suppourting cold tank in loft?

Question

I'm moving the 50 G cold tank from the kitchen to the loft. I want to place it on platform suppourted by two high (head height) purlins (approx

17"x10") against the end gable wall (house is end terrace).

I have bought some 47mm x 147 mm joists which can support a dead load of

127 kg and an imposed load of 153 kg across the span of 2.7 m, with joists at 400 mm centres. Total 280

Weight of water in tank is (if all of the tank is full with 50G?) 246 kg

I'll put 3 joists at 300 mm centres.

Does this seem ok?

Will I overload the purlins?

Alternatively; Should I attach a joist to the gable wall, a joist between the purlins and then joists between these - so that half the weight is taken by the wall?

If the alternative is recommended, how do I attach the joist to the brick wall - Screwfix fixings are on page s 26-28.

Thank you,

Neil

BigWallop · Accepted Answer

You could spread the load between the loft joists and the purlins using legs along the length of the new joists. At a length of 2.7 mtrs you'd only need two evenly spaced. I honestly wouldn't rely on the just the purlins alone, and fixing anything to the gable is a far bigger job than is needed to take this type of dead weight load.

Ian Clowes · Answer

HiI'd thought of doing similar with ours if and when the opportunityarises, although ours would go onto the party wall between the chimneybreasts.I was going to look into building a caltilever frame from Dexion (orwhoever, now that they've gone bust) to support a long, narrow'coffin' water tank so that the load would all be near the wall.Not relevant to me so much, but for fixing into the wall you could usestandard joist hangers. Notch out the mortar, insert joist hanger andcement or resin fix, fix joist.HTHIanC

suppourting cold tank in loft?

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