Hi, the water tank at my friend's house broke the supporting wood and burst thru the ceiling and fell into the house. A lot was damaged..water was flowing out of the house. So dangerous. Luckily no one was hurt.

I was wondering did anyone face this problem before and any prevention methods? Any suggestions are welcomed.

Ps the water tank is the original never changed to bigger one
Thanks

This post has been edited by @Adele: Mar 17 2022, 07:03 PM

How many years is the house ?

Possible termite have destroyed the supporting wood.

The density of water is 1000kg/m3. Meaning for the 1m3 = 1000kg.

If your tank is for landed unit, most likely your tank size will be around 220igal to 330igal @ 1.0 to 1.5 m3. You need a structure that can hold at least 1.5 to 2.0 times of the worst case load of 1.5 tons.

There should be a flat slab structure near to the staircase area to house the water tank.

Not pro but last time heard my relative say my parents house water tank the contractor installer at the support at left & right side. Which left the middle part having no support. As a result, the weight is not distributed evenly, so as time passed, the middle part of the tank broke and caused leaking.

Hence, according to them, solution would be to put something like plywood in between the support to distribute the weight.

Guess getting advice from plumber is the best action.

Hi the house dont hv flat concrete slab

Yaya putting support in the middle is a good solution. Asking ppl now

Depending on design and the age of the home, it is not necessarily so. Many older homes uses these options :
1. 2" x 6" termite treated wood standing upright, spread out to possibly 4-6 pieces depending on tank size/capacity, and secured to one another via a plywood nailed to them sitting on top.
2. 2" x 6" hollow mild steel bar (can't recall the gauge size of the bar), and similar to above with plywood and tank sitting on top of it.

But these days, many homes does do so to design a slab for water tanks.

Thanks for ur feedback. 20 years ago house..developer didnt design slab..i was surprised also to hear that its just lodge up at below the roof area