Anchoring steel post to concrete floor

drkelly

drkelly

Dipstick who put two vehicles on jack stands
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Location
Oak Ridge/Stokesdale, NC
I've got three steel posts in my basement that support beams for the floor above. One of them has two bolts holding it to the concrete floor, and the other two have zero bolts. I've never attempted to bolt anything to concrete before, so this is new to me. What tools and parts do I need? I'm thinking that I need a hammer drill with a masonry bit and then some kind of anchors the slide into the holes in the concrete with bolts that expand the anchors so they stay secure and tight. Looking for advice on how best to do this.

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Thanks,
Danny
 
Looks like the holes in the plates are too small for wedge type anchor w the same size bolts so you may need to drill them larger first. Plenty of sizes of concrete anchors at Lowes or H depot and a 1/2 hammerdrill will be needed to drill the concrete. while your shopping, Get a bit/bits sized to match the outside diameter of the anchors that will drop into the holes you drill, might have to hammer them in w a bar or the bolt screwed partly in they should fit a little snug not wobbly, Might want a vacuum handy to suck up the dust and or blow out the holes before the anchors go in. You should be able to use bolts stuck down in the holes and the anchors w a large washer under the heads maybe a lockwasher too. You'll need to measure the anchors and the bolts to be shorter than the holes you drill in the concrete. You can wrap tape around the bit to mark your desired depth, should be a little more than the lengh of the anchors.
 
Put a 1/4 turn on the screw. Gravity will keep it in place! If you do move the pole to drill it out, make sure you put a temp pole in to keep from sagging.
 
lots of patience on the drilling in concrete. That was the tough part for me?
 
A decent hammer drill will eat right into the concrete no problem.
I use a bosch bulldog and it would do it in a few seconds.
 
Tapcons would work too. Just something to keep the post from moving side to side.
 
^2
 
Honestly for your application, you could just drill holes in the floor the same size as whatever bolts you want to use, and just drop some bolts in with no threads. If a tornado blows your house away, the anchors won't hold it down anyway....
 
I screwed my 80 gallon air compressor that wanted to bounce every where down w/ 1/4'' tapcons. I only put them in two of the three legs and it hasn't moved in three years. So what Jeepinmatt said makes good sense.
 
if it's in a basement with a garage door, thus has the potential to be bumped by a vehicle, id use drop-in's if it were my house. If there is no access for anything to get in there and really hit or damage it, tapcons would be fine.
 
Pending on the contractor you may find the concrete to be shallow or not to thick, so be careful not to over torque anything you put in. Also if the concrete was over worked during prep you'll have a very week top coat of just cement prone to cracking. Lastly if it were my basement I'd put some sealer down the hole just incase the moisture barrier gets peirced or it isn't present.
 
Well if we want to get technical. you really don't need to fasten them down if they are true support post cause there should be plenty weight of them to keep them from moving unless you hit them with a car or you have 500 lb. sumo wrestling matches down there.
 
lockedup5 said:
Well if we want to get technical. you really don't need to fasten them down if they are true support post cause there should be plenty weight of them to keep them from moving unless you hit them with a car or you have 500 lb. sumo wrestling matches down there.
Click to expand...

This.
 
they should be anchored in a manner that is sufficient. sufficient has many definitions. I'm careless around things like that, put 4, 3/4" anchors in it and call it good :D
 
2 (ea) 3/8" Tapcons would be plenty. Add washers if necessary.
 
Lankford said:
http://www.strongtie.com/products/anchorsystems/mechanical/drop-in/index.html

I like drop in anchors. Mostly because i always have them laying around.
Click to expand...
I like drop in's too, but they require a larger hole, and in this case, he could use the wedge anchors or even tapcons without moving the poles. I'm not a fan of tapcons, never had much luck with them.

Regardless, we're picking this to death. Any of the above will work. All require basically the same process. Drill hole, insert anchor, tighten.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys!
 
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