# does anyone have a guess if this wall is load bearing or not



## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

I have a wall I want to put a tank on and am curious what every thinks about this wall is it load bearing or not?










let me know what you think


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

it is the wall that the tank is on.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

In an apartment building it's unlikely that wall is load-bearing, but that is a total guess.

What size tank are you hoping to put there? It may be a moot point unless it's 5 or 6 feet...

kevin


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## roffels (Jul 27, 2010)

a load bearing wall is know as an outside wall so one that on the outside of the house like a living room or bedroom wall ... its called load bearing because it takes all the weight of the roof and walls on it .... but if your apartment has concrete floors (you can tell by jumping or stomping on the floor) then you have no prob because i know someone who had a 160 gallon in her apartment with just concrete floors and it was not on a load bearing wall and it was fine


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## kiaratrak (Aug 6, 2010)

I would get someone in to check it if you are worried - internal walls can be load bearing it depends on the construction. I would give it a god tap all over and see if it sounds hollow. But get it checked - you don't want alot of angry neighbours! lol


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## fox (Jun 11, 2009)

I agree with the poster above in that internal walls can be load bearing. It would be more obvious knowing what the floor plan was under these rooms when guessing which walls are bearing walls..

I would "guess" that wall is NOT bearing but it very well COULD be. More than likely that center wall is the "bearing" wall supporting the floor joist's/ ceiling above.


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## pistolpete (Dec 28, 2009)

I have framed several similar buildings, and typically the exterior walls and the partition walls between units are load bearing, not walls within a unit. What size tank are you putting in?


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

125 6ft tank

*roffels* how do I tell if it is a cement floor?

I am pretty sure that the floor above me and the one below are the same floor plan.


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## roffels (Jul 27, 2010)

well my sister lives in an apartment that has the concrete floors and when you jump or stomp hard you can tell if it is because it usually hurts your foot and is extremely solid and doesn't really make a boom sound when you hit it


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

I think mine is cement but a very thin layer.
I am not worried about the floor I was just curious if the wall was load bearing or not.
I believe that it will hold it with zero problems.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

So close to the exterior wall you're probably in good shape.

But it may not hurt to check your apartment's policy on large tanks - many have rules about them. It's a tricky situation because if the answer is "no big tanks" then you've blown your cover.

Even if you don't check with your building, it's worth a call to your insurance company to see if you can buy some flood coverage.

kevin


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

I have insurance already and the wall is about 7ft long and 5ft of it is actually an exterior wall. 
mi picture is not a very good one but the wall the tank is on most of it is exterior and then my bedroom is puched back from it.


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## AC (Jul 26, 2010)

You are looking at about 1500 lbs filled with water and rock.

I wouldn't trust it.


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

*AC*
so does everyone that has a tank over 75 gal have to put in the basement or ground level?

Im also not to worried because it is on an outer wall and my bathtub is and over sized one and it sits where there is no load bearing wall.

I just wanted peoples input on if they believe it is a load wall or not because I do not know to much about architecture.

thanks you everyone for your input I got the tank and am building the stand right now and will be starting a post about the entire process.


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## AC (Jul 26, 2010)

Ya know...

I am thinking I may have mistunderstood what you meant by 'a wall you want to put it on' in that I belived you wanted to actually set it on top of a divider wall.

Now I am starting to think you meant that you were just going to set it in front of that wall.

It really depends on what kind of a floor you have in that case and not so much if the wall is load bearing.

If you have carpeting, go to one corner and pull the carpeting back just enough so that you can see if the flooring is concrete or wooden.

Then take a smaller hammer and tap the carpeting back down onto the tacking strips after you have determined what is underneath it.

If the building has a restriction on waterbeds, you may have a structural issue.

A water bed would actually have less weight per square foot than the aquarium...

It could just be a 'safety restriction' to ward off potential problems too.

I know a lot of property management companies don't want exesive internal water problems.


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## matthew1884 (Jul 24, 2009)

thanks, it will sit in front of it, a little miss communication. I will have to pull the carpet back and see.
I will have to ask about waterbeds just to see and I do know that is is less psi for a waterbed because a bed has a larger footprint.

another question is, is there anyway to tell what way the floor joists run?


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## AC (Jul 26, 2010)

The only way you can be 100% sure is to examine them.

Or detailed blue prints....


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