Questions About Attaching Wood to Masonry

[Jack Hogoboom]

My shop is in the basement of my house. The foundation (and thus the walls of my shop) are cinderblock. I'd like to cover the block with plywood or wallboard so I could hang cabinets and other things from the walls and brighten things up a bit. I have two problems: first, the bottom half of the wall stick out (by design) about 2 1/2 inches in front of the top half of the wall. I assume I can measue the difference and just use a larger furring strip on the top part of the wall. My second problem is that I have no clue how to attach furring strips to a cinderblock wall. Can I glue it? Use masonry nails? Molly bolts? I would prefer the simplest and easies approach without sacrificing strength.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jack

[tod evans]

jack, if you have a hammer drill the quickest is with drive-in lead anchors. everything fastened to the walls of my shop is done with those....02 tod

[Jim Becker]

I used masonary nails (both manually driven and "Remmington" driven) to put up the half-studs for firing in my shop, also made of cinder block.

[Richard Wolf]

I uae Red Head expanding anchors, very much like the lead ones Tod mentions but are expanding steel sleeves and will never pull out. Home Depot carries them and they come in different sizes. The key to any anchor is to use a hammer drill.

Richard

[Rich Konopka]

I've used the Remmy as Mr. Becker indicated. It is fast and worked well on my poured concrete foundation. If you go this route make sure you use the correct charge. There are numbered charges (.22 caliber) which are gauged acording to the material your are fastening to.

[Frank Chaffee]

I have only used .22 cal. Hilti and Rem. on block walls that were grouted solid.

Do they also work on hollow blocks?

Thanks,
Frank

[Jim Becker]

Frank, they work but you have to be really careful you don't use the wrong loads and, umm...shoot out the wall. I "think" I used number 2 loads, but it was way back in 2000. I know I use number 3 loads for the concrete floor. I also found that masonary cut nails with a one-hand sledge went in easy and gripped well, too.

[Chris Walls]

I'm new to this forum, but have been in maintenance and construction for many years. a really good way to attach firing strips to concrete block is to use what's known as " TAP-CON " screws. They are tempered steel screws that come is various sizes and don't need any thing inserted into the hole first, as in a lead or plastic sheild. You can pre drill each strip and then using a hammer drill go through that hole and into the block. Insert the Tap Con screw and tighten down. Done.
Tap-Con screw's require a special bit for the Hammer drill, it's really just a regular masonary bit that is of a special size. They can be bought where you get the Tap-Con screws. They are required because they drill a slightly undersize hole so that the screw really gets a good grip.
Also a good idea to try and line up the spacing of the strips to hit the center web on the block, on every other row of block. Hope tht helps and good luck. Chris

[tod evans]

here`s a photo of the three anchors that are not powder driven. tod

29128

[Jim Marshall]

Back when I was in the cabinet and wood working business, I built and hung lots of cabinets in hospitals in the Memphis area. A lot of the walls were concrete and a lot were block walls. I tried just about everything I came across and most of them worked well but the cost was a little high for all the casework we hung. I found out that I could use a hammer drill to drill a hole the same size as the screw threads. Cut a single strand of romax and leave the plastic on it, put the romax in the hole and screw the sheetrock screw in. It will not pull back out and it is not expensive. Give it a try, you may like this method.:)

[Matt Meiser]

I've used Tapcons for various house and shop project and have found they work well. The ones I've bought have the hex head, and I can use my impact driver to run them right in. They are brittle due to the hardening, so I'll occasionally snap one off, but I think it is usually caused by not making the hole deep enough in solid concrete. I've never used the Remmington nailer, but I would think that would be faster.

[Anthony Anderson]

Tap-Cons work great. Also if you buy a large enough quantity (50 I think) they include the drill bit for drilling concrete. They are the blue screws in tod's picture. You can get them in different screw head types to fit your purpose. HTH, Bill

[Anthony Anderson]

My shop is in the basement of my house. The foundation (and thus the walls of my shop) are cinderblock. I'd like to cover the block with plywood or wallboard so I could hang cabinets and other things from the walls and brighten things up a bit. I have two problems: first, the bottom half of the wall stick out (by design) about 2 1/2 inches in front of the top half of the wall. I assume I can measue the difference and just use a larger furring strip on the top part of the wall. My second problem is that I have no clue how to attach furring strips to a cinderblock wall. Can I glue it? Use masonry nails? Molly bolts? I would prefer the simplest and easies approach without sacrificing strength.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Jack

Jack, How tall is this 'bottom wall'?

[Chris Gregory]

here`s a photo of the three anchors that are not powder driven. tod

29128

Tod,

We used the center anchors a lot we used to call the ones from Hilti "Hilti hits" What I like about using them is that you drill through whatever you may be anchoring to the wall and simply drive the anchor with the pin straight through into the wall and they are rock solid. Tap cons are nice but pricey.

[tod evans]

Tod,

We used the center anchors a lot we used to call the ones from Hilti "Hilti hits" What I like about using them is that you drill through whatever you may be anchoring to the wall and simply drive the anchor with the pin straight through into the wall and they are rock solid. Tap cons are nice but pricey.

chris, those are the lead anchors i originally suggested only these are made by powers at about half the price of the hiltis......tod

[Chris Gregory]

chris, those are the lead anchors i originally suggested only these are made by powers at about half the price of the hiltis......tod

ya Hilti makes some nice stuff but they are definitely not the cheapest. I used them because of their customer service and we saved a lot of time because the reps would bring everytning to the jobsite for us. Now that this is just a hobby I am a lot more conscious of where the pennies go. It also seems that Hiltis customer service has gone down hill as I found out when a brand new drill literally burst into flames in my hands while I was drilling the first hole with it. I had had it put away in a box for two years so they said it was out of warranty, after a lot of haggling they finally stepped up to the plate but didn't seem to think that a never used drill bursting into flames in your hands warranted any special attention. When I got it back it still has that smell of the burnt windings so I can't say that I have much confidence in them anymore.

[Jack Hogoboom]

Anthony,

The lower part of the wall is about 3 ft. high. The upper part is recessed about 4 in. for some reason.

I think I'll try the Tap-Con screws. It'll give me a reason to buy an impact driver.:D I don't think I can use the hex head screws because I am planning to put the furring strips into the cinderblock and then nail a 2 x 4 over it to correct for the recess. Or maybe I'll just do nothing.... Seems like a PITA.

I'd give anything to have a shop above ground. I'm tired of feeling like a mole....:(

Jack