I have to fit a long length of guttering down the side of my garage +
shed. Thus I intend to fix wooden battens at regular intervals along
the side of the garage to take the gutter brackets.

The garage is of a post and panel construction - 'I' section concrete
posts with concrete panels between. I know that the posts are steel
reinforced because the rods are rusting through in one post. Will the
panels be similarly reinforced?

Drilling holes for plugs for previous fixings has proved unsatisfactory
as the concrete is fairly coarse and the holes become large and ragged.
When fixing light switches inside the garage I stuck bits of wood to
the walls using silicon sealant, relying on the suction to hold the wood
in place. These have lasted at least 7 years.


So, what's a good method for fixing the battens on the outside, please?

TIA

Richard

"Richard" wrote in message
...
I have to fit a long length of guttering down the side of my garage + shed.
Thus I intend to fix wooden battens at regular intervals along the side of
the garage to take the gutter brackets.

The garage is of a post and panel construction - 'I' section concrete
posts with concrete panels between. I know that the posts are steel
reinforced because the rods are rusting through in one post. Will the
panels be similarly reinforced?

Unlikely.

Drilling holes for plugs for previous fixings has proved unsatisfactory as
the concrete is fairly coarse and the holes become large and ragged.

Then fill them with morthar (that's Oirish for mortar), or polyfilla,
redrill them and use rawlplugs. Or in fact stick the rawlplug in while the
morthar is still wet which is easier and fix the screws when the morthar has
set.
--
Dave Baker - Puma Race Engines

It happens that Richard formulated :
I have to fit a long length of guttering down the side of my garage + shed.
Thus I intend to fix wooden battens at regular intervals along the side of
the garage to take the gutter brackets.

The garage is of a post and panel construction - 'I' section concrete posts
with concrete panels between. I know that the posts are steel reinforced
because the rods are rusting through in one post. Will the panels be
similarly reinforced?

If the panels are relatively thin in the centre section, with a thicker
surround, then they will be steel reinforced.

Drilling holes for plugs for previous fixings has proved unsatisfactory as
the concrete is fairly coarse and the holes become large and ragged.


So, what's a good method for fixing the battens on the outside, please?

If they are thin, then just drill through the thin sections and use
nuts and bolts all the way through the panel.

--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

Dave Baker wrote:


Then fill them with morthar (that's Oirish for mortar), or polyfilla,
redrill them and use rawlplugs. Or in fact stick the rawlplug in while the
morthar is still wet which is easier and fix the screws when the morthar has
set.

Hmm. Seems awfully like a load of work. Bolting through seems more
attractive. Or I suppose I could use gripfill to stick the battens to
the panels?

Richard

On 2007-12-01 10:56:13 +0000, Richard said:

Dave Baker wrote:


Then fill them with morthar (that's Oirish for mortar), or polyfilla,
redrill them and use rawlplugs. Or in fact stick the rawlplug in while
the morthar is still wet which is easier and fix the screws when the
morthar has set.

Hmm. Seems awfully like a load of work. Bolting through seems more
attractive.

Running timbers along the length rather than at each fixing position
and bolting them through every metre or so (less if more weight) would
be an easy way. Then you can fix to them wherever you like.


Or I suppose I could use gripfill to stick the battens to the panels?


Bad idea. This will fail. It will be in March/April when its
blowing a hooley, raining and sleeting horizontally; just when you will
really want to be outside fixing it.




Richard

Andy Hall wrote:


Or I suppose I could use gripfill to stick the battens to the panels?


Bad idea. This will fail. It will be in March/April when its
blowing a hooley, raining and sleeting horizontally; just when you will
really want to be outside fixing it.



Hi Andy

I know that Gripfill is a bad idea but silcon sealant has worked sooo
well for fixing battens inside the garage. I got the idea from a friend
who uses it to stick wooden panels to the interor of his fibreglass
boat. He hangs all manner of heavy stuff from the panels and has done
so for years.

But the long batten + fewer fixings is probably the safe route.

Richard

Richard wrote:

The garage is of a post and panel construction - 'I' section concrete
posts with concrete panels between. I know that the posts are steel
reinforced because the rods are rusting through in one post. Will the
panels be similarly reinforced?

Quite possibly, but you can usually drill them without hitting rebar -
there is not that much in there.

Drilling holes for plugs for previous fixings has proved unsatisfactory
as the concrete is fairly coarse and the holes become large and ragged.
When fixing light switches inside the garage I stuck bits of wood to
the walls using silicon sealant, relying on the suction to hold the wood
in place. These have lasted at least 7 years.


So, what's a good method for fixing the battens on the outside, please?

Firstly fit one long batten per side and treat it like a facia board
rather than individual ones. That way you don't need many successful
fixings to make the whole job work.

Small holes (5mm) with a SDS usually work ok in concrete posts. You can
then use yellow plugs and screw or nail into them.

If you can't get decent holes, then set the plugs in with epoxy, or car
body filler or similar.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
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John Rumm wrote:
Richard wrote:

The garage is of a post and panel construction - 'I' section concrete
posts with concrete panels between. I know that the posts are steel
reinforced because the rods are rusting through in one post. Will
the panels be similarly reinforced?

Quite possibly, but you can usually drill them without hitting rebar -
there is not that much in there.

Drilling holes for plugs for previous fixings has proved
unsatisfactory as the concrete is fairly coarse and the holes become
large and ragged. When fixing light switches inside the garage I
stuck bits of wood to the walls using silicon sealant, relying on
the suction to hold the wood in place. These have lasted at least 7
years. So, what's a good method for fixing the battens on the outside,
please?

I taken to using 6mm x 50mm Multi Monte fixings for jobs like this. Faster
to fix & a good strong fix every time. Use a 5mm drill & whack in with a
decent 14:4v in low speeed.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/91817/...ZE0SCSTHZPCFEY


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:

I taken to using 6mm x 50mm Multi Monte fixings for jobs like this.
Faster to fix & a good strong fix every time. Use a 5mm drill & whack in
with a decent 14:4v in low speeed.

Heck, advice I gave back in the dark ages. They are Multi-Monti fixings
BTW. Good to see Dave is still on his "read other people's advice then
regurgitate as if it were his own" kick.