Conduit in PT garage

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newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
We will be running pvc in a parking garage for cat5 for cameras

The garage has post tension cables. We plan on drilling with a hammer drill and installing 1" anchors for our straps and boxes.

Normally we would mount our cameras on the vertical face of the t joists to get them as low as possible but avoid getting hit by a car.

We are being told by the owner we can not mount to the t joists due to structural issues.

Has anyone heard this?

The plan now is to suspend the cameras from the deck using custom mounts etc.

If we need to drill floor to floor near other conduit runs, do we need to have it xrayed?



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jusme123

Senior Member
Location
NY
Occupation
JW
...anyone that tells you drilling a 3/16" hole for a tapcon will effect the structural integrity of a parking garage , IMO, is misguided
 

GoldDigger

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Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
...anyone that tells you drilling a 3/16" hole for a tapcon will effect the structural integrity of a parking garage , IMO, is misguided
If it is deep enough to hit a pre- or post-tension cable it surely will affect the structural integrity. Other than that, if it is far enough from edges and fittings you will probably be lucky.
 

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
I dont think anchors would be a problem, but if you plan on going thru the concrete for conduit, have it xrayed beforehand.

I dont suppose there are any adhesives that would would work in place of drilled in/shot in anchors?
 

jusme123

Senior Member
Location
NY
Occupation
JW
If it is deep enough to hit a pre- or post-tension cable it surely will affect the structural integrity. Other than that, if it is far enough from edges and fittings you will probably be lucky.

...and I agree, but do you think it would be engineered for absolutely no support for anything off concrete, be the first for me?
 

newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
I dont think anchors would be a problem, but if you plan on going thru the concrete for conduit, have it xrayed beforehand.

I dont suppose there are any adhesives that would would work in place of drilled in/shot in anchors?

We could probably use liquid nails or something but that would be a pain to hold it in place until the adhesive dried.

Plus we have to run conduit to the camera so we need to fasten that as well. Don't think we could glue conduit up...

uploadfromtaptalk1457319908059.jpg

These are the anchors we use. We like them better than tapcons. 1"

On another forum it was suggested I contact the local building department. JHA?

Seemed odd to.me to that there was no way to mount to the rafter.

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newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
To me that makes it end of story.

If I own a building I get to decide these things.
You may make the decision but that's not the end of the story. You don't get to make that decision after weeks of back and forth on the estimate, agreeing to it then making that demand afterwards.

It also seems like it's an unjustified demand

The owner of my company will probably just eat it though.


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user 100

Senior Member
Location
texas
You don't get to make that decision after weeks of back and forth on the estimate, agreeing to it then making that demand afterwards.

It also seems like it's an unjustified demand


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Sure he does- it's his garage.

The big question is how much more do you guys want to put up with-do what the guy wants or walk away.

Sometimes we accommodate the blatantly unjustifiables (but within code)- just part of doing business.:D
 
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iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
You may make the decision but that's not the end of the story. You don't get to make that decision after weeks of back and forth on the estimate, agreeing to it then making that demand afterwards.

It also seems like it's an unjustified demand

The owner of my company will probably just eat it though.


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If the contract or proposal is vague and does not specify the mounting requirements perhaps your company could try to renegotiate the price or walk away or suck it up
 

JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
I did find these which seem to be made for the application.

I would at the very least talk to an expert of tension cable slabs before planning an anchoring/suspension system for your conduit. Even if there are external conduits already attached, you cant assume that it was done correctly.
 

newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
What's the difference between anchoring to the deck versus the t joists? He seems to be ok with anchoring to the deck, just not the joist.

And the comments about sucking it up are dead on. At the end of the day it's not that big of a deal, maybe a few hundred bucks in materials and labor.

I really wanted to know for my own knowledge.

Sounds like I may have a real mess with the thru deck drilling though.

Dumb question but how can you tell if a structure has cable in it? Is it visible anywhere on the outside?

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JFletcher

Senior Member
Location
Williamsburg, VA
What's the difference between anchoring to the deck versus the t joists? He seems to be ok with anchoring to the deck, just not the joist.

And the comments about sucking it up are dead on. At the end of the day it's not that big of a deal, maybe a few hundred bucks in materials and labor.

I really wanted to know for my own knowledge.

Sounds like I may have a real mess with the thru deck drilling though.

Dumb question but how can you tell if a structure has cable in it? Is it visible anywhere on the outside?

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Some of it is marked, sometimes you can see grout on the ends of the slabs where the cables go thru.

Drilling will only be a mess if you dont get it checked first.
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
What's the difference between anchoring to the deck versus the t joists? He seems to be ok with anchoring to the deck, just not the joist.



Physics. The deck is under compression, the bottom of the joist is under tension.

Look I agree, very unlikely there would be a problem with such small anchors but at the same time the customer can ask for whatever they want.
 

newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
Some of it is marked, sometimes you can see grout on the ends of the slabs where the cables go thru.

Drilling will only be a mess if you dont get it checked first.
I mean it will be a mess because I didn't account for this and X raying concrete sounds expensive. I did the estimate . Well its the first major mistake I made and compared to the last estimator I am batting 999. I'm the operations manager not estimator anyway

But hey I don't make the same mistake twice !

I know there is a company in Atlanta that cuts concrete. I'll have to call them.

Anyone have any idea what xraying costs? I have 2 floors and a wall at least to go thu.

Thanks for all the help. It was real useful

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newbinga

Member
Location
georgia
Physics. The deck is under compression, the bottom of the joist is under tension.

Look I agree, very unlikely there would be a problem with such small anchors but at the same time the customer can ask for whatever they want.
Your right.

But it would have been nice if we had this conversation ahead of time. If you only knew all the emails and conversations that went back and forth about this conduit. Mostly about price and whether we would do it or he would have his electrician do it.

Should have had his electrician do it lol

The bright side is we have not issued the contract or deposit invoice. So my owner has a chance to rebid but I doubt he will.
Thanks

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iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
But it would have been nice if we had this conversation ahead of time. If you only knew all the emails and conversations that went back and forth about this conduit. Mostly about price and whether we would do it or he would have his electrician do it.

A parking garage owner might not have any clue that his requested mounting means would change the pricing so they would not think to bring it up.

OR

A parking garage owner might be very aware that his requested mounting means would change the pricing so they might be underhande
d and try to sneak that in.

Either is a real possibility in contracting work. It will be up to your company's owner how to deal with it
 
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