Hey all -
Excited to be getting my first tank - a 40 g breeder. The wife and I have very limited (okay only 1) option of places to put it - on an existing built in wall unit in our living room. After some good advice on an earlier thread I have formulated a plan to reinforce it to hold the weight - would love your thoughts on if it is not enough / too much / just right:
The wall unit is here, it is against/built into a load bearing wall and 2x10 joists run perpendicular, 18" apart:
I have done some drawings on how the cabinet itself is currently supported and built below:
The top surface of shelf is supported by 2x3's and vertical dividers between cabinets 1&2 and 3&4. There is currently no support or vertical divider between the middle two cabinets. on the bottom, the full units is supported by two large beams that sit squarely over two joists in the middle of the cabinet. There are two 2x4 legs in the front of the cabinet, and there is a 3/4" piece that runs along the wall supporting 3 sides.
My plan:
If you've read this far, thank you.
I would like to do two things:
1 - Build a "deck" from 2x4s and a 3/4" plywood that would sit on top of the existing shelf. I envision it as a 2x4 square frame with one cross brace in the middle and the plywood covering the whole surface. This will give me some extra height on the tank, protect the cabinet surface, and ensure the weight is distributed
2- Add two box frames inside the cabinet in the front and back to provide additional vertical support. Not sure how big the wood needs to be for these, hoping to get away w/ 2x3's
Drawings of both below:
Does this seem sufficient? My main concern is that the unit weight isn't better distributed across more joists, but I would love to avoid ripping the baseboards out and replacing them (which is the only way I could add supports under the cabinet)
Excited to be getting my first tank - a 40 g breeder. The wife and I have very limited (okay only 1) option of places to put it - on an existing built in wall unit in our living room. After some good advice on an earlier thread I have formulated a plan to reinforce it to hold the weight - would love your thoughts on if it is not enough / too much / just right:
The wall unit is here, it is against/built into a load bearing wall and 2x10 joists run perpendicular, 18" apart:
I have done some drawings on how the cabinet itself is currently supported and built below:
The top surface of shelf is supported by 2x3's and vertical dividers between cabinets 1&2 and 3&4. There is currently no support or vertical divider between the middle two cabinets. on the bottom, the full units is supported by two large beams that sit squarely over two joists in the middle of the cabinet. There are two 2x4 legs in the front of the cabinet, and there is a 3/4" piece that runs along the wall supporting 3 sides.
My plan:
If you've read this far, thank you.
I would like to do two things:
1 - Build a "deck" from 2x4s and a 3/4" plywood that would sit on top of the existing shelf. I envision it as a 2x4 square frame with one cross brace in the middle and the plywood covering the whole surface. This will give me some extra height on the tank, protect the cabinet surface, and ensure the weight is distributed
2- Add two box frames inside the cabinet in the front and back to provide additional vertical support. Not sure how big the wood needs to be for these, hoping to get away w/ 2x3's
Drawings of both below:
Does this seem sufficient? My main concern is that the unit weight isn't better distributed across more joists, but I would love to avoid ripping the baseboards out and replacing them (which is the only way I could add supports under the cabinet)
