Can anyone refer a structural engineer?

[KRG]

I'm trying to find a local structural engineer to come out and analyze the integrity of my living room floor (with finished basement underneath). I've called a couple of companies in the phone book, one does commercial only and the other is booked out at least 2 months. Do any of you know of a company or individual that would be willing to take on this "small" job? I would really like to go forward with my upgrade project but am having trouble just getting past the very first stage.

Thank you!

 

[LakeEd]

I believe Slickdonkey (Brian) contacted a Structural Engineer prior to the addition of his 240... so you might try contacting him for information.

Good luck, and keep us posted about your upcomming project!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

You will have a lot better luck getting a local architect or contractor to give an opinion than getting any engineer to make a site visit. Will need to tell them the problem or specific goal in mind. Your house if recently built, will be constructed along specific guidelines and their load capibilities are available on-line.

 

[KRG]

Please see the drawing I quickly did of my home. My dillema is that I cannont tell from the crawl space if there is any other load bearing walls supporting the kitchen. If not, then the load bearing wall downstairs would be supporting not only the tank in the living room, but the stove and fridge in the kitchen as well (could be bad news.....). Our home was built in 1960 and the load bearing wall downstairs does not have a load bearing wall built directly on top of it. I can't figure out what is supporting the kitchen and the air duct is blocking any good views. I'm not a contractor by any means but I have poured over all of the articles concerning floor support in the resource library here and elsewhere. I did have a contractor out here last month that said no problem, but he never checked the crawl space to notice that the upstairs roof bearing wall is not ontop of the main floor bearing wall downstairs. Sorry for the crude drawing!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

I am not an engineer, am a commercial metal roofing contractor so this is OMHO. The basement/first floor bearing walls support your floor joists which in turn support your loads upstairs. The roof is supported by triangular construction such as trusses. The roof load is supported and pushing outward on your exterior walls, and the ceiling framing (the base of the truss triangle) holds the walls inward. The only real load on a second floor interior wall is to hold the ceiling from bowing down. This is VERY oversimplified. If a contractor looked and said fine, it most likely is fine. Most stoves have very little weight and a fridge isn't bad either. A large tank can have astounding weight. 8 1/3 pounds per gallon before rock which is heavier yet. a 100 gallon tank stand, sand, rock can easily exceed 1000 pounds. Looks like you are placing it over the joists near the load bearing wall. You might be able to view your construction blueprints on record at city hall.

As a side note, I would not put the fridge on top of your stove:lol:

 

[Slickdonkey]

KRG, I'll PM you the name of the guy I used. He never actually came out to my house, but I was able to send him drawings and he ran the numbers for me and told me what needed to be done.

 

[dnjan]

It is very unlikely that the kitchen wall you show is load bearing (for roof loads). You would need larger beams in the basement ceiling to support a load bearing wall that didn't directly line up with support (wall or columns) in the basement.

If you are looking for an engineer to come out and look at a private residence, you may have better chance if you contact a home inspection engineer.

 

[KRG]

Thanks guys, at the moment everything is on hold due to identity theft. My post can be found here: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18293
I will continue with this project as soon as my name is restored. This is such a pain. ~ Krystee

 

[KRG]

Ok, everything is going again (YEAH!). I am fianlly able to spend less time signing affidavits and more time finding stress relief in my hobby! I changed walls, bypassed the structual engineer and hired a contractor to build a load bearing closet downstairs. The project is now the one I originally wanted before weight issues became a problem. It is a through wall going from the living room viewable to the stair case at the main entry of my home. I'm about 3 weeks into the project and making progress.

Here's the thread: http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19336

I'm posting tonight for the address to mail my membership in this month and hope to meet all of you at the next meeting! (Just in case I don't make the meeting I still want to get the membership!)

Thanks for all of your advice.

~ Krystee

 

[dragoneggs]

Krystee,

I am a structural engineer. PM me... I could stop by and take a quick look.

Mark

 

[jsmkmavity]

the most importnt thing to look for is the direction of the joists of the floor under the proposed tank area. if the joists are going the same direction of the tank length then only one or two joists will be supporting the weight, which is not sufficient. if the joists are going perpendicular to the length of the tank then at least 4 or more joists will be supporting the weight. if this tank is sitting on an area of the floor joists that has no wall under it or within a couple feet it should have some extra support. if the S.E. doesnt make it to your house give me some specifics on the framing dimentions and i will help you figure it out.

 

[KRG]

You guys are great!

I did know about most of this, hence the reason I changed walls originally and asked for a structural engineer. I ended up going back to my original plans which was the worst possible place in my house to place a large tank. The wall I chose separates the living room from the stair case coming up from the main entrance of the house. Not only was it a bad location but I also wanted it to go through the wall, viewable from the landing as a moving picture frame and from the living room as a total wall display. My contractor had to build a load bearing "closet" in the basement to support the tank. Yes.....we only had two joists and the staircase wall to work with (ouch). My contractor added 5 TGI's and supports underneath the now 7 joists for the wing walls on the closet. Basically, he built a stand in the basement to support the stand/wall upstairs.

I would love it if you, Mark and jsmkmavity, could take a peak at my other thread which shows all of the construction thus far, and let me know if I'm missing something or constructing this improperly.

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19336


I'm really excited about this project, it definately will take awhile to finish, but someday it will be ready for life!

Mark, If you think a structural engineer should still come out, then let me know, I'll definately pm you to check things out!

Thanks ~ Krystee

 

[dragoneggs]

Krystee,

It does indeed look like it is going to be spectacular! As far as, support under the floor, I cannot tell from your threads whether it is adequate but like jsm mentioned, the first thing to check is which way the joists are running.

For my island tank, unfortunately the joists are parrallel so only two joists are supporting over 3500lb of tank, sump, stand, canopy, and all equipment. I have to go in the crawl space and add cross supports.

If your contractor truly built 'load bearing' walls directly under the tank sides you should be golden.

 

[Slickdonkey]

Here are some pictures of the "before and after" reinforcing my floor, based on the recommendations of the structural engineer. Notice my floor joists are parallel to the tank, so extra support was required (240 gallon tank, 96x24x24). If they had been parallel I doubt there would have been a problem.

View attachment 16933View attachment 16934

 

[KRG]

The joists were parrallel. He cut out the ceiling in the basement and added 5 more joists along side the original 2. He added headers (not sure if this is the correct term) underneath the joists which became the side walls of the closet in the basement. The walls of the closet are anchored to the concrete beneath. I know nothing about construction which is why I hired a framer to figure this out for me. I sure pray that this was the right way to go!

 

[doomus]

I could probaly help you out with this. I'm a structural engineer and work alot with existing houses for several different reasons usually not aquarium related. Sent PM

Dennis

 

[KRG]

Dennis,

Thanks so much for your pm, I appreciate your help! I copied a portion of one of my replies into this thread because it occured to me that my posts might have been a little confusing .

I am very bummed that I didn't get pictures at the start of this project. The contractor I hired is a friend that I've known for about 8 years, he's a framer and builds houses year round. I can tell you that I almost backed out of this project because of the parallel joists but we did have plenty of room in the basement to shore the floor up beneath the tank. I'm not sure if my posts were clear but directly underneath the tank there were only 2 joists + a stair case wall (which was not a load bearing wall). The tank upstairs sits about 1" into the staircase wall. The rest of the tank sits in the living room with an 18" wall built around it. In the basement the length of the closet is the exact length (6') of the tank upstairs. He added a TGI joist against the stair case wall and 1 more TGI on both sides of the other 2 joists. In the 18" width of space there is now 7 joists total. The side walls of the closet are supporting the 7 joists perpendicular and are anchored to the concrete basement floor underneath the carpet and padding.

I do feel confident with my setup so far and hopefully the first phase is covered, thanks!