Yup—just drill a hole, add a piece of copper wire and drive the screw home
When I have to attach a piece of wood to concrete, concrete block, brick or any similar hard surface it's not always practical to buy a box of specialty concrete fasteners, especially when I usually have a full assortment of torx-drive 'deck screws' on hand when framing.
Having this attachment method in my bag-o-tricks speeds the process and widens the range of fastening options.
There is a whole compartment in my screw assortment box dedicated to a handful of various sizes of copper wire from small and stranded to large, single conductor pieces. This gives me options for fastening most anything TO most anything... which happens a lot during remodeling projects.
Here's how to do it:
- Select a masonry bit that is as close to the screw thread size as possible.
- Position the wood where it needs to be
- Drill holes through the wood far enough to mark the locations on the concrete.
- Remove the wood and drill holes into the concrete deep enough to accept the screw you are using: more is better.
- Replace the wood and drive a test screw to make sure the holes still line up and are an acceptable size.
- Insert a piece of coated stranded wire into the hole through the wood and into the concrete.
- Drive a screw into the hole. If the hole is too big, use extra wire or larger wire.
This is a plenty sturdy method for attaching wood to masonry—especially in a pinch when masonry anchors are not handy.
—Matt Jackson is a master carpenter, remodeler, SketchUp Wiz, YouTuber, and contributing editor to ProTradeCraft. He lives and works in Rapid City, South Dakota.
