Basement Floor

[cyberloach]

I'm going to tackle finishing the basement next week. The floor is concrete and we are putting down laminate. The question is for the subfloor I was planning on using this blue egg crate material from homedepot as it is much more economical than the plywood/Styrofoam option, will this stuff hold up a 100-150 gal tank?

 

[cyberloach]

Here's the link http://www.homedepot.ca/product/mobileproduct/813313

Stuff says it cam take 6000psi but I'm not sure I buy that

 

[Pistol]

It's 6000 pounds per square foot not inch.
It depends on what the bottom of the stand is.

 

[RWH]

I would think if you have a cabinet type stand where the weight is more evenly displaced it shouldn't be a concern.
Not sure about those metal stands ( square tube type legs)?
How thick is the laminate flooring that you are using?

 

[cyberloach]

12mm

 

[cyberloach]

I was think I could put a piece of ply under where the tank may go or a piece under the tank stand

 

[Pistol]

I think I would put a piece of ply under where the tank will be, the sub floor might not crush evenly and the tank might go out of level.

 

[TORX]

Keep in mind that the 12mm flooring will disperse the pressure across a larger area of the subfloor. At 6000psf, 6000 pounds per square foot, that is more then most of our tanks weigh in total. I would not put this directly under a tank stand, but with the 12mm flooring as a buffer, you should be more then fine.

 

[RWH]

If you haven't purchased your laminate yet, one thing you might want to make sure of is that it has a good water or moisture
resistance to it. Not all laminates do. The edges are treated for water resistance on the products that do. We put laminate in our
kitchen at the last house we had and the other thing we did was seal the quarter inch gaps along the walls behind the counter where the sink and dishwasher were. In the event of a water spill, this prevents the water from seeping back underneath the laminate. The laminate can still expand and contract as the silicone has some give to it. I would put it along the entire wall the tank is on and adjacent wall to the tank...
There are also some really good "click" vinyl floorings out there now. Some of which is just as thick as some of the laminates and
in some great finishes. Mannington has a good product line of both kinds of laminates. Best advice I can give you, is that you get
what you will get what you pay for with laminates...that's been my experience with it..