Tile Flooring.... (1 Viewer)

[Wildfire]

Okay, I'm having a tile floor put down in the next 2 weeks so that the house is somewhat protected from my fish tanks. However, the contractor cautioned me to very selectively pick out the tile that I use, as he is concerned about it getting (in his words)

"crushed into little tiny particles"

by my tank... Anyone out there have a tile floor under their tank? Can you think of something that I might be able to ask the tile people at (say, for instance) Home Depot that will help them help me pick out a "good tile"

Thanks!

 

[pernelf]

I recently had a tile floor put in my fish room, I bought some of the 12x12 cheap tiles that were glazed for .89 each at Lowes. I just made sure that the surface was pretty even and smooth and not a rough texture. I currently have 2 75 gallon tanks and a 30 gallon tank in there an not problems. The only chips are from me dropping something on the floor like a screw driver.

 

[Wildfire]

Just for reference, the new MAIN tank is going to be 250G + 55G Sump + Fuge + + + +..... Over a 84" x 26" area. I'm thinking about putting down a small (84 x 36 or so) peice of plywood under the stand to better evenly spread the weight out.....

I'm ALSO looking at maybe (just maybe) being able to keep my 135 up and running on the other other wall...... That would be 250G X 10lbs per gallon + 135G x 10lbs per gallon = 3850 pounds of WATER (then plus the glass, stands, rock, and sand......) Needless to say, this is going ON THE SLAB....

I've had Porcelain tile recommended for the weight....

 

[RobertR]

Tilel

Hi, we moved into our home almost 3 years ago, prior to moving in I had Italian tile installed in a large family room that had carpet in it. Once the tile and grout were completely dry I set up my 135 gallon reef tank. No special request just had them install it. To this day we haven't had a problem with cracks or anything.

If I could do it over I would have had them installed a heater prior to laying the tile. It's some sort of long electrical heating element (cord) that runs underneath the tile and will heat the tile up a little bit for warmth in the winter time. I hear it doesn't cost that much either. The tile tends to get pretty cold on those winter mornings. But it's awesome during the middle of summer, the whole room seems to be a lot cooler. Hope this helps, Good Luck.

PS I kept about 8 pieces of tile in case one should crack, to this day I haven't' had to use not one.

 

[pernelf]

I guess you're best bet might be to call Home Depot or Lowes and see what they recommend for tile in regards to a lot of weight being on the tiles.

 

[rhane71]

My 200 gal tank sits on tile and I have no problems. As long as you give the tile a good cure time you should not have any problems. As a matter of fact I dropped a 10 Lb sledge hammer on my tile and only a chip came out. My daugher was hammering nails into a piece of wood on the tile floor and when it went through it cracked on of the tiles. You will be suprised how strong glazed tile actually is. I would wait a few weeks to make sure you tile is firmly in place and cured. That way you dont have a problem..

abran

 

[aqua-nut]

One thing you may not have considered is your slab... is it rated to have that much weight in such a small square footage?

Tile cracking may be the least of your worries.

I'd call a slab specialist to come out and tell you how it might affect your house.

Not to scare you or anything.... it's just a preventative measure!

 

[AggieBrandon]

As long as your foundation was built well before your slab was poured then you should be fine. Concrete is very strong and can resist a lot of weight on top of it...as long as the foundation it sits on is nice and compact. We have a concrete driveway here and I am constantly driving heavy machinery on top of it without any problems. I think it is 4-6 inches thick and maybe 10 feet wide. Just the other day I hade my 3/4 ton truck loaded with feed on the back and pulling a fertilizer spreader with 3 tons of fertilizer in it parked on the driveway for many hours and didn't have a problem.

Brandon

 

[bigbird123]

I'm in the construction field and you should not have a problem. the concrete is able to handle hundreds of pounds per square foot! i have a 110ga with 30ga sump and a 58ga with 20ga sump all on a pier and beam wooden floor in my living room. that's alot of weight for wood floor but i'm not concerned. concrete is very hard and can stand alot of weight and as for tile, if it is installed right--it can handle the weight also. the proper way is to make sure you have the right bed of grout.


steve