Don't give it a second thought. You will never pull that out of the cement.
Those are intended for use to hold up wooden fences. I have seen a part of a fence pushed over but it was the post which broke in one case which did pull some of the next one out of the ground where it bent over. About the only risk would be the weld failing where the box attaches to the top of the spike. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dan Rossi To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 3:53 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Basement door project update. Tom, There are several reasons for the wooden steps. Firstly, even though I have hauled insane amounts of cement, gravel, blocks and such up the stairs, I'd rather not haul more than is necessary. Two steps, 42 inches wide,, 10 inches deep, and 8 inches high, if I just poured them as a single block of cement, would be another 20 40 pound bags of cement. Also, I wanted to place the drain as far from the house as possible, with the slab sloping away from the house. With wooden steps, I actually placed the drain under the steps so it is hidden, and farther from the house than if I had to put it in front of the cement steps. Lastly, the wooden steps, and railings, will exactly match the style that I used on the deck and landings, so it will tie the yard together nicely. As far as the anchor for the railing posts, the post brackets I used for the deck posts, were pretty obtrusive and I wanted something with a lower profile. Trust me, these spikes are not going to torque sideways. They are not just a round spike. Imagine two intersecting triangles. Each triangle is four inches wide at their base, (the base is attached to the 4X4 box), and then tapering down to a point, 30 inches away. Granted, they don't have a 90 degree bend like a J bolt, but I expect they will not pull out. Plus, I can embed the bottom of the box into the cement as well if I want. I guess time will tell. I seriously doubt I will get my money back from these investments, but then again, if I weren't spending the money on the house, I'd probably go back to skydiving, rock climbing, or even take on another mountain, all of which would cost me at least as much as what I plunk down on the house each year. -- Blue skies. Dan Rossi Carnegie Mellon University. E-Mail: [email protected] Tel: (412) 268-9081 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
