Strengthen floor for aquariums

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You can cut the joints around each piece of tile, called the grout line.
I would then use a chisel to try to pop from the center with a piece of wood on the other piece.
I usually just break em with a hammer and replace with more tile or an access as best you can, you will never see it.
And you only need a 1 foot square hole to start, do it by the back of the wall. You'll be fine.:)
 
Are there any vents at all around the addition area or the existing home that will allow a peak into the crawl. Also most important is there a crawl under existing house? Because if there is you can get in through there and cut your peep hole over the top of foundation and see under addition without harming floor. If none of this helps, I'm with the Inspector, move stove or fridge and cut access hole there. Just one tile and look with a mirror and flashlight, if it is enough height to work in than I would definitely hire a mason to cut an access in from outside to allow entrance of long 4x6, this is what you will need to run under tanks larger than 150gal. If the joist runs with tank, a 4x4 under each end of tank from bottom of joist to a pier block is fine. If dirt is soft and easy to disturb you will want to rake a flat spot and hand pour a form 24"x24"x10" and post on that on both ends. If joists run across short side of tank run 4x6 length of tank plus to reach next farthest joist and post same way with poured block. Use crack resistant fiber reinforced mix for this. If ground is dry and firm a simple pier block will suffice under these. If you cut access through foundation make sure and cut under length of joists and not under the butt ends. This way you won't need special headers over access. Just thought you might need one more opinion, always here to help and good luck.......
 
There are vents around the perimeter of the house, but there is a board in front of them so you can't actually see into the crawl space. There is no access from the original part of the house. :(

How do I tell where the joists are, so that when I do try to get visual access I don't cut through one?

Thanks for all the help you guys have been great.
 
Use the depth adjustment on you circular saw. start at 3/4'' then start going deeper if you dont make it through. Can you take some picture of the outside of the house and include the sides with the vents and your exterior doors. maybe be can help you find a way to make an access from the outside.
 
We went down so I was able to get a picture. We got down there a bit late so it was dark so I had to use the flash so I was only able to get one picture before the battery died. I forgot to reset the white balance so it turned out blue and when I got rid of the blue it was left in black and white, which is much easier to see details than the blue.
vent.jpg

There is another vent like this on the back of the house. The inside of the vent is covered by a board, I don't know if it's a joist or not as I don't know how to tell which way the joists are running.

We'll be going down again tomorrow or friday so I can try again to get some pictures.
 
We went down again today for pictures. I went around to the back to get some pictures of the back vent and I could see into it more. It looks like there is only about 6 inches between the ground and the joists. So it looks like the original plan wont work.

We were thinking that we could cut out the floor where we will put the aquariums and put some cinder blocks, or something else, under where the joists. To do this I would need to dig down to the hard dirt, but I am unsure what to use to fill in the space between the cinder blocks and the joists to make it a tight fit.

Thanks for any input.
 
It's going to get messy and expensive really quick if you have to tear up hardwoods or tile to get access to this 6" area....Maybe you could look again for these specific things. How tall and wide are the floor joists? Which way do they run in relation to the tanks? What's on top of them looking from underneath? Is it like 2x6 boards layed flat? Or plywood? How close are floor joists together? And how far across do they run? I know this sounds like a lot especially with the window of sight you have, but trust me, all the answers you can get will help you out....Good luck again...
 
That sucks... at least you didnt cut a hole in your hard wood floors. if you have 2x8's support them every 6 to 7 feet, 2x10's 8 to 9 feet. You can use half blocks, bricks, pavers, ceder shingles, lumber (oak boards ideal). really anything flat and solid.
 
triple D, I wasn't able to see much, it is a small space to look into. Perhaps the sun will come out again this coming week and I'll get some better light.

guyod, Thanks for the input.

Is there anyway to cut through the hardwood and the sub floor and then pull that as a unit off the joists? If not can we pull up part of the wood flooring without pulling up all of it?

Here is a quick floor plan that I created with where we are thinking about putting the tanks. We changed our mind about going for the 360 gallon, we can get the entire 210 setup for less than just the 360 gallon tank. The joists appear to run parallel to the 210 gallon tank. I am not sure if the Kitchen is part of the addition or the original house, it would be mighty convenient if the kitchen was part of the original house, but I would hold my breath.
house.png


The 80 gallon is along a wall.
Thanks for the help, and any additional advice.
 
You can do that. Cut a 32" or 48" (depends on the joists spacing) wide by about a foot shorter than the length of the tank under the tank. That way the tanks with hide the seam. Use the thinnest circular saw blade you can find probably will be a ply wood blade. A carbon tip will leave to wide of a gap. You have to make sure you are cutting directing over the joist and in the center. if you wander off it you are in trouble. I would try and get some light under the house. Then take a small drill bit and drill a series of holes on the line your cutting making sure you dont see any light through the holes.
 
Thanks, that helps a lot.

Is there anyway to tell where the joists are so I'll know where to cut?
 
Try some ducttape and a stick with a small 12 inch mirror under the crawlspace vent hole you had. That and a flashlight may help out.
 
Cut your ends first ,perpindictular to the joists, remember to set your depth gadge. This will locate your middle joist. From there it will be 16 or 24 inches each way. carefull not to go past the center joists with the saw. You can try drilling small holes on your saw line to find it.
 
Thanks for the info.

InspectorD- I don't think I could fit a 12inch mirror in the vent, so I don't think that would work so well.

guyod- I think I'll be able to start cutting tomorrow, I'll let you know how it goes.

You guys have been great, thanks for the help. As always, anymore info is always welcome.
 
make sure you use cedar shingles they are about 6 inches wide and hammer them as much as possible. so you get a really tight fit between the peir and floor joists. any settling or gap will mean your floors will sag. If you want you can even use a jack to lift up on the floor joist while you hammer the shims in.
 
get your saw marks touching then use a hand saw, a series of holes or a thin chiesel /screwdriver. as long as you have a clean cut on top it doesnt matter how much you butcher the bottom.
 
Thanks for the response. I used my long lost hand held jigsaw with the depth adjusted just above the joist, it seemed to work well.

The problem I have now is that I have cut my hole but I can't get the floor to come up. I am not sure what to do to help it up.

Thanks for all the help.
 
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