, but I would not say it is narrow. I would estimate that it is about 85 feet long and 40 feet wide, for the entire building, with 3 floors, the partially below ground first floor, the second floor where I live, and the third floor above us. Each floor has four apartments, two on each side of the five foot wide hallway. We have a wall that seperates our apartment from the one nextdoor and it runs along the kitchen, down the hall that all the bedrooms come off of , and down the side of the bathroom, with the tub in the corner of where that wall meets the side wall of the building. There is no roof ridge as the top of the building is flat.

I guess I am trying to figure this out because there are about 3 places where I could even put the tank. In my living room, running perpedicular to the long wall of the building and thus probably paralell to joists, so not a great place. In the Small Dining room between our kitchen and the hall, up against the wall that runs between our apartment and our neigbor. Or in the bedroom right against the short side wall of the building but from what you are telling me probably parallel to the joists.

The tub is in a corner of the apartment, would another corner where the outside walls meet up be a good place? Maybe running perpendicular to the joists?

This whole thing has got be so bummed out right now. I had finally got everything together to buy this bigger tank and now this issue has to pop up. I am so frustrated right now that I might just wait a year and a half until we move to get a new tank, I just feel bad because I have a tang that has outgrown his current tank and really needs to move on up.

Well, thanks all for the advice and for letting me vent. Any more ideas? Keep them coming.

[hllywd]

I think you can assume floor joists span the narrow section of the building. If its 40' wide I think you can also assume there is at least 1 bearing wall dividing that span. If all that is true you should orient the tank the same direction as the long portion of the building and you will be perpindicular to the joists.
Just curious, what size tank do you have now?

[bigdaddyadam]

I currently have a 20 gallon