Once i'm done with this server rebuild, i'm building a room within a room (a la penngrey's thread) to ease in dehumidification. I'll need to mount the wood studs into concrete.
I've seen concrete drill bits in Home Depot, but i'm not sure how that works. Anyone here try that?
Notes: Assuming the concrete is in your basement, you'll want something that's treated to avoid rot if it gets wet. However, I hate PT wood because of the chemicals. Old PT wood contained arsenic, which leached out. The new stuff is "safe," but I don't believe them.I've used 4 methods for this: 1) hand hammering nails into concrete--this will work fine if the concrete is relatively new. Doesn't work worth beans if the floor or wall is 40 years old. 2) Using a special gun with graded charges to fire special nails--The works pretty well but again in old work, the concrete tends to chip out or the nail doesn't penetrate fully. 3) Drilling a hole in the concrete and securing a bolt in the hole with a special mortar mix. This makes for a very secure anchor. You will want a big hammer drill for this something that you will rent for an afternoon. 4) Concrete screw--by far the easiest. You should buy them with the bit or get the bit that is made for that particular brand of screw. If you have a lot to do, buy more than one bit. If your concrete isn't pretty new, get a hammer drill. The frustration of trying to put a hole in concrete without one is extreme. You'll almost certainly hit some of the aggregate (stones) as you're drilling which will stop a regular drill cold.
I'm reading up on the stuff here, also found a Google link that suggested concrete adhesive in addition to the nails/etc. Anybody have any suggestions/tips about that?
Thanks again for the pointers.
I bought one of those guns at Home Depot that comes with little bullets to shoot the special nails into the concrete. Works great, definitely recommended if you are doing a lot. They have a cheap version which requires a hammer to trigger the charge, so that could be another option.
Hammering especially with bullet powered hammers in older concrete is a pain and likely just cracks and breaks up the concrete.