As part of what started out as a simple kitchen remodel, I’m reworking part of the foundation on our house, on which none of the mudsills are bolted down, including installing anchor bolts.
Our local hardware store sells Simpson one-tube anchoring epoxy. It’s theoretically quite clever, with a little mixer that you insert through the nozzle, thread onto something inside the tube, and run with a drill for two minutes. You then remove the mixer, install the nozzle, and start squirting.
However…Simpson doesn’t explain how to remove the little mixer after mixing, and I wasted a minute or so removing it (realizing, later, that running the drill in reverse would probably have done it); and maybe I mixed too long, though I was watching the clock. For whatever reason, the epoxy started setting up before I could even get any of it out of the tube, wasting $25.
I then drove 12 miles (there and back, about a gallon of gasoline, or about $3.50) to the contractor’s lumberyard, where I bought a two-tube pack with an ingenious mixing nozzle, though it did need a double-barreled caulking gun. $32 for the epoxy, but I got twice as much, AND was able to get the job done.
Sometimes, the most cost-effective route is not the one that appears to be cheapest. I should have gone the two-tube route from the beginning. I post this to warn others: don’t make the mistake I made (make up a new one!).
Edited 5/10/2007 11:08 pm ET by Houghton123
Replies
My gc got a set of 4 anchor bolts for a column about 2" out of place. They were either 5/8 or 3/4 bolts. Had to cut them off flush and set new bolts, they used Hilti 500 IIRC. Set the bolts last Friday, today they did a pull test beofre setting the column. The testing lab pulled to 15kpsi with no movement. They set up the test, pull certain force, and hold for 2 minutes, then go to a higher load.
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Houghton,
I know of which you speak!!
I quit using Simpson epoxy, I have used Epcon A-7 9 (RedHead) from Fastenal for all my epoxied concrete connections.
It is an acrylic so can be used in the rain, with standing water in the holes and still works. Buy the two part mix and a bunch of mixer nozzles.
You got a two-tube pack AND a gun for $32?? Just a single tube would cost close to that much here, and the gun is $60 if you get the no-name version. The mix-it-in-the-tube version only sounds good if you know you can use the whole tube.
Not meaning to drag this thread off on a tangent, but FYI, anchor bolts were not required here in central NC until 2002 unless you are talking about a pony wall or stem wall situation like in a garage. So I guess maybe 90% of the homes here don't have anchor bolts on the main house. I've never heard of resulting problems from no anchor bolts - house blowing off foundation or whatever, except at the beach, but anchor bolts have been required there as long as I can remember - which admittedly isn't that long since I've only lived here for maybe 14 years. I've always used anchor bolts though - cheap insurance. Not sure that I'd take the trouble to retrofit unless I had a specific reason though...
Picture of new anchor bolts set with Hilti Hit Re 500. You can see how far off they were the first time, and since the structural steel had already been fabricated and shipped it was a problem.
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"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Edited 5/10/2007 8:22 am ET by FastEddie
California, on the other hand, has required anchoring for years, at least here on the coast, because of the local ground's love of the tango. That said, our house withstood the 1906 earthquake* probably with no foundation at all; but I'm willing to trust the research that informs me I should anchor the house.
*Although San Francisco got more press, the per capita damage was far greater up here in Sonoma County, 50 miles north; downtown Santa Rosa, the county seat (about ten miles away from my house), was flattened. Just, we had fewer people and far fewer press agents.