[Mark Hubley]

I want to install a Tire Rack storage rack in my home basement garage.

Tire storage rack


The walls are concrete, so I will need to drill holes into concrete. This is something with which I have little experience, and that was making pretty small holes. Before I try drilling into the concrete wall for this project, I want to have a better idea of what I should do. The rack will sit above where I park my Cayman, and I don't want it falling!

Fasteners
What kind of fasteners should I use? The storage rack comes with six 1/4" x 2-3/8" lag bolts. I won't use those, but I assume I will want some sort of fasteners with ~ 1/4" diameter.

Tools
I will need to borrow or rent a hammer drill and the proper bit(s).

Other advice
Anything else I should consider?

[cmartin]

I would mount 2x4s to the concrete with tapcons then lag the rack to the wood. This gives some room for error, much easier to drill into wood. Plus even a large, overkill, tapcon goes in with a standard drill. If you want to use 2+ in lags double up the 2x4s. Get tapcons at hd or Lowe’s, weight limits on the package.

[HoodPin]

^^ What he said.

Make sure you get the correct size drill bit for the TapCons. In fact good idea to have one or 2 extras just in case. If drill bits are individually packaged, you can return the ones you don't use.

[Vicegrip]

The simplest, low expense and hardest to mess up type of anchor that is also very strong. Available in the big box stores. Very strong for the size of the hole drilled. Good shock load resistance. Drill a common size hole, slide the anchor through the item being installed, present to the wall and hammer the center pin in.

Not sensitive to excessive hole depth, not overly sensitive to hole accuracy. Tapcons are sensitive to hole size and use a unique bit size, install care and quality of the substrate.

Not intended to be reusable but….. If future removal is contemplated hammer the pin in but leave the pin head above the fastener just enough to be able grab it and pull it out. To remove one that has the pin hammered all the way in drill into the center pin, punch it in a bit then drill the head of the fastener off.

Drill the first two holes one each side, install the rack, drill through the rest of the required holes. You need a proper hammer drill to make any number of holes in pour in place foundation walls. https://www.amazon.com/Wensilon-Hamm...lbWF0aWM&psc=1

[BlackTalon]

What Kurt said -- Zamac nailins (aka drive-pin anchors) may be the simplest way to go.

Please note the loading on a tire rack will result in pull-out forces on the top anchor, not just shear. Recommended factor of safety for anchors that see dynamic loads is 4. Long way of saying go with the 1/4 inch diameter, and use a length that will embed 1-1/4 inches into the wall (and you need to overdrill the holes by 1/4 inch).

But, one would need to see the rack and fastener locations, and the likely maximum tire weights, to refine the pull-out strength requirements. Here is a link to Dewalt's nailin product data sheets -- Dewalt bought Powers, who earlier bought Rawl -- the king of drive-pin fasteners): https://anchors.dewalt.com/anchors/_...pdf?1767023634.

Please note the 1/4 inch dia w/ 1-1/4 inch embedment in 4,000 psi concrete only provide an allowable tensile strength (really the pull-out strength) of 250 lbs per fastener. So depending on geometry of the rack, etc. that may not be enough. If it isn't, then the next stop is a wedge anchor like Dewalt's Power-Stud. A 3/8 inch dia with 1-3/4 inch embedment has an allowable tension of almost 700 lbs per fastener in 3.000 psi concrete, and that is the smallest of the Power-Stud anchors, and with the least recommended embeddment depth.

[SRG]

Can't help with the engineering details, but don't start drilling w/o a hammer drill

[cmartin]

OK, dont like tapcons... ok. Redheads should have plenty of strength, I assume you are using sold lead wheels

edit. are you mounting the house to the rack or the rack to the house?

[cmartin]

In case anyone is really bored and interested in this stuff

[BlackTalon]

For allowable strength ("safe working load"), divide ultimate strength by 4.

Shear is not really the issue, it is pull-out/ tension loads due to the moment created by the wheel/ tire center of gravity being out-of-plane with the fasteners. The further out, the higher the tension load. And it is also dependent on the distance between top fasteners and the axis of rotation, which will be the base of the rack.

It's easy for 100 lbs of wheel/ tire load to result in 300 or more pounds of tension load at the top fasteners. It all comes down to the geometry of the rack and how may wheels/ tires you will be putting on it.

Think of a fence gate. The screws needed for the top hinge have way more shear strength than needed for the gate. But the main load is the tension force as the gate wants to pivot downwards using the bottom hinge as the pivot point.

And please note the Red Head anchors cited above are substantially bigger than what I indicated would likely be needed.

In the end, it's silly to go as small as possible, as it's only a handful of fasteners. 1/4 inch dia, 3/8 inch, 1/2 inch... They should all work with plenty of roof for using the loaded rack as a pull-up rack too, so you can get shredded.

[Vicegrip]

Drill 2 more holes at the top on each. Keep them about 3 inches apart.