laminate flooring and an aquarium
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Topic: laminate flooring and an aquarium
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Subject: laminate flooring and an aquarium
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 4:34pm
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We are looking at installing laminate flooring. My 90 gal would sit on it. Has anyone had any problems with the height being too much for the flooring? Has it cracked it? pressed into it? anything like that? I am not sure how strong that stuff is. Thanks
------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Replies:
Posted By: Ed Taylor
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 4:36pm
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Mine is doing fine.
------------- 155 Bowfront 90 tall, tangs, softies 70 tall, fresh 72 bowfront FO (sons tank) 55 fresh (sons) 30 hex fresh (daughter's) |
Posted By: john hill
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:14pm
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just use tile or marble much nicer and will not come loose if you get it wet ------------- out with the large and in with the nano |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:17pm
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it is in the living room and my wife wants the wooden floors. it is not linoleum it is the laminate wood flooring.
------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: john hill
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:33pm
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oh sorry ------------- out with the large and in with the nano |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 5:34pm
 ------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: ReefBones
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 6:22pm
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I think you would be fine ... just make sure that you seal the seems really good .... laminate flooring is pretty tuff stuff ------------- 140 gallon Reef 65 gallon Reef 55 gallon Aggressive www.thesalttank.com 801-865-6074 "encourage other divers and sea enthusiasts to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles" |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 6:24pm
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that is another concern if I have a flood it would probably warp the heck out of the stuff. is there some sort of sealent I could use to protect it? Well I assume there is since bulter just told me so :) but what do I use?? ------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: ReefBones
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 6:29pm
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I am not sure what the best sealent would be .... I know they seal it when they put it into bathrooms and kitchens ...
ya know the best person to ask is Adam .. he is putting hardwoof floors in his lab at his house .... ------------- 140 gallon Reef 65 gallon Reef 55 gallon Aggressive www.thesalttank.com 801-865-6074 "encourage other divers and sea enthusiasts to take nothing but pictures and leave nothing but bubbles" |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 6:41pm
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DO NOT PUT YOUR AQUARIUM on a laminate "pre engineered" floor. These floors are designed to free float. THEY ARE NOT TIED DOWN TO THE FLOOR. If you tie it down to the floor by putting that much weight on it IT WILL separate at the seams as it expands and contracts. If you look at the warranty of the flooring you will find that it is not warrantied against WATER DAMAGE or SEAM SEPARATION from extreme weight being applied. Your tank well qualifies for EXTREME WEIGHT.
All laminate flooring being produced now, is a compressed mdf core. When wet for any length of time it will swell and come apart. Light mopping fine....fishtank flood bad. Any questions?
THEY DO NOT SEAL LAMINATE FLOORS IN ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. The floor is Laminate= phenolic resin and paper. No sealer will stick to it. Old laminate floors were glued together so you had some protection with the glue. All new flooring is either snap together or press fit. (Thank you home centers)
------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: Adam Blundell
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 9:27pm
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I'm not worried about putting my tanks on laminate floors. I've been very pleased with them in the past.
Adam ------------- Come to a meeting, they�re fun! |
Posted By: trunks
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 9:29pm
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What about bamboo flooring? I know it can be installed just like tongue and groove pergo type stuff, and it's not MDF based (the stuff I have seen is all bamboo) I think it's a bit more pricey, but should be a lot more water resistant. |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 23 2007 at 11:27pm
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Bamboo hardwood (or grass) is like any other hard wood. It is not installed like pergo. It is nailed down. Pre finished has a few issues when wet due to the seams not being finished but it will be much better than laminate.
I only say all of this because as a company I have installed just about every kind of pre engineered flooring out there. Ive also installed hard wood.(we are going to install 3500sqft of unfinished bamboo flooring in august). I have seen many damaged floors due to flooding as well as separated floors due to parts of it being pinned down with excessive weight.
Just my 2 cents. ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:36am
My husband is a tile setter! LOL. ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:55am
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Best thing to do IMO. ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 2:45am
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My 120 is on laminate flooring. I specifically used it so I could easily re-carpet. I've not had any problems in about 8 years. At the time, the seams were glued. I;ve had plenty of water on it, but I do try and get it up right away. I think Dion is right on - standing water over a long period will be a problem. It would be a problem with hardwood as well. Tile is the best option, although not necessarily the most attractive in some settings.
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Posted By: EagleEyez5
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 3:26am
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Dion is right on the money.....I sell hardwood floors and pre made floors......the problem is that you may have a some what water resistant layer on the floor, but as soon as the water passes....for example in a flood......it gets though the cracks and down to the subfloor.....once it reaches the subfloor the game is over.....I don't know any company that takes the time to seal or even treat the bottom of the hardwood before they install it.....all of your water protection is on the surface....you know the polyurethane finish you walk on...there is no protection on the sides of the wood or on the back....
Just my 3 cents Just make sure you are covered by your insurance and your check was on time.......  ------------- http://www.highendcorals.com/"> 
WMAS PAID SPONSOR |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 10:38am
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this is good. i want to leave carpet in the living room and wood everywhere else on the main level, my wife wants it all wood ( It's a Scandinvian thing!:)) now maybe i can convince her to leave carpet in that room. Thanks all ------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: Shane H
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 11:20am
| TI'm not a big fan of placing your aquarium on a carpeted floor. At least not an aquarium that is of any volume. The problems you have with laminate and hardwood are just compounded with carpet. The problems that Jerry mentioned with the subfloor are even worse in this case. There is absolutely no chance of catching flooded water with carpet. At least with laminate or real wood floor covering, you might stand a chance! I'm not a big fan of placing your aquarium on a carpeted floor. |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 11:45am
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well in that case the only place to put an aquarium in most houses in our region is the bathroom. pretty much any floor you put it on is going to be a problem if it foods unless it is tile, which i am not puting in a family room. my question was more about the weight on the laminate flooring and crushing it. I have come to the conclusion that it really doesn't matter what floor I put in. all have pros and cons that i will just have to deal with......IF it becomes a problem. ------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: tileman
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:03pm
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You're exactly right. I believe everyone was just trying to give their opinion on what would be the best solution. Tile is probably the best solution, but not necessarily the most asthetic look you want. ------------- 335G Reef TOTM. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2015/2/aquarium ReefKeepers TOTM Feb. 2012 http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....k-of-the-month & |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 12:12pm
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We got lucky in our living room. The people that lived here before had a wood burning stove and had an area of the carpet cut out and had laminate on it. We replaced that with tile. So we just have a corner of our room with tile. It doesn't look bad. If we sell our house, that space can be used for a fireplace or another wood burning stove. ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 3:33pm
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Taylor, You asked an opinion and your getting them. Unless you build your home around your tank then you have to make risk assessment choices. I had a tank on a oak hardwood floor and when the sump cracked it ruined the floor. Currently I have a 125 and a 120 on carpet. Not a great idea in my opinion but it was what I had. My 75 is built in to book cases. That is a disaster waiting to happen if its not thought out beforehand. I have shower liner under and around it. If it overflows (and it did) it is caught in the pan and goes out the back into a furnace room with a floor drain. If I hadn't thought through the design I would have had ruined books and cabinets.
My new 330g system will be spread from a carpet area to the book case and into th above mentioned utility room. We are in the process of designing the carpet area to have a pan of sorts under the tank in case of leaks. That will go back to the utility room a floor down and behind the tanks.
Again its all about risk assessment. Its my opinion that its a very bad idea to put a system that weighs that much on a floating floor. I have 15 years experience on the goods and bads of these flooring options. 8 years ago they were all glued together and were a much better floor than today. The home centers made it easy to use and that ruined it "in my opinion".
YOU need to make that assessment for YOU. We are offering our opinions and why thats so. If you have specific question contact me or Eagle Eyes and hopefully we can answer any technical questions that you may have. ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: taylorwaldron
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 5:50pm
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oh i wasn't being ungratefull for your comments or anything. I appreciate them! Just seeing what would be best. I like the idea of putting the tile in the spot my aquarium is. Thanks for your input ------------- www.taylorwaldron.com Chuck Norris does not sleep, he waits. Hyv� Suomi! |
Posted By: Corey Price
Date Posted: June 24 2007 at 5:50pm
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Linoleum isn't a bad choice, but not even close to being as nice. I would prefer tile or a bare concrete floor over anything else. Although I have carpet under the tank, all of my sump and other equipment are downstairs, and so the little bit of water spillage from sticking my hand in the tank and bringing it out is not worth worrying about. Just my two cents. |
Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 6:55pm
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I think that you need to think about 3 factors; tank weight, and what it will do to flooring; "small" water protection (spills of less than a gallon - like a leaking plastic bag or 'missing' with some topoff water, for example); and flood protection (cracked sump, broken overflow, etc)...
Starting with the last, I think we all must admit that there is really no flooring that is "floodproof" - there are just degrees of effectiveness. In that regard I dont think there would be much difference between difficulties encountered with a "flooded" carpet vs. a laminate floor. Both are going to be a real pain in the event of a large leak, spill, or 'flood'.
For smaller issues, I like to lay down some clear plastic runner material under the stand. That will hold maybe a gallon or 2 of water long enough for it to be mopped up without it ever reaching the 'good' floor coverings...
For the tank weight issue I would put a piece of plywood down to make the weight distribution as spread out as possible. With the laminate, I would glue all the pieces that will be under the tank together - even if it is "snap together" laminate - to make it act like 1 big piece "floating" with the rest of the flooring. And buy an extra box and store it away; someday you may remove that tank and in case the floor below looks funny you could just replace it...
While I agree that laminate flooring under a 90g is probably not the smartest move, I don't feel that carpet is neccesarily any better of an option in terms of floodproofing... and bottom line is you gotta do what makes the "better half" happy... if you want to be "happy"
 ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: EagleEyez5
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 10:41pm
Never a truer statement......I was not saying that I would not use hardwood.....I was just expressing the concern if there is a major flood.......but if there is a major flood you should call your insurance and hopefully they will replace everything for you.........I actually would put it on hardwood......but real wood..... You should figure out what corner you are going to put it in and allow about 12 inches to over lap on all sides......there are some cheap clearance woods you could buy and just install 10 square feet........the finish is really easy as well......just a hand sander and some poyurethane wipe on from home depot.....if you do it yourself it would only cost you less than a $100.00.....obviously if I could find you a wood on clearance for .99 per foot......lay out and mark the pieces and bring them ove and I will cut them for you.....If your interested give me a call (801) 631-2013 ------------- http://www.highendcorals.com/">
WMAS PAID SPONSOR |
carlso63 wrote:Posted By: BobC63
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 11:10pm
The only reason I would use the same grade under the tank as the rest of f the room is what happens if you move the tank for any reason (to a different room, get a bigger / smaller tank instead, etc) - now part of your floor doesn't match the rest... Worse yet, what if it works OK for 5 - 10 years, then you decide to sell the house? Now you will probably want to run out and redo the entire room as the original flooring is no longer available and you don't want to try to sell with 2 different types of flooring, even if it all looks "OK" in terms of wear... that is why I would buy enough extra to redo where the tank sits - just in case.
And the reality is that in any case a major flood is going to raise issues that no flooring can handle. In my case we had a clean freshwater flood in our finished basement level, where my tank was located. Even though the water level was not more than a few millimeters over the carpet surface, the entire rooms carpet was soaked. We were able to pretty much remove all the standing (fresh) water but could not pull the carpet up unless we tore down the 125g tank, which would have been a major hassle...
Bottom line was 2 years later we sold the house; the original carpeting looked fine except where the tank was; water that seeped into the stand then bled into the carpet and ruined it exactly and only under the stand... we didn't find out until we took the tank out of the house and the only recourse was to have a pro come in on short notice and replace the entire carpet / padding as the closing was 48 hrs away... a $900 lesson learned.
Hopefully you won't ever experience anything like that but the truth is I would just get the flooring that you like and don't worry... either you may have a minor spill or 2 and nothing will affect the flooring, or (heaven forbid) something drastic will happen and quite frankly whatever flooring you have will probably be ruined anyway... ------------- - My Current Tank: 65g Starfire (sitting empty for 2+ years) - * Marine & Reef tanks since 1977 * |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 11:36pm
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I think, If you have a major concern about substrates, Sheer factors, Water proofing, Water drainage, Cost effectiveness, Apearance, Visit one of the local TILE STORES, where they have all the numbers,prep,and cost of said material,asap....(they now have tile wich resembels pergo, and any flavor of hard wood.) I still lean in the direction of stone, marble, tile, with a proper substrate! Heck, put a drain under it add a shower pan build a curb, I ll swear the thing will hold 50 + gallons of water! will do some damage to your stand, WONT GET YER CARPET WET!!!! ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 11:43pm
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B T W How do you water proof ay hard wood flooring?? Snap together or lamnet? Pergo? Is there some kind of new crazy,sick,holy crap sealer now a days?? ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 25 2007 at 11:48pm
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Im sorry for the rant, Ilove what i do> Good luck with your project, call if you need help!! Jeff ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Mike Savage
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 8:06am
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If you do tile I HIGHLY RECOMMEND JEFF (frednwilma1999) He has done a lot of tile work for me and it was a great experience and GORGEOUS work. Call me if you would like to see it. Mike -------------  |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 8:29am
I'm looking at the time and I think you might be having one with the fish.
You can not water proof hardwood or sudo hard wood.
The original question was if laminate flooring will be OK. Anything/everything will be OK is you can live with the risk factor. Gluing "pergo floor" together in one spot is the same as putting a 1000lb reef on it. It will separate somewhere close to the "pinned" area. This might not happen immediately (though I have seen it happen overnight) but it eventually will. If a little/or a lot of separation is OK then go for it. Its good looking and easy to clean.
We all have our own opinions and as long as you and your spouse is happy then do it. You can drive yourself crazy trying to decide what is the "best" choice or course to follow. WEIGH the risk factors on all of your choices and go for it.
Remember....ITS ALL ABOUT THE REEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |
Posted By: EagleEyez5
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 4:46pm
Like I said earlier:
I was only giving you an cheap solution that will look great...if you layout/design the room the right way, with a combination of hardwood and carpet, there will be no problem when you resale.......I have seen alot of houses that use this combo to design and accent one section of the room......obviously if there is no major flood before then.....you may have to scuff, lightly sand, and refinish the floor....but that is a $15 to $20 fix when you move..... Boy do I love a good discussion...... ------------- http://www.highendcorals.com/">
WMAS PAID SPONSOR |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 7:26pm
Sorry about the rant. I wish I would've been having one with the fishes. Long day. Enough said.......
P.S. Contempo/American Olean will have all the info you need about tile and waterproofing. IMO I wouldn't go any other way! ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Debbles
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 7:27pm
Thanks Mike!! Love ya, Call me about your Candy Cane!!!!! I'm HOME! ------------- Yes Mikey...I still have fins!!! |
Posted By: Dion Richins
Date Posted: June 26 2007 at 7:30pm
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Sounds like an Ainsworth moment ------------- http://www.customaquariumfurniture.com" rel="nofollow - Bad "censored" Cabinets Best quality in the valley! He is one sexy bald guy, even with out a finger!(MAC) |