Shade cloth support question

[GeoRoss]

I have an area of my yard covered by about 400sqft of shade cloth. The PO put in 4" square steel poles to support it. I had to remove one of the poles for electrical upgrades.


I would like to put the cloth back up. I would like to avoid putting a new pole in due to space and utility constraints as well as buying about 17 ft of 4" square tube.

What would be the best way to attach a smaller portion of the pole to the masonry/cinderblock wall of an out building?


Is this advisable?


I was thinking that I could bolt a 5ft part of the pole I cut down to the corner of the building using lead anchors with a bolt every foot or so.

The pole that was cut down is just out of view in the left of the picture. I took down the pool and want to lay a brick patio under the shade cloth.

Thanks.

 

[splitshot]

Toggle bolts would probably work the best but, the thing that bugs me about bolting to the wall is if you get one of those freak microbursts, you have the possibility of loosing sections of your wall. I've witnessed what wind load can do to a shade structure even with a small dust devil.
If you go this route, make the shadecloth tie downs the weak link.

 

[GeoRoss]

Toggle bolts would probably work the best but, the thing that bugs me about bolting to the wall is if you get one of those freak microbursts, you have the possibility of loosing sections of your wall. I've witnessed what wind load can do to a shade structure even with a small dust devil.
If you go this route, make the shadecloth tie downs the weak link.

The microbursts are what I fear. As this wall is living quarters, I don't want to fubar it all up.


I may just go buy 4 or 5 ft of steel and weld it to part that I cut off. Get some concrete and dig a hole.


I am just being cheap I guess.

 

[srplus]

The microbursts are what I fear. As this wall is living quarters, I don't want to fubar it all up.


I may just go buy 4 or 5 ft of steel and weld it to part that I cut off. Get some concrete and dig a hole.


I am just being cheap I guess.

YUP... but toggle bolt will prolly not work in concrete block especially if there is any debris inside... Also, if you use toggles of a large enough size to do the job you will have to drill huge holes into the blocks to get the butterfly in behind the face of the block... I have had limited success in turning the toggle around and sticking the screwdriver slotted end in first with the butterfly correctly placed on it so that it will open and grab and then using a nut on the outside to tie it down... the remaining of the 6 t0 8" bolt is on the outside of the wall and you can use a nut to hold the tube flush to the concrete only if you drill the hole on the back of the tube large enough for the nut to go into... otherwise you will have your material stand off the wall the thickness of the nut.

If you can drill directly into a solid area of the block or right in the corner of where the blocks meet in the mortar - you might try wedge anchors or even the lags and shields. Problem with shields in concrete blocks is when you hammer drill it and go into one of the cavities (if it is not poured full) the back of the inside of the block face will blow off and the shield or sleeve anchor has nothing to grip into... I would check if there is an aluminum supply wholesaler (like my local supplier - Town & Country Industries Inc. ) who could provide you with a stick of aluminum extruded tube that is structural and already white up to 30' long that is used in porch and screen enclosure construction. This will be cheaper overall and if properly connected to the structure you should have no problem.

If the shade cover material is like screen it will allow the wind to go through it (for the most part) but you could design the attachments so that they would break away if under load... then it would be like a huge screen flag.

 

[srplus]

A pic of a wedge anchor is at White Cap Construction Supply - RED HEAD - 1"X12" WEDGE ANCHOR (prod# 129WS100120) and this one is a 1" x 12" but other smaller sizes are available... with these you would also have to drill the holes in the back of the aluminum that was going up against the wall big enough so the nut would go inside the tube... otherwise as I said earlier the tube will stand off of the building the thickness of the nut and washer. I am not a big fan of lags and shields for structural things - most especially things that are load bearing and the load is not straight down parallel with the wall.

GL

 

[semlin]

either put something in the link that will break before the wall does, or else spread the load over as much of the wall as you can. can you attach a long plate to the wall and attach the pole to the plate?

 

[valentine]

Is the inside of the CMU poured solid with concrete? If they are hollow, the wedge anchors/HDI's won't work....

If you end up wanting to use the wedge anchors, let me know.

There are also HDI's too. They are also known as "flush shells" If you decide you don't want the post anchored to your wall, you can take it apart and fill in the hole just like it was never there.