Masonry drilling

[JRobyn]

Hi guys,

I'm mounting square steel posts on the corners of my front steps for some handrails. The stair tread "cap" is bluestone, with brick underneath. I have no idea how solid the area inside the perimeter brick is. Maybe just rubble. I plan to use regular "red-head" anchors, probably 2-1/2" or 3" long. I have little experience with bluestone and don't know how crack-prone it may be.

The questions; do you think that I can drill these with regular 2-flute carbide percussion masonry bits, or do I need to get spendy and use diamond saws?

Should I plan to to pre-fill the holes with some sort of grout just before I insert the anchors?

 

[RNeumann]

Simpson 2 part epoxy. My fear is an expanding style anchor will split the rock.

 

[ovrszd]

I agree. I give the drilling method less than 50% chance of not splitting the rock.

 

[mbohuntr]

I agree. I give the drilling method less than 50% chance of not splitting the rock.

We used diamond core drills and epoxy on commercial railings in concrete and heavy stone.

 

[ovrszd]

We used diamond core drills and epoxy on commercial railings in concrete and heavy stone.

I had to revisit the picture. Didn't see any heavy stone or concrete.

Give it a try.

 

[Ken]

Back before the modern methods of getting a tight solid and permanent either a lathe or stair . drill a hole and put in a threaded bolt . Then heat Sulfur until liquid and pour into the hole. when filled to top allow it to cool then tighten the nut on the bolts.
My drill stand has been this way for over 20 years and when put in a concrete floor to build on some one forgot to place the base bolts to hold the walls bought sulfur from farm store and drilled the holes and filled .still solid.
ken

 

[Budweiser John]

I would use a good quality masonry drill in a rotational mode only until you drill through the stone cap. Hopefully you will fins a solid substrate and then continue drilling to the desired depth using the hammer mode.
To insure against breaking the stone with a ‘Hilti’ style anchor i’de opt for setting studs.
in two part epoxy.
From your posted picture, it appears the bluestone is ptobably not all that hard
Good luck
B. John

 

[newbury]

<snip> Then heat Sulfur until liquid and pour into the hole. when filled to top allow it to cool then tighten the nut on the bolts.<snip>
ken

Ah, Fire and Brimstone!!

 

[Langanobob]

I like it.

Back before the modern methods of getting a tight solid and permanent either a lathe or stair . drill a hole and put in a threaded bolt . Then heat Sulfur until liquid and pour into the hole. when filled to top allow it to cool then tighten the nut on the bolts.
My drill stand has been this way for over 20 years and when put in a concrete floor to build on some one forgot to place the base bolts to hold the walls bought sulfur from farm store and drilled the holes and filled .still solid.
ken

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Back before the modern methods of getting a tight solid and permanent either a lathe or stair . drill a hole and put in a threaded bolt . Then heat Sulfur until liquid and pour into the hole. when filled to top allow it to cool then tighten the nut on the bolts.
My drill stand has been this way for over 20 years and when put in a concrete floor to build on some one forgot to place the base bolts to hold the walls bought sulfur from farm store and drilled the holes and filled .still solid.
ken

Its amazing that a lot of the old time methods have not been improved on that much with our new gimmicks. Used that method back in the 50s for setting machinery on concrete bases. Did the holes with a star drill and hammer, no masonry drills back then either. We also used molten lead around a carraige bolt set in the hole head down, then tamp the lead with a punch after it cools. Sulfur was better. Our best pipe thread compound back then was a mixture of "litharge of lead" and glycerin. It was explosion proof. All that good poision stuff is now gone.

Ron