What’s your favorite anchor in masonry. Both block or poured concrete?

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bjp_ne_elec

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What’s your favorite anchor in masonry. Both block or poured concrete? In New England residential is mostly poured foundations but commercial buildings have masonry block for perimeter walls or support walls the they have metal studs and sheet rock for internal walls.

Thanks
 
bjp_ne_elec said:
What’s your favorite anchor in masonry. Both block or poured concrete? In New England residential is mostly poured foundations but commercial buildings have masonry block for perimeter walls or support walls the they have metal studs and sheet rock for internal walls.

Thanks
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Where have you been hiding all these years???

I would use plastic anchors but it depends on what weight the equipment is.

Heavy stuff I would use lead anchors

11K367_AS02



Lead Anchors

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Hi Dennis - been around just busy and don’t get online nowhere near enough. I’ve used the plastic anchors before and they are good for running smaller conduit and small boxes. I have used tap cons but the time I tried it I think I had some bad concrete as they weren’t “biting”. Thanks
 
Don’t make the mistake of driving tapcons with an impact driver. The impacts will crumble the ‘threads’ that need to form in the crete and cause them not to bite.
 
retirede said:
Don’t make the mistake of driving tapcons with an impact driver. The impacts will crumble the ‘threads’ that need to form in the crete and cause them not to bite.
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Makes sense, but I remember years ago using a tool that had the drill bit, after drilling the hole you slipped a sleeve type accessory over the bit and it had the driver tip on it to drive the screw. We used same hammer drill in hammer mode to drive the screw - sounds like that would give you about the same issue.
 
Best anchor 1604154949107.png1604154949107.pngBy far the best anchor for hollow block, hold really well and few problems. Big box doesn't sell them. McMaster does and a real fastener supply house usually has them. I also like the stud sleeve type anchors for concrete and block. I use the ones with 1/4-20 studs (5/16 hole) you can pre load them onto the conduit clips or minis before you go up the ladder then just drill the hole bang them in and tighten. Not a big fan of tap cons.... just don't seem reliable to me but have used them some times. Steel drop ins for heavy stuff in concrete
 
bjp_ne_elec said:
What’s your favorite anchor in masonry. Both block or poured concrete? In New England residential is mostly poured foundations but commercial buildings have masonry block for perimeter walls or support walls the they have metal studs and sheet rock for internal walls.

Thanks
Click to expand...

For poured concrete, I prefer wedge anchors as the post-install method. If the load is extreme, I would specify Titen-HD anchors, which have threads that can grip the concrete throughout the length.

For brick/block, I prefer either lag/shield anchors for low loads (200 lbs and less), or 4-way anchors for medium loads (circa 500 lbs). I've learned about the drawback of sleeve anchors (the brick/block counterpart to wedge anchors), that you have no control over how far the stud sticks out in to the equipment, and you may have to cut it after it is in place. Particularly on hollow block walls, where you can only embed at the thickness of the block. Using a female anchor with a male lag screw or male bolt, instead of a stand-alone male anchor, means the fastener only sticks above the fixture at the size of its own head, rather than having an exposed a threaded stud remaining.
 
I'm with Dennis & Eddie.. heavier loads I always used the lead anchors.
If you do so, this anchor tool is a great aid. Keeps the leading edge of the anchor flush with the surface so you can use ten same size screw regardless of how deep you drilled the hole.


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I’ve always liked the caulking lead anchors like Dennis posted, a lot of our guys use the tap cons, but I’ve never had any hold like I wanted. Ok for screwing 2x4’s to concrete. I also like drive pins, and have a tool that works well in driving them in deep boxes, but nobody makes that tool any more.
 
retirede said:
Don’t make the mistake of driving tapcons with an impact driver. The impacts will crumble the ‘threads’ that need to form in the crete and cause them not to bite.
Click to expand...
With Tapcons I found that you need to drill the hole in concrete at least 1/2" or so beyond the embedded length of the screw to allow some dead space. Otherwise the bits of concrete pushed back from making these "threads" in the concrete can block the end of the Tapcon, making it much harder to screw in and resulting in stripped out concrete that reduces the holding power. Also the hole needs to be cleaned out thoroughly by moving the masonry bit in and out after reaching the desired bottom, or by other means.

Tapcons have the advantage that they require a much smaller hole.
One advantage of the lead anchors and other anchors that use machine screws is that you can install and remove the screw multiple times without degrading the holding power, which is not true with Tapcons.
 
The smallest tapcons never would hold for me. So minimum 1/4” ones. Used some the other day that need a 3/8” hole. Basically 1/2” size and need 3/4” wrench. Had a new guy run one in on max setting on impact gun (about 90 foot pounds).

I wouldn’t use them on something like stairwell guard rail but seemed fine for hanging 2” pipe off L bracket.
 
LarryFine said:
Which means the holes can be drilled through the equipment's mounting holes.
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One of my guys did that with 26 electrically held contactors throughout a distribution center, problem was, he didn’t remove the contactors from the enclosure before doing it. I had to disassemble 26 contactors and clean them. Every one of them was screaming from the concrete dust under the mating surfaces.
 
hillbilly1 said:
One of my guys did that with 26 electrically held contactors throughout a distribution center, problem was, he didn’t remove the contactors from the enclosure before doing it. I had to disassemble 26 contactors and clean them. Every one of them was screaming from the concrete dust under the mating surfaces.
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Oy gevalt! :rolleyes:
 
retirede said:
Don’t make the mistake of driving tapcons with an impact driver. The impacts will crumble the ‘threads’ that need to form in the crete and cause them not to bite.
Click to expand...
I use an impactor nearly exclusively and have never had a problem, in fact I find non impact driving is far more likely to break the tapcon. I think I do have a very good "feel" for tapcons though, some people seem to have problems with them.
 
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