The only disappointment with our new floor was that it isn’t level or planar. This was pretty obvious when we pulled the carpet out, so we contracted the flooring company to level it for us. Well, my advice is to never have a “flooring” company do anything other than installing a new floor. They just aren’t qualified. They did try to level the floor, but it’s hard to tell if there was any improvement or if it’s actually worse. I negotiated a reduced rate for this aspect of the installation, but really I shouldn’t have paid anything at all. The floor just isn’t flat.
In leveling the tank stand, it was important that I do so in a way that wouldn’t damage the new floor. That rules out any kind of leveling feet as they would surely damage the tiles. The obvious solution is simply to shim the stand, but I also didn’t want the stand sitting directly on the tile.
The solution I came up with is somewhat elaborate, but worked extremely well. It basically amounts to layers.
Layer 1: Underlayment - Dense Rubber Mat cut into strips. This is 5/8” workout mat.
Layer 2: Supporting Frame - 1/2” standard grade plywood. Single piece with center removed.
Layer 3: Shim layer
Layer 4: Platform - 3/4" Oak – Full sheet.
The premise is that the shim layer is between two layers of wood. The rubber layer protects the floor and will compress a little to even out very small imperfections. It’s a little more complicated than that, but that’s the general theory. I wish I had more pictures, but sometimes documenting is not my primary focus.
You can see in the above picture that the width of the rubber strips matches the plywood and that it is roughly 3.5” – This is 2” for the metal frame with ¾” on either side. For support, it really isn’t necessary for this to be any larger as the plywood will flex and there will be no weight support beyond about 3/4”.
The rubber was cut to length and then glued to the wood frame.
The middle of the frame is cut out for two reasons:
1. There is a slight rise (or hump) in the floor. By cutting out the middle, this hump will not affect the overall level.
2. There is a sheet of 3/4” MDF cut to the inside dimensions of 1/2" plywood that is glued to the underside of the platform. While it isn’t shown in the pictures, this is an important concept in the overall design. It provides necessary rigidity to the platform. To visualize this, think of it as a plug that completely fills the available space.
The resulting platform layer (Layer 4) is actually 2” thick and itself is made up of 3 layers.
Layer 1: Lower Plug – 3/4” MDF
Layer 2: Platform – 3/4” Oak Plywood.
Layer 3: Upper Plug – 1/2” Standard Grade Plywood.
The three layers of the platform are glued together with wood glue and is extremely strong. The size of the platform is such that 3/4" extends out on all sides. This will permit the panels to rest on the platform rather than directly on the floor (which isn’t perfectly flat).
In the above picture you can see how the shims are inserted. At some point I will clean this up and glue a finishing trim all around the base of the platform. The final result will be such that it appears as a solid piece of oak.