Floor weight load

Hey guys

So as some of you know I am in the process of building a new aquarium. As I wanted to cover all aspects I asked the Apartment complex architech to comfirm what was the floor weight load bearing capacity for my particular apartment. I did this because I found out that on average the number is 250 kg/m2 (or 40 pounds per sq feet) which I thought it was very little.

Well it turns out that it is 250 kg/m2!! Now this are new "state of the art" apartments so I was surprised to see this.

So he will need to come home and asses it in person (as the load bearing will be different depending on where in the house the Tank will be placed)

any of you have ever come across this?

This leaves me with two options, either get him to come in and re-asses (and confirm that It would be safe to install and aquarium there) or get a smaller one (almost have the size)

The funny thing is that, if someone goes wrong I would assume Insurance might not cover any structural damages! Personally I find it ridiculous as myself have a higher loading bear than 250 kg/m2! but I thought it would be interesting for people to know

250 per square meter doesn't sound a lot........but there's probly a huge safety factor in there so the floor is actually capable of holding alot more..........although if that is the max the floor is reinforced with steel...your only putting the weight in one spot..the steel should pick up the weight and disperse the weight throughout the whole floor.not just your appartment.....you might want to ask a builder or an architect...but I would of thought those appartment floors are probly thicker and more reinforced than my houses floor.

Yes thats what I did

I understand what they are saying, and that max weight is not all the same. The closer I get to a wall the higher the amount of weight. However, this is a bit concerning though as most of us have installed big enough aquariums without considering this and (hopefully not) if one day something goes wrong well... we could be under a lot of trouble!

I spoke to the architech and he is gonna have a look at the floor planning and asses, however it is gonna cost me around 500 euro to get this done. But better safe than sorry.

I am confident the number will be around 1200 kg/m2 the closer I get to a main wall but still want to cover all possibilities (in case insurance wont cover damage etc)....

how big is the tank

Most apartment flooring is concrete with steel strengthening! I would strongly disagree with the 20kg/m2
I've seen huge weights put on these floors during construction without a second thought!

In my opinion there is a huge safety margin in that figure

Hey

The tank will be around 700 kg (well thats what I told them but probably closer to 850kg) 165x70x70 cm

Believe it or not 250 kg/m2 or 40 psf is the standard not only in Ireland but places like USA. Now I am not saying my floor can't withstand more than that but from the "legal" perspective I want to be certain I have covered all angles. I am certain that my floor can quadruple that number.

Just put it this way, a 100 kg person standing up is inflecting over 500 kg/m2 of weight! (normal person covers 0.20 m2. And this would mean it wouldnt be safe for me to walk around the house!

I dont know how the legislation is in Ireland and what insurance companies can do to blame an accident on the owners own neglect.

I currentl have a 280 kg tank sitting on less than 1 m2 as well.

My idea is to get the architect to check my floor design and to assess what is the best place to put it

I might talk to the lads in seahorse and ask them for advice, I am sure they know what is the legal requirements etc..

Is ur intention to have it all covered by insurance and all because I think that would be a grey area and ur getting into alot of costs on this by the look of it do u own the apartment or rent it

We own the apartment. Yes the aquarium will have to be covered by insurance. I am sure insurance will cover a water leak or similar, but if the problem is caused or relates to a problem with the weight then I want to be covered as well.

In all fairness we could be talking of over 1 ton of material within 1.5 square meters.

I just want to make sure I wont have problems in the future. Like I said, I want to hear other people's opinion but to me it looks like most people dont even consider it, I am sure the guys in Seahorse will know

I could have ignore this and just build the aquarium but dont want to regret it later, and apartment complex or management companies can be very tricky at times

Yea I see where u are coming from and it's quite a large tank u are building maybee to be on the safe side supply the people underneath u with hard hats incase she goes through, just joking ha I'm sure if apartment floors unlike house floors are concrete they are well strong enough I'm realy curious how u get on with the insurance and how much they load u for it so can u keep us posted on that

When a appartment block is built it built one floor at a time..with props and shuttering to build the best floor and every floor taking the weight of all the floors above...I can't really see an aquirium adding that much that it's anything to worry about....even if the tank weighs 2,tons I've seen crane's on top of appartment blocks that weigh alot more than that and sit there happily....lift motors sit there with out a problem as well .there huge weigh more too...can't see there's much to worry about.

Would ya worried about putting a big heavy oak book case full of books in your appartment??? Just as much weight???? .....

Most aquariums have cabinets made of wood some times even chip board if that can hold up a tank I'm sure a concrete reinforced floor should be able to cope

I think you've troubled trouble before trouble troubled you to be honest.
Modern apartments do have concrete and steel reinforced floors and ceilings.
Your fish tank wouldn't come come to compromising the floor.
Now that you've opened a can of worms, you will probably be told not to do it as far be it for an architect to give you a cast iron guarantee...

I'd tell him you've changed your mind and just go ahead anyway...

Bohrio wrote:

Hey guys

So as some of you know I am in the process of building a new aquarium. As I wanted to cover all aspects I asked the Apartment complex architech to comfirm what was the floor weight load bearing capacity for my particular apartment. I did this because I found out that on average the number is 250 kg/m2 (or 40 pounds per sq feet) which I thought it was very little.

Well it turns out that it is 250 kg/m2!! Now this are new "state of the art" apartments so I was surprised to see this.

So he will need to come home and asses it in person (as the load bearing will be different depending on where in the house the Tank will be placed)

any of you have ever come across this?

This leaves me with two options, either get him to come in and re-asses (and confirm that It would be safe to install and aquarium there) or get a smaller one (almost have the size)

The funny thing is that, if someone goes wrong I would assume Insurance might not cover any structural damages! Personally I find it ridiculous as myself have a higher loading bear than 250 kg/m2! but I thought it would be interesting for people to know

Heya guys

Yes I know, like I said I just want to cover all options. The quote the Architect gave me was IMO a bit excessive, however, lucky me my wife knows the original builders/architects of my apartment complex so I can easily go to them and ask them to asses it instead of this other guy.

I am more than sure that it is more than capable of withstanding the weight I just wanted to make sure

I have never heard of anyone's aquarium going through the neighbors roof but not everyone has a 1000 k aquarium in an apartment complex.

I am confident that if I stick to the wall I will be fine and this wont stop me from doing it anyway...

thanks for your inputs guys

Experience talking here: worry abut setting things up so that you never have a leak or plumb your system for water changes so you never spill a bucket => water will not only damage your apt the the ones below (i know!) so i would make sure i have overlapping safety systems. Thats where it is worth spending the 500 euros
I had up to 12 tanks on 8th floor, and i am 150KG i would jump up and down and the floor wouldnt bulge.

Miamiheat wrote:

Experience talking here: worry abut setting things up so that you never have a leak or plumb your system for water changes so you never spill a bucket => water will not only damage your apt the the ones below (i know!) so i would make sure i have overlapping safety systems. Thats where it is worth spending the 500 euros
I had up to 12 tanks on 8th floor, and i am 150KG i would jump up and down and the floor wouldnt bulge.

Begs the question, what's a grown man doing jumping around in his apartment?

You don't want to know the damage 400+ litres of water can do to an apartment!
I had a tank let go completely, every drop of water hit the floor in seconds! The apartment 2 floors below was destroyed, so I don't even know what the 1 below was like!
I cleared up and moved out a few days later!!!!!

Insurance paid for the damage! There wasn't a clause in my lease to say I couldnt have a tank so landlord had no option but to put it thru hos insurance

I was researching getting contents insurance for the place we rent, and was surprised to find that most insurance company's will require you to pay the first €1000 of water damage caused by a fishtank, so check your insurance policy to see what it says.
Or be like me, and don't worry about it and hope it never happens!

I had a bit of time to kill yesterday waiting for a customer and did a bit of research....Appartment blocks have a load capacity of 200 kgs per meter squared but that's a live load..there's also a dead load capacity of 1250 per square meter and then there's a safety factor of 1.2 for a live load and 1.6 for a dead load and then there is another safety factor for a wind load on the building and then the added safety factor of how much the builder would of gone above that..be very rare anything would be built to a minimum safety factor.......at the very minimum the floor has a weight load capacity of 2240 kgs per square meter.

carlowchris wrote:

I had a bit of time to kill yesterday waiting for a customer and did a bit of research....Appartment blocks have a load capacity of 200 kgs per meter squared but that's a live load..there's also a dead load capacity of 1250 per square meter and then there's a safety factor of 1.2 for a live load and 1.6 for a dead load and then there is another safety factor for a wind load on the building and then the added safety factor of how much the builder would of gone above that..be very rare anything would be built to a minimum safety factor.......at the very minimum the floor has a weight load capacity of 2240 kgs per square meter.

So what you're saying is... he should get a bigger tank?

the bigger the better..

that's a point how is big is the tank going to be?????

Surely the size of the tank will be limited to the size of the lift....no point building a 6 foot tank if the lifts only 3 foot wide

#

That's some proper research right there!!

lol

Thanks... bigger the better exactly lemon!