Chemical Anchoring Sydney

One crew for the hole and the anchor

A post installed connection is only as good as the hole behind it. We drill the holes and install the anchors, dowels and bars ourselves, so one contractor is accountable for the set out, the hole, the cleaning and the install.

What we drill and install in Sydney

• Dowels and starter bars into existing slabs, footings, ground beams and walls so a new pour ties into the old concrete.
• Post installed rebar for slab extensions, infills and tie ins where the cast in bars were missed or set out wrong.
• Hold down bolts and threaded rod for structural steel, columns, portal frames and mezzanines.
• Precast and tilt panel connections: panel to footing, panel to slab and panel to panel fixings.
• Plant, racking and balustrade fixings, hundreds or thousands of holes set out to a grid and drilled to a consistent depth.
• Mechanical anchors where specified instead of adhesive.

How the work runs

1. Scope from the engineer's drawings and anchor schedule: sizes, embedment, spacing, edge distance and the adhesive named on the drawing.
2. Every core in a structural element is scanned and marked before the drill goes on the floor, so a hole goes between bars rather than through them. If a hole cannot avoid a post tension cable the engineer is told first.
3. Hole positions are set out with the engineer or surveyor, not guessed off a drawing.
4. Holes drilled to the specified diameter and depth. Core rigs run from 25 mm to 1000 mm, beyond a metre deep with stitch drilling and extension barrels, down through slabs, horizontally through walls and overhead into soffits.
5. Water fed to the bit and collected with slurry rings and wet vacuums so nothing runs through to the tenancy below. Where water is not acceptable, smaller diameters are dry cored with dust extraction.
6. Each hole cleaned and prepared to the adhesive manufacturer's installation instructions.
7. Adhesive dispensed, or the mechanical anchor set, to the manufacturer's installation instructions. Bars, dowels, rod and bolts placed to the embedment on the drawing.
8. Cure times respected before anything is loaded.
9. Hole positions and depths recorded and handed over. Testing is arranged by the engineer or builder where the specification calls for it.

What the engineer does and what we do

Your structural engineer specifies the connection. We drill and install to that specification and to the manufacturer's installation instructions, and hold for inspection where the engineer asks. We do not supply engineering, we do not choose the adhesive and we do not sign off the connection. Inductions, insurances and site paperwork go into your systems the way a head contractor expects.

Who books this work

Builders and head contractors tying new work into existing structure. Formworkers who need starter bars in before the next pour. Precasters and tilt panel erectors fixing panels to footings and slabs. Steel fixers with hold down bolts to set. Facility managers anchoring plant, racking and balustrades in an occupied building.

Where we work in Sydney

Chemical anchoring, dowelling and starter bar work in Sydney covers the CBD and Barangaroo refurbishments where new steel is fixed into old slabs and columns, the precast and tilt panel warehouses going up at Kemps Creek, Eastern Creek, Erskine Park, Marsden Park and Moorebank, the Western Sydney Airport precinct at Badgerys Creek, the Sydney Metro and Sydney Trains corridors and the depots at Auburn and Flemington, Port Botany and the Mascot freight precinct, the racking and plant floors at Wetherill Park, Smithfield and Yennora, and the Inner West, Parramatta, Blacktown, Liverpool, Penrith and Bayside council areas.

Crew, core rigs, scanners and slurry vacuums run out of our Marrickville base. An estimator can walk the set out with your engineer or surveyor before the price goes in.

Anchor and fixing hole drilling on our books in Sydney: 700 cores 200 mm deep between the rails at Woolloomooloo for Laing O'Rourke in a single possession weekend, drilled so the client could fix new ballasts and sleepers. 6,000 holes in two weeks on the Yennora make good for Project One Group, set out to the racking grid and cored to a consistent depth. A concrete repair at Glebe for ABACORP where the crew cut out the spalled concrete, treated the reinforcement, pinned the repair with Helifix PatchPins at the required intervals and reinstated it, with engineer hold points throughout. To be plain: these are drilling jobs where the client fixed its own anchors and sleepers, plus one repair pinning job. The install side does not have a published job yet.

Frequently asked

Do you sell anchors or work for homeowners in Sydney?

No. We do not sell anchors or adhesive and we do not do homeowner jobs. Commercial and infrastructure work only.

Who specifies the anchor, the adhesive and the embedment?

Your structural engineer sets the anchor or bar type, the adhesive, the diameter, the embedment, the spacing and the edge distance. We drill and install to that specification. We do not supply engineering.

Can you drill deep, overhead or into thick footings?

Yes. Cores run from 25 mm to 1000 mm and beyond a metre deep with stitch drilling and extension barrels. We have pulled two metre long cores out of a tower crane base.

Who arranges anchor testing?

Testing is arranged by the engineer or builder where the specification calls for it. We record every hole position and depth and hand the record over for sign off.

Other areas and related services

Chemical anchoring also in Wollongong, Newcastle, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Hubs: concrete core drilling and coring through piles and pile caps. Related in Sydney: core drilling, structural cutting and concrete scanning.

What happens next

Call 02 8015 6398 or send the form below with the address, the engineer's drawing or anchor schedule and the hours available. Ammar and the Sydney team run the job from our Marrickville base and come back with a method, a programme and a price.