Drilling a concrete load bearing pillar?

Oct 22, 2017 1 Replies
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Drilling a concrete load bearing pillar? open original image

Hi there,



I live on the 4th floor of a purpose built (6 floors in total), I have a circular concrete pillar in one corner of my living room (see pic attached) and I'l like to fit a few shelves around it. I won't be putting a lot of load on these no more than say 1-1.5kg.



I'm thinking of drilling small holes in it to fit the shelves, but I kind of feel a little bit anxious about it, so before I make the whole building collapse (!), can I have some advice from qualified or experienced members?



Many thanks for your contribution.



Carine


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A

No, you should not do anything to that pillar or the structure and you shouldn't do anything without written Landlord Approval. What you should do is build a freestanding shelf unit (with legs) around the pillar.

- Or, you can tightly clamp (screw together) a wood, steel or aluminum girdle around the pillar and hang shelving from the girdle. The pillar stays unaffected and you can make the shelves as large and strong as you want.

- Concrete ain't easy nor reliable to put a bunch of screws into. It commonly hates any kind of movement of the fasteners in it and spits them out.

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