How to Use Wedge Anchors
Video transcription
Hello, my name is Chris Palmer. Today, we're going to talk about how to use a wedge anchor. Wedge anchors are essentially carriage bolts with an expanding end that, once pounded into a concrete hole, expands and holds the bolt in place, and it leaves the threaded end exposed for your nut to tighten down on whatever it is you're fastening. They're great for setting post holders. They're great for setting ledger boards on foundation walls, anything you want to attach to concrete; a wedge anchor is a great way to do it. To use a wedge anchor, you need to drill a hole in your concrete first. So, lay out all your material, spot your hole, drill the hole. You want the hole to be as big as the fattest part of the wedge anchor, because it's just going to get hammered in there. Before you start hammering on your bolt, make sure you put your washer and nut on, because sometimes you mushroom that tip, and then it's really hard to thread the nut on, and really everything, say, if I was setting a post anchor right now, the post anchor would have to be in place already. So, think your process through and make sure either, a, your workpiece can slide over the nut, or everything is in place before you start pounding. Okay, so my washer and my nut are in place. My workpiece is in place. All that's left to do is pound my wedge anchor tightly into the hole. Bring the nut up as high as you can while still grabbing enough thread that the nut is not going to go loose. Now that it's pounded tight, I can tighten up this nut and the wedge anchor has expanded inside there. See this collar has expanded and mushroomed, and now is going to hold right there in the concrete, and you have a really secure bolt to attach your work to. Thanks for watching. I'm Chris Palmer. That's how you use a wedge anchor.