Q:
My basement’s concrete slab has radiant-heating tubes in the floor that correspond to the walls defining the various rooms. I’d like to move one wall about 2 ft., but I am afraid to drill into the concrete for fear I’ll puncture a tube. Rather than using lag screws, can I anchor the new wall with an adhesive?
David Thayer, Coralville, IA
A:
Editorial adviser Mike Guertin replies: I wouldn’t trust any adhesive as a long-term solution. The risk is too great that the wood will move or that moisture migrating through the concrete will break the adhesive bond. I would mechanically anchor the bottom plate to the concrete. If you know how deep the tubing is in the floor, choose a fastener that won’t go deep enough to poke a hole. I like to use steel track as a bottom plate for basement-wall framing and fasten it with 1/2-in. or 3/4-in. pins (aka hardened-steel concrete nails used with powder-actuated tools). If the concrete is in good condition and you’re confident the tubing is an inch or deeper below the concrete surface, then this shallow fastening system may be the simplest method to secure the walls without locating the tubing.
If you don’t know how deep the tubing is, spend a couple hundred bucks to have a thermographic image taken of the area. Run the hydronics two hours before the imaging so that the tubing area will appear warmer than the surrounding concrete. Once you know where the tubing is, you’ll have plenty of spots where any type of fastener (lags, concrete screws, concrete nails) will be safe to place.
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