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Vent: Concrete anchor placement on a 200ft run went sideways
Had a job last week in a subdivision outside Omaha where the homeowner wanted a 6ft privacy fence. I got the string line set and started marking holes for the 4x4 posts. Normally I use a hammer drill with a 1/2 bit for concrete anchors but this was a long sidewalk they poured last month. The concrete was way harder than I expected, took me almost 3 minutes per hole and I burned through 2 bits. Next time I'm renting a rotary hammer from the rental place for anything over 50 feet. Anybody have a go-to method for drilling through that super hard mix?
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derekjenkins26d ago
That concrete mix sounds brutal, I've definitely been there before. On my last fence job the slab was so dense I actually cracked a standard hammer drill bit clean in half, which was a first for me. Rotary hammer is the way to go on that stuff for sure, makes a world of difference when the concrete fights back like that.
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derekjenkins2mo ago
Man that's rough, I feel your pain. I had a similar issue last year with some driveway anchors where the concrete was so hard I smoked two bits before I got smart and switched to a rotary hammer mid-job.
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hall.nina2mo ago
Fair point but I've never had great luck with rotary hammers on tougher concrete myself.
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