Floor Safes Wood Joists
Floor Safes Wood Joists
maximum floor weight ? concrete floor?
i live in a first floor new build flat which has concrete floors with wood joists upon it for the floor itself, i wish to install a new aquarium which will weigh roughly 500kg(0.5ton) i already have a 260kg aquarium which i intend to replace with the new 500kg one.It will be placed in the existing space as the old one. I need professional advice after trying engineer forums with no reply. So my question is ? will my floor be safe to hold this weight ?
the amount of space the aquarium will cover is 36″ x 24″ and the cabinetis a flat bottom base for this space required, the joists run length ways so there are only 2 joists it would rest over, however i previously had the floor strenghtend with extra joists braced between the 2 main joists and secured with a solid resin.
You will need to calculate the total load on the floor in that area and how it is distributed. So the length and width of the aquarium together with the weight of the stand, how the load is transmitted to the floor (four legs, a complete plinth, something in-between) will make a difference. Examples: A spinet piano weighs about 140kg and may have a footprint close to your proposed aquarium. Concert-grands can weigh up to 700 kg – but are spread over a much wider area. Water-beds can weigh 600kg, but are also spread over a wide area. You are concentrating concert-grand weight into a spinet footprint.
If you have a slab-on-grade as the substrate, you *should* be fine. But there is still too little data here for a definitive answer.
If your figures are right – you are stating that you are putting 1,100 pounds of aquarium in an area of two feet by three feet, consider:
Clear water weighs about 62.5 pounds per cubic foot. 1,100 pounds of water is 17.6 cubic feet. So, you will have an aquarium that is 2 feet by 3 feet by ~3 feet high. And coming in at 184 +/- pounds per square foot.
Would you be uncomfortable standing six adult male individuals in the same space? You are crossing two joists, but you have not specified the span. That you can calculate, and you can also calculate the total load that the joists can carry. And from that you should be able to determine how safe things are.
But superficially and with normal residential construction properly installed and to code, you should be fine.