Glued in bolts okay for concrete?

[Toller]

I have been asking alot of questions regarding some new partition walls I have put up in my basement. I appreciate all the advice; even if I didn't follow all of it.

I bought a tool at a garage sale that is supposed to let you hammer special nails into concrete. I thought I would use it to anchor the bottom plates to the floor. You get what you paid for... the nails just bend up. Oh well.

Well it is Sunday night, with no stores open, and I just can't leave thing undone; so I figured I would make do with what I had. I drilled a 3" hole through the bottom plate and into the floor. I mixed up some laminating epoxy, poured some down the hole and coated a 3" bolt. Then I hammered the bolt down. I know they use glue-in bolts on rock climbing routes, and this is a rather less critical application. Ought to be good enough, wouldn't you think? (Why didn't I ask about it BEFORE doing it? Donno.)

The concrete drilled alot easier than I expected, but I had a problem getting the dust out. I duct-taped a straw to my shop-vac and that seemed to work. What is the proper way?

[frank-in-toronto]

On Mon, 31 Oct 2005 01:03:37 GMT, "Toller" wrote: ....

.... just fine. the stress is sideways on these bolts and they would hold even if they weren't glued. naturally, solid is better tho. i think the pros use a nail gun, or srill holes and bang a concrete nail in. i'd be awful surprised if anybody actually used bolts. ....thehick

[Robatoy]

What's wrong with TapCons?

[DanG]

Sleep well, you've overkilled the daylights out this one. Chemical anchors (epoxy adhesive) are the top of the line, state of the art, cutting edge method of setting anchors in concrete. Your application sure did not need it, but better safe than sorry. Here is some more information:

(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) [e-mail]

[marson]

There is more than one way to skin a cat! Epoxying in bolts is overkill, but what the heck. Some other options are "tapcons" which are specially designed screws which drill into concrete (you have to drill a pilot hole first!), regular expansion bolts, rawl anchors (a nail-like pin with a bump in it that wedges into a hole drilled into concrete. You can even drill a 1/4" hole and pound in 2 16 penny nails. Or, in cases where the concrete isn't drillable, you can use construction adhesive to glue the bottom plate down. These are non-load bearing partitions, mind you. If you are dealing with load bearing walls, especially in a seismic zone, you will want to consult your building inspector or other expert.