anchoring 2 post lift, How did you do it? Options

[Phoenix-MN]

when I cut the floor for a thicker pads I used a concrete saw with water, made a mess but didn't create any dust. I used floor anchors that were epoxied in, they are not going to pull out

[VaccaRabite]

when I cut the floor for a thicker pads I used a concrete saw with water, made a mess but didn't create any dust. I used floor anchors that were epoxied in, they are not going to pull out

I have been thinking about getting one of those lifts.
How deep a pad do you need? Mine is 4 inches.

Zach

[Phoenix-MN]

my floor was also only about 4", IFIR they recommend at least 6". I poured 4' x 4' pad about 8" to 10" thick of high psi cement

[Calwaterbear]

Ok guys, got it done, thanks for all the advise, experience and inputs!

I went with 11" long wedge anchor bolts, following engineer and manufacturer recommendations. I have used epoxied in anchors in the past - but the engineer insisted the drive in wedge anchors are stronger. That makes sense, as the bolt is tightened - the "collar" expands - so it is putting pressure on all sides of the concrete, as opposed to counting on the glue to bond with the concrete. I'm sure either way is fine.

But 2 unexpected issues showed up

1. once the drill hole got deeper than 4 or 5 inches, the shop vac would not pull out the dust. I'm using a 14 gallon 6 hp shop vac. -
to clean out the holes to the complete 9", required I used compressed air with a long nozzle, down the hole, with the shop vac sucking up the stuff as the air got it moving. That worked really well.

2. instructions and advise reminded me to thread the nut on the top of the anchor, to use that as the surface the hammer would hit , to preserve the threads. That turned into a fairly significant issue, as the driving of the anchor lead to the nut essentially deforming the threads of the anchor (redheads - 3/4") once that happened, you could not back off the nut, nor drive it on any further. trying to do so resulted in the anchor spinning in the hole - because the nut wasnt putting and upward pull to set the anchor. My solution was to set up a simple fulcrum (2X4 on its edge) with a 16" long wrench as the lever. I essentially stood on the end - that levered up , providing upward pull, that started the anchor holding in the concrete. Then I was able to pull off the nut, chase the treads with a die, clean out the threads of the nut with a tap.

I tried using 2 nuts back to back, and aftermarket nuts to take the pounding - and that allowed for driving the anchor, and could be removed without levering, but it still deformed the threads enough that I chased all of the anchors, before putting on the nuts, and torqueing it down.

so I'm not saying I did it all correctly, I did the best I could - but I am confident that the lift is anchored securely, and will not cause any issues moving forward!

[914_teener]

So .....just curious. What was your engineeer concerned about by using that long an anchor? Overturning?

Wedge anchors become problematic at those lengths to embed.
Normally at that length an oversize hole is drilled and then seated with epoxy.

As you soon found out.

[Mark Henry]

Ok guys, got it done, thanks for all the advise, experience and inputs!

I went with 11" long wedge anchor bolts, following engineer and manufacturer recommendations. I have used epoxied in anchors in the past - but the engineer insisted the drive in wedge anchors are stronger. That makes sense, as the bolt is tightened - the "collar" expands - so it is putting pressure on all sides of the concrete, as opposed to counting on the glue to bond with the concrete. I'm sure either way is fine.

But 2 unexpected issues showed up

1. once the drill hole got deeper than 4 or 5 inches, the shop vac would not pull out the dust. I'm using a 14 gallon 6 hp shop vac. -
to clean out the holes to the complete 9", required I used compressed air with a long nozzle, down the hole, with the shop vac sucking up the stuff as the air got it moving. That worked really well.

2. instructions and advise reminded me to thread the nut on the top of the anchor, to use that as the surface the hammer would hit , to preserve the threads. That turned into a fairly significant issue, as the driving of the anchor lead to the nut essentially deforming the threads of the anchor (redheads - 3/4") once that happened, you could not back off the nut, nor drive it on any further. trying to do so resulted in the anchor spinning in the hole - because the nut wasnt putting and upward pull to set the anchor. My solution was to set up a simple fulcrum (2X4 on its edge) with a 16" long wrench as the lever. I essentially stood on the end - that levered up , providing upward pull, that started the anchor holding in the concrete. Then I was able to pull off the nut, chase the treads with a die, clean out the threads of the nut with a tap.

I tried using 2 nuts back to back, and aftermarket nuts to take the pounding - and that allowed for driving the anchor, and could be removed without levering, but it still deformed the threads enough that I chased all of the anchors, before putting on the nuts, and torqueing it down.

so I'm not saying I did it all correctly, I did the best I could - but I am confident that the lift is anchored securely, and will not cause any issues moving forward!

[Mark Henry]

Funny I had absolutely no problem installing my redheads , in fact I remember clearly I rented a hilti from home debit, drilled, drove them in and tightened them down and had the hilti back before the 4 hour minimum with time to spare.

It's a one hour round trip to home debit, so I must have done the deed in just over 2 hours.
Never had an issue hammering in the redheads. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[914_teener]

Potential issues:

1. Wrong size bit.

2. Rebar

3. High strength or large aggregate.

4. Hole not straight or not round.

5. Concrete dust in the hole.

My quess is that a 4 or 5 inch long anchor is more than enough.

11 inch.....naw.

See it happen ALL the time.

Your.re just good Mark.

[Calwaterbear]

Potential issues:


3. High strength or large aggregate.



My quess is that a 4 or 5 inch long anchor is more than enough.

11 inch.....naw.

See it happen ALL the time.

Your.re just good Mark.

I suspect you hit the redhead on the head! vI could tell when I hit aggregate, drill slowed way down, dust started coming out a different color, all of a sudden, back to normal speed. I suspect i was hitting some larger chunks of hard gravel. and you are probably right on length. I poured the sections where the towers would mount 14 inched deep - but now you mention it, no reason to drill that deep, the added depth was for weight, not mounting security!

It took me maybe 2 hours to do the first side, with all the hillbilly solutions I came up with. The other side about an hour!

[Mark Henry]

Your.re just good Mark.

Nope, being good had nothing to do with it. That's why I rented a Hilti, which is a big ass pro hammer drill.
14 holes, seven per side, I don't even think it took me 15 minutes to drill all the holes.
I think it was $40 for 4 hours. I bet it would even go through rebar. The right tool for the job.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/maxcdn.toolboxbuzz.com-26-1497014028.1.jpg)

[914_teener]

Your.re just good Mark.

Nope, being good had nothing to do with it. That's why I rented a Hilti, which is a big ass pro hammer drill.
14 holes, seven per side, I don't even think it took me 15 minutes to drill all the holes.
I think it was $40 for 4 hours. I bet it would even go through rebar. The right tool for the job.

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads_offsite/maxcdn.toolboxbuzz.com-26-1497014028.1.jpg)

You are right. The OP never said he used a hammer drill.....can.t imagine using a regular drill....but that is just me.

No wonder it took him so long.

In my work sometimes we use these for siesmic anchoring so there is engineering and inspection behind it. For a two post lift I.d be most concerned about overturning moment and the dead loads. So in other words the post foundation thickness and the embedment length of the anchors.

There was a picture somebody posted which showed rebar in the concrete but it was flush to grade. Ideally...the rebar should be dobied off the grade at least a couple of inches.

......and use a hammer drill for the holes or wet set j hooks on templates for the lift.

[IronHillRestorations]

Not to open a hornets nest here but what is the best two post lift? I am on two post Rotary's now and really appreciate the span between posts, speed of up and speed of down and range of vehicles the lift can lift.

Susan and I are going next week to Scottsdale to scoop acreage and builders / to build a 4 place minimum multi-lift garage with an upper deck mountain views studio over the top of it and I would like to start off on the right foot(ing).

This move is to get the hell out of California's regulations Whack-World (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sheeplove.gif) - regulation of tool size, tool and useage noise ratios to protected rat bowl movement micro-decibel levels, number of tools allowed on one property in a commercial zone at one time (limited to two,.. to allow the folks with no tools or knowledge of the use of them an "opportunity" to learn) not to mention, the traffic that consumes 38% of productive wake time, (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hissyfit.gif)

Sidebar: We recently were cited by code enforcement for out house numerals being 1/4" too small - after twenty years of being OK / Now , in the new world, those brass numerals pose a hazard to our safety from police and fire intervention in case they need to find us.

They sure as (IMG:style_emoticons/default/barf.gif) could find us when we were in party mode....... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

There's a 48' x 64' shop with heat & a/c and a Rotary 7500 lb already installed for you Forrest (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

The code here is "don't kill yourself", but if you do they don't enforce it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)