*Mounting Wood to Concrete*

By Jaden

31 October 2004

I was working on "temporarily" setting up the solar system today. (That will be covered in another article). I needed to mount my charge controller and inverters to a cement wall.

I went to the hardware store and bought 4 solid wall anchors that receive a 5/16’s lag bolt, 4 5/16’s lag bolts that are 3.5" long, and 4 5/16’s washers. The anchors require a ½" hole to be inserted in so I also bought a ½" masonry bit. Cost me 10 bux.

NOTE: You need to know if you have a hollow or solid wall. For a hollow wall you should use "butterfly" anchors. We’ll be using a solid wall.

The cinderblocks have been filled with cement

Ok, here’s how to drill into concrete. You will need a masonry bit, don’t bother trying to use a regular drill bit, you won’t get anywhere.

Masonry bit

Stick it in a drill just like a regular bit. Then pick your spot to drill and go for it. Drilling concrete isn’t easy and takes a little bit of time.

For a solid wall, the hole will need to be deep enough to accept the anchor.

Here’s what an anchor looks like. The lag screw inserts and as you thread it in the anchor spreads apart….which grips the sides of the hole. The anchor has a hinge point. The opposite end inserts in the hole first. Also, on the anchor, the hole size required and the lag bolt size required should be inscribed.

Anchor Spreading apart (look toward left)

Ok, so your hole is drilled. Insert the end that spreads apart into the hole first and use a hammer to tap it in in. Tap it in until it’s flush with the wall.

Hole Anchor in hole

Once the anchor is in it’s ready to accept the lag bolt. The hole I just drilled was for the top anchor, to measure the lower one all I did was thread the top lag bolt in. Then used the lag for the bottom and stuck it through the wood and hit it with a hammer. That left a mark on the wall.

The wood was already drilled with a 5/16’s hole so that the lag bolts would slide right through.

Tick mark

Then I simply drilled where the tick mark was.

You will want to have washers between the lag’s head and the wood. Just more surface area for holding. Then use a socket and tighten the lag bolts.

I had the 2x4’s anchored to the wall. Then I just screwed a piece of plywood to the 2x4’s.

2x4’s mounted Plywood

Done

If the anchors are installed correctly, they will never loosen and fall out.

Jaden