Expert: Stephen Major - 6/8/2007

Question
QUESTION: hi, i dont know if im posting in the right place but here i go.  i have a huge aquarium that i want to put in the upstairs of my house.  it is a 240 gallon aquarium and a gallon of water is 8.33 pounds, the dimensions of the aqaurium is 96 in long x 25 in wide.  that is a lot of wieght to be putting upstairs obviously, but i want to put it right above the supporting wall in the house its an old house so i have heard that old houses are stronger but im no expert. i live in cincinnati ohio, any information you could give me would be greatley appreiceated. thanks again.

ANSWER: Mark,

I didn't mention this before, but old houses were built before modern building codes and construction standards, and therefore are not always as strong as modern buildings.  It's a funny thing, some parts of older homes are built very solidly, yet other parts would fail a modern structural inspection.  Just an FYI!

--Steve Major

Mark,

This is like parking half a car in your house.  If the aquarium base distributes the water weight evenly, then  it will be subjecting the floor to 125 pounds per square foot.   Most residential floors are designed to support less than half of this amount of weight.

If you are certain that the wall below is an actual bearing wall, and that it is supported down through the first floor solidly to the foundation, then it is likely that you will be OK.  But you really need to verify this first, or you could end up deflecting the floor joists excessively or possibly causing a collapse.

--Steve Major

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Steve,

First I would just like to thank you for your help, your information has been very helpful.  The bearing wall is supported through the first floor, through the basement into the foundation.  Is there any thing I could do to strengthen the floor or something without major construction.

Thanks again

Answer
Mark,

If the bearing is continuous to the basement, AND the floor joists for the second floor are perpendicular to the bearing wall, then you should be OK by placing the aquarium directly over the wall below.  

To strengthen the assembly would normally require opening up the ceiling and adding joists, etc.   Pretty major surgery.

If you have any doubt, you should have a local structural expert (a good contractor or an engineer) take a look at it first.

--Steve Major