Common Types of Anchor Bolts For the House Foundation
Common Types of Anchor Bolts For the House Foundation
What is a Bolt?
A bolt is a type of threaded fasteners with an external male thread member requiring to a matching pre-formed female thread member such as a nut. The bolt consists of a head and a cylindrical body with screw threads along a portion of its length. Bolts are very closely related to screws.
Over the years, we have found out the effect seismic hobby has on constructing and minimizing the effect of a quake.
Earthquakes can cause construction to slide, shift off of its foundation and overturn. They can also buckle cripple walls, damaging them to fall apart.
House bolting is also known as foundation bolting, anchor bolting, or seismic retrofitting. The reason for house bolting is to make the structure safer and prevent damage in the occurrence of an earthquake. The bolts reinforce the timber frame by connecting it securely to the foundation.
Types of Anchor Bolts for Foundation
The two common types of bolts usually used in house bolting are epoxy foundation bolts and expansion foundation bolts.
Epoxy Foundation Anchor Bolt
If you stay in an older home, an epoxy-set foundation bolt can be your option. Older houses generally tend to have weaker concrete. Epoxy bolts are longer than expansion foundation bolts, which means they should be inserted deeper into the concrete. The deeper insertion improves the bolt’s overall performance.
Epoxy bolts are also an excellent choice in places where a quake’s motion can affect the structure. Because of the bolt period, the probabilities of the wood frame pulling far away from the concrete foundation are reduced.
Expansion Foundation Anchor Bolt
Expansion Foundation bolts are commonly used with foundation concrete; this is in the right type, including concrete in a brand-new home or a brand-new foundation in an older home. This is because the bolt requires “sturdy concrete” to be effective. The bolts can be used as long as they don’t crack the concrete.
Anchor bolts need to be fixed with rectangular plate washers. The washers create a sturdier and stronger connection to the foundation. Before square plate washers were available here, the bolts had been supported with round washers. However, round washers did not have sufficient protecting strength.
Sometimes, different anchors may be vital, relying on whether or not the home has to cripple walls. Homes also can have a combination of cripple partitions and locations where the floor rests on the foundation.
To know if your property needs bolting, go down into your home’s crawl space. The crawl space is the area between the foundation and the first floor. Find the sill plate, that’s the board located on top of the foundation. Most, however, not all sill plates are made from lumber. The board runs horizontal to the vertical wall.
Inspect the sill plate for the top of anchor bolts. In most cases, they will seem each 4 to 6 inches.
Many houses built throughout and after the overdue 1930’s could have a few residence bolting shapes (different earthquake-prone towns mainly).
Check to look if any existing bolts have become weak.
Any work that requires the structure of your home needs to meet modern requirements. A foundation repair expert or foundation contractor should be consulted to decide if any present bolting needs to be replaced and any new bolting size that can be important.
