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I’m doing a covered porch attached to a house. It will just be a simple screen porch with 4×4 posts holding up an 8×14 roof. Do I have to anchor the posts to the slab/foundation? I have those simple aluminum feet to keep the posts off the concrete. They have screw holes to mount them to the post but not to the concrete. If I wanted (am required) to anchor the post to the concrete how would I do it with these feet. I would rather not use the two piece sheetmetal anchors since I have no way to hide them. Thanks for the help.
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Jim, This depends alot about your location and local wind/seismic codes. Also, how far does the eave project? If you're area has a typical 80MPH wind code you could have 400-500 lb of uplift on each post, maybe more. Here I'm already assuming too much. The soil, concrete wieght, roof weight, and anchor will have to react against these forces. DH
*I'd be surprised if your inspector did not require anchoring. It really is just a simple matter of a bolt or two into the floor. Easy enough to conceal the fasteners several ways, such as by using a skirt or other molding.
*Thanks. I figured as much. There's not much serious weather here. I guess I could cover the roof with lead and argue with the inspector or just anchor the posts. I wonder who will prevail? There's no real room for trim but I guess I'll have to make some. Why do they still sell those simple aluminum feet if you can't really use them?
*Good question. I'm an atty so I tend to imagine the worst. It is not typical weather but that freak hurricane (or whatever) that you worry about. If the wind were to get the relatively light and unanchored porch roof moving it would come off fast and become a projectile. Note that hurricane and seismic preparedness have advanced radically in the last decade or so; I think there are good lessons in it on preparedness, especially since an anchor or two is so trivial to install.On the other hand, I saw a show where they built a pergola and simply drilled holes into the bottoms of the posts, setting them on concrete footers with rebar sticking out. That's where the little aluminum standoff would be handy. I imagine you could engineer when this is safe and when not depending on the configuration, siting, and climate of the structure, but I'd rather just fasten it! Geez, even some epoxy in the hole would make me feel better. You could drill holes in the concrete to epoxy the other end of the rebar. Rent a Bosch rotary hammer, goes through poured concrete like butter.A skirt around the base of the post would probably look better anyway, giving it some visual weight and hiding the metal standoff. Then you could use a full metal post anchor, epoxying the bolt to the concrete. Long 4x4's can look kind of skinny supporting a porch roof.
*In our area, anchor bolts are not required except on garage garage walls.
*I would use wedge bolts or tap-cons with the aluminum feet, just check with the inspector to see if that is acceptable to him.John
*Seems to me it would be ridiculous not to anchor them somehow. If they aren't anchored, they could be knocked out by someone simply bumping into them.
*Hey, if they can have a tornado in Salt Lake City, anything can happen anywhere... Weird weather year.
*How are things attached to the foundation??? Are they????
*Yeh, I'd anchor them to the concrete, even if the inspector didn't care. It doesn't take much wind to lift a roof, and like Ron S said, it wouldn't take much to "bump" one of the posts. - jb
*Chewing gum. Amazing stuff.