How should I install island cabinets on a concrete floor with hydronics about 1″ down in the concrete? (I believe there are no hydronics tubes under the counter areas, but prefer conservatism! I can check by turning the heat up.) The particular cabinets come with a separate toe kick – long pieces of 4″ wide pine or fir – that gets installed first.
What about attaching cabinets to rammed earth (concrete) walls? Will tapcons hold upper cabinets?
Thanks, Penny
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Replies
For the island, I wouldn't drill into the concrete. All you really need to do for an island is to restrain it from sliding around, so a big strong connection isn't required. And the downside to drilling is the chance that you're going to have to repair a tube, which is expensive. I'd use construction adhesive to glue cleats to the floor to stop the island from sliding.
For the wall, I'd be real clear about whether I was dealing with rammed earth or concrete. Concrete will hold all sorts of fasteners -- tapcons among them. Rammed earth will not.
The walls are definately rammed earth buily by David Easton's crew at Rammed Earth Works . We drilled holes and used epoxy and all-thread to attach all the structural steel but that seems like overkill for the cabinets. Any other alternatives?
The concrete floor around and slightly under the islands has been sealed and waxed, so I imagine I should gouge it up some under the kicks to get the adhesive to stick?
Thanks, Penny
Yes, if the concrete has been waxed, few adhesives will stick. Perhaps you can make the cleats from pieces of plywood large enough that some of it extends to the untreated concrete.
As for hanging wall cabinets on the rammed earth walls, I'd ask Easton. They understand the capabilities of their walls, and hanging cabinets should be a standard issue for them.
Forgive my curiosity, but where is your house, and how old is it? I've been in three early Easton houses in Calaveras County, California. They're very interesting buildings. They're really more timber-frame with rammed-earth infill. The rammed earth in those houses would not support screw fasteners like tapcons. The threads would just strip out.
The house is in Truckee. The walls are built using David's gunnited Pise technique, but, since Truckee gets pretty cold in winter, we erected two curtains of rebar with sheets of styrofoam between, all with standoffs to keep things spaced. The walls were then sprayed from both sides so that no interior finishing was required. The main floor walls are 2' thick, and the upstairs, 1'. It was definitely experimental, but the results are outstanding. The temperature never went below 42 degrees this winter without heat. (The 1st floor back wall is fully bermed and we did slab on grade. We will add the drainage mats, dirt and plants for a green roof this spring.) The web-site is http://www.alderhill.com. If you are in the area, feel free to stop by, but contact me first as there is a gate for the subdivision and you need the code - not to mention the address!
David uses tapcons for everything - well, within weight reason I'm sure. The house is under construction but is close to completion. I did it as an owner-builder. It could have been the owner-builder from hell as it is large and very complex - and I am female! - but, in fact we have had an excellent experience. You may see it in FHB one of these days. In fact, I met the architect, Henrik Bull, through an article he wrote for FHB.
Edited 3/19/2003 9:59:15 PM ET by penny