I am thinking of getting a 10'x10' canopy that is made of fabric top and a frame with 4 metal legs, and set it up on my back patio. The patio was build with 6"x9" paver bricks. My question is, how should I anchor the legs onto the patio. Each leg has 4 screw holes. If I simply drive some screws into the bricks, would they keep the canopy from being blown away (under reasonable summer weather)? These bricks are not bind to each other but tightly put together with sand filling the gaps. Would screws even stay in the bricks, or will they crack the bricks?
After my second such canopy blew away in a storm, I gave up. I had them anchored into a poured concrete slab and on the second one I added guy ropes tied to big screw in anchors like they use on farms to hold down in ground silo covers. The wind just twisted the canopy into pieces and blew it out from under the canopy top. If I remember correctly, the instructions for these things say to remove the fabric top in the event of storms or wind. Of course this was at the end of the intructions and kind of lost in the print. And the fabric top was not something you could easily take down and put back on. The canopies I used were in the $350 range, not the $100 instant up ones. The instant up versions that you could just put up when you were planning something might be a better way to go.
just guessing: when peak storm gusts hit it it can't collapse or tip over to avoid damaging itself. perhaps making it so the awning tugs and breaks breakaway ties instead of damaging the frame legs or your home. or maybe the outside posts could be hinged to fold to the ground if the wind lifts up the canopy which could then fall unsupported and flatten against the home with less damage.
panabiker wrote in news:14db0aa5-35f2-4fff-9832- snipped-for-privacy@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com:
Screws would crack the bricks and even if you drilled extra carefully and used anchors the bricks are not heavy enough to resist much vertical force.
You need some sort of heavy anchor type base. You could simply pour a concrete footing of about 400 lb weight - concrete weights about 125 to
150 pounds per cubic foot. It should be 8 inches thick to hold drilled anchors. Make a box about 24" x 24" by 8" thick. Use about 2 to 4 reinforcing bars each way evenly spaced - total of 6 to 8 bars. Locate the bars about the midpoint of the pad thickness. Get pre-mix concrete at home supply store and mix exactly as per instructions - water content is important to get right.
Dig down a bit so top of block is an inch above the patio bricks to keep top dry and reduce chance of bolts rusting. Better yet to use all stainless steel anchors and bolts. You don't need a sand base layer. Pour the bottom half and then lay bars down and pour top half. If you have to stop and mix more concrete keep delay to less than 1/2 hour so layers adhere to each other propoerly.
Get some Hilti concrete anchors and install them as per the instructions. You would need to rent or borrow an impact drill. The anchors use bolts so you install the anchors and then bolt the legs down.
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