Something in the world of floating have you stumped?
Show Highlights
In this short, salty, and to the point episode, Graham and Ashkahn talk about installing float tanks on the second floor and how to work with contractors and engineers to determine if you need to reinforce your building to support the weight.
While you usually don’t need reinforcement, it’s always good to check. Listen in above or check out the transcript below and, as always, be sure to send us your questions. All questions welcome, from basic industry questions to well crafted stumpers. If Graham and Ashkahn don’t know the answer, they still relish the journey of discovery and educated guessing.
Show Resources
Listen to Just the Audio
Transcription of this episode… (in case you prefer reading)
Ashkahn: We’ve got a question today about being on the second floor of a building with your float center. So, if you’re thinking about putting a float center on the second floor, do you need to do any structural reinforcement to hold the weight of the float tank?
Graham: Let me just say definitively that, it totally depends.
Ashkahn: Yeah, that I think is a very concrete answer.
Graham: Of course, it’s going to depend on the building, how new your construction is, whether you’re in a big multi-story concrete kind of building or whether you’re in an old wooden Victorian house. There’s a lot that goes into it, but shockingly, the overall answer in almost all of those cases tends to be no. You don’t really need to do any extra reinforcement.
Ashkahn: Yeah, most times people bring in a structural engineer to take a look at things and examine it. Often landlords will even require you to do that.
Graham: Which you totally should do, don’t just listen to us and be like, “Oh it’s totally fine,” and go forward with it — a structural engineer is a great thing to bring in.
Ashkahn: It usually ends up being that while the float tank is heavy and all the salt water is heavy and all that, it’s just got such a big footprint. The float tanks are so big that the actual amount of pounds per square foot that’s really being put on, is not really as much as one might think. So it tends to be that a lot of buildings can hold it, even the way they are. Especially newer construction, like newer condo type buildings with strong reinforced concrete and stuff like that, tend to not really be much of a concern.
Graham: Again, surprisingly even for older buildings. Often times those are also good to go. Another good reason to consult an expert before spending a lot of money on reinforcements you might not necessarily need.
Ashkahn: Yeah, it’s always weird and there’s always weird stuff out there. I mean, even The Float Shoppe across the river from us, they’re in an old Victorian house and they brought a structural engineer in to check things out before they started and they found they could put float tanks on the second floor but their first floor was not actually strong enough to put float tanks on. Which is really crazy.
Graham: Yeah, so again, consult the experts and if it doesn’t work out, then you always can reinforce anyway.
Ashkahn: Boom.
Graham: Shakalaka.
Recent Podcast Episodes
How Many Managers Does it Take to Run a Float Center? – DSP 200
Not every float center owner wants to be tethered to working their shop for the rest of their lives. In fact, even some that enjoy that work immensely can be doing their business a disservice by focusing on day-to-day operations as opposed to dedicating their time to marketing or expansion.
So how do float center owners get out of the shop? How many managers (Or Taco Supremes as they’re called at Float On) does it take to effectively replace the shop owner at a business. Ashkahn and Graham have successfully implemented a system at Float On that allows them to be much more hands off on the business than when they first opened and they share how got to that point and how their business structure has evolved.
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Graham and Ashkahn discuss while providing assurances like “either you’re not crazy or we’re all crazy”, so that’s nice.
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Graham and Ashkahn share stories about their most challenging floats. Everything from extreme physical discomfort to literally staying in too long.
They also share stories of floats from friends and customers that they’ve accumulated over the years and discuss the value of experiencing these difficult moments in the tank and how you might approach them when one occurs at your center.
What’s the Best Representation of Float Tanks in TV or Movies? – DSP 196
It happens every once in a while, a tv show or a movie will feature a float tank and the entire industry gets a jolt as if to say “we made it to the big time!”
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