Using a Ramset in old concrete

Mike Mike

Hi,

I am putting a stud wall along the perimeter of my basement. I need to attach the sill to the floor. The concrete is 50 years old. A masonry bit wears out after about 2 holes.

I'm considering using a ramset ( fires concrete nails ). I'm wondering if anyone has experience doing this in old concrete. Do I need to worry about cracking the floor ?

Thanks.

Mr Chips

i'd be more worried about fish hooking than cracking the crete. start with the lower powered load, like a green and see if that's enough. if not try a yellow next, don't go straight to a red without testing the others first

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Mike Mike

Thanks, didn't even know about that. Never used one before.

troubleseeker

Don't think you are going to have much luck with ramset in concrete that old.What are you using for a "masonry" bit and what type of drill? You will not succeed with the typical silver masonry bit or with a hammer drill or regular drill. Get a rotary hammer with a quality brand percussion bit such as a Hilti or Bosch then anchor the wall with split or deformed shank drive pins (they look like a fat nail with no point and have a kink in the shank).
After drilling the hole, you just drive them in with a hammer; a 2 or 3 pound machinist"s hammer works great for this, but a regular carpenters hammer with work ok.

<*(((><

I just got done remodeling a basement with my brother and father. The house was built in the 20's and I'm not quite sure when the basement slab was poured, but it looks pretty old. We used a ramset with 2-1/2" nails with I believe green loads. It worked just fine, about 10-20% of the nails had to be finished off with a hammer, but I thought that was pretty good given the age of the concrete.

Some advice that seemed to help us is be sure to have the ramset pressed firmly down against the sill when you hit it with the hammer. Also try and eliminate any rocking of the sill plate by chiseling any imperfections, if the sill is tight to the concrete and the ramset tight to the sill, it works really well, even on the old stuff.

Good luck.

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PaliBob

That's not old concrete

Here is OLD Concrete
.

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