Amazon calls them “C brackets”. I ordered some, masonry anchors and a hammer drill. We will see how things go Monday.
No children here. I did, for the first time in my life, for about twenty seconds wish I had a son. By this time, a son still young enough to wield a drill, and a grandson old enough for the same. I would sit in a chair, drink beer, and encourage them.
Got a neighbor kid? A teen.
This. Emphatically. I bought one (a corded Dewalt) when I needed to bolt the base of my large and tippy drill press to my concrete floor slab. It’s pretty amazing. I’m impressed!
Just chiming in to say that since I don’t often have to drill into masonry, I resisted buying an SDS rotary hammer for years, making do with my cordless drill’s hammer setting. When I finally broke down and bought a proper one (the largest Milwaukee cordless one) I wondered why I had been such a cheapskate. When I do need it I’m really glad to have it.
It went well.
Decided on C clamps. The first $70 hammer drill with good Amazon reviews had a broken chuck. The $33 one with reviewed complaints of “smoke” and loose chuck does indeed loosen the chuck once in a while. I presume that anyone who uses it until smoke comes out the back and continues to use it should not be allowed to own power tools or vote.
One shelf is secured to the concrete wall, the second shelf has two clamps installed and I will do two more tomorrow.
Thanks, everyone.
Oh god. I did that when installing a sprinkler system at my mom’s house. Back in '78.
But it needed a 1" hole. Through 8" of concrete. It was in the crawlspace, so I had to lay on my side, in the dirt and dark. I used a 3lb sledge hammer for the star-drill.
Took - All. Freaking. Day. Thank god I didn’t run into any rebar.
Don’t know why I didn’t rent a hammer drill, probably money. I had worked for a sprinkler system company, so I knew what had to be done.
Wow.
I recall my Mother asking me to repair her dishwasher. She was in her eighties, and when I drove her anywhere, she still put out her arm to keep my baby carrier from falling off the seat. They understand we can do calculus, but may wall of the car seat at 40.
Just finished the second shelf. Now I can sort through the stuff to throw away or put on the shelves.
What were these saw brands? For something like hammer drill I’d stick to major manufacturers. Not that they have the best possible quality, but it’s usually easier to deal problems during the warranty period and parts and service will be available. I guess if you buy through Amazon returning an item that was no good when you got it or came apart in the first use might not be difficult.
I was going to say… I have a lot of book cases, and none of them is attached to the wall. Yeah, i know this is a bad idea. But none would fall on a bed and we don’t get earthquakes. (And if we do, we’ll have more serious problems.)
If i were to brace them to the wall, i would want to screw them directly into the studs, and not use a strap. Because you don’t want any “give” in that kind of support.
I also have some shelves that hang from brackets mounted on the wall. Those are already attached to the wall.
I’m not sure what kind of shelves you were envisioning.
“Aoban”, $70 with no bad reviews and a bad chuck. “Hammerhead” $33 Reviews on the bit coming loose in the chuck. Indeed it does, and I re-tightened it often. Not many manufacturers that I recognized. I was advised in this thread the Black & Decker is no longer quality. With the Aoban refund from Amazon, I bought some Disaronno that Mrs. Plant asked for. Maybe she will let me drink some.
I wish I knew this before I finished my basement.
The good ones cost around twice as much or more than those. I wouldn’t go with Black&Decker either. I have a Bosch like this one which worked well. It’s at low end of performance for a hammer drill but that’s all a homeowner should need. Don’t know if any of the battery models are worth it at all.
Pushing on the drill means something different when you dress out at 105. I did have to lean into it.
I’ve a half inch Makita battery powered hammer drill. works great. Battey powered tools have come a long way.
It’s compact for a hammer drill. So it’s just my drill. I think folks should understand that the ‘hammer’ is something you turn on and off. So if you need to drill a small hole in a picture frame or something, it works fine for that too.
I’m on Team Red, and I am constantly amazed at the power of modern battery tools. I have a big 9 amp corded drill that I haven’t used in probably 10 years. It IS more powerful than the cordless, but I haven’t needed it. My Milwaukee will drive 3/8 inch x 4 inch lag screws into pressure treated all day long.
Why do I use that as a measure? Because doing that is how I let the smoke out of my old 9 volt drill about 20 years ago.
The new battery-powered stuff really is – at its best – pretty incredible.
But I’ve steered more toward the corded stuff lately. Very personal choice.
I’m doing less and less DIY stuff than ever these days, and it’s basically never away from an electrical outlet. Keeping batteries charged, keeping them from freezing in the winter, hoping the battery I haven’t touched in two years still holds a charge, and ensuring that I have a backup battery charged and ready, should I need it mid-project, are downsides.
Add to that the tendency for proprietary batteries to encourage locking into a single brand platform across a wide range of tools …
For me, portability, ease and speed of access and deployment, and avoiding cord logistics just aren’t big upsides.
That’s me.
I’ve also watched a few YouTube channels that make it clear that even sellers like Amazon tend to unwittingly sell counterfeit batteries that seem to vary dramatically in both performance and worst-case safety. Reportedly, Amazon does what it can to crack down on these sellers, but it’s a vulnerability in the cordless market that doesn’t seem to have an equivalent in the corded space. Perhaps knocking off batteries is much easier and more profitable than knocking off the tools themselves.
Yeah, I also have a Rockwell corded drill that is probably 60 years old. I used it to build a landscape timber retaining wall about 25 years ago. 100 timbers needed drilled for the spikes.
But I’m not doing THAT again. Sometimes getting old has it’s advantages.
Just did the same kind of set up for a base for an additional propane tank. Had to drill a number of timbers for the spikes. The Makita did it with aplomb
I’ve had very good luck with DeWalt power tools. They’re expensive. But as they say, “When you buy quality, you only cry once.”
Hahahah. I like that saying. That goes for other things as well.