# Carpentry question: levelling feet and wooden floors



## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

To all the experienced woodworkers, structural engineers and anyone else that might have a clue...
Will the weight of my tank (40 gallon, so 400+ lbs.) bearing down on 4 leveling feet damage wooden flooring?

My stand is built as seen here, only bigger: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...urnals/48949-new-low-light-low-tech-15-a.html
with a 2x4 frame running the entire length along the bottom. I would like to add these leveling feet:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...32-another-simple-aquarium-stand-cabinet.html
but I am concerned that over time they could pierce into my flooring.

Any ideas?


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

Well, since the weight of the tank is being focused on four points and not spread out, it may cause damage over time. I would put something underneath each foot that causes the weight to be distributed over an area, like sqaure piece of plywood. Or you could put a nice carpet under the aquarium, something that is stiff and strong.
Good luck


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

I use those leveling feet on a ten gallon tank - quite a bit lighter than a 40 gallon, of course, but I'm pretty sure they are rated for a high enough weight to be used on a 40 gallon tank too. The "pads" are about 1 1/2" in diameter, so the load is spread out some. Womens shoe heels are a lot smaller in diameter, and they rarely damage wood floors if they aren't the extremely small spike heels.

For a 40 gallon tank, each foot will have about 100 pounds on it, with an area of about 1 3/4 square inches. That gives a pressure loading of only 57 pounds per square inch. That isn't much load.


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## Afyounie (Aug 10, 2007)

Wood has its soft spots, and your tank is not uniform in weight. There will be more weight on some feet than others. I would imagine though that those feet won't do much damage since they are fairly large though. I think though that as time goes on damage could occur. I still would take the precaution of putting down a carpet underneath. Its up to you Minsc and how you want the area that the tank occupies to look.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

You might put more feet under the stand, such as 6 (ends and middle) or 8 (4 across the front and 4 across the back).

How you level the ones under the stand, at the back would be an interesting question, but this would distribute the weight even more.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Thanks everyone! I'm leaning towards using six feet. It will distribute the weight better and help prevent any bowing of the stand. Of course, it is likely none of this would be an issue anyway, but I have a tendency to severely over engineer everything

Adding a rug underneath the stand would be a good option, but it simply won't work in the room. It is either the leveling feet or shims... Hopefully there will be no damage, otherwise I guess I'll have to pay for some repairs when I move out!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

You could put coasters under each leveling pad to further spread out the load. If the tank sits in the same spot for many years it will mark the wood floor to some degree no matter what you do. All furniture that stays in one position that long does that.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

Wow, these things are serious hardware! I was not expecting quite so big and heavy duty.
The package says each foot is rated for 600lbs!

I ended up using just four, offset from the corners a bit. Underneath each foot I ended up using a small square of carpet. Apparently you can buy outdated carpet samples for $.50

I'm really happy with this solution, thanks for the help everyone! Now if I can just get a tank to put on the stand.....


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