How to Bolt Down a Power Rack?

I’ve never bolted anything into concrete and want to bolt my power rack down. What do I need to know? Its 2" squat tubing and doesn’t have any holes in it so I need some type of bracket, or to drill through the tubing. How deep? How many bolts etc? Is there any kind of bracket that can be opened in the future to move the power rack?

Please be as specific as possible. Previoulsy I wedged my rack under the I-beam of the house with 2x4 underneath the rack and 1 inch wood to form a tight fit. I was able to have at least 360 pounds of band tension on it with no movement at all but my new basement ceiling is about a foot higher.

Thanks

You could probably put a bracket that goes over the tubing, in each corner that has a bolt hole on each side of the bracket. If you pick up dome drop in concrete anchors, you’ll drill a hole a bit deeper than the anchor, tap the anchor down, put the bracket in place, and run a bolt (that has the same length and threads as the anchor) into the hole.

Obviously, put everything in place and mark out all your holes first, then go and re-check that they’re all lined up before you start drilling. Do one bracket, then recheck and make sure nothing shifted.

Doing it this way, will allow you to un-bolt the rack and move it around if you need to.

concrete anchors and a strap of some sort.

Make sure the concrete is thick enough though.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Masonry_Concrete_Anchors&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&locStoreNum=477&marketID=6

With brackets that resemble this

Also, make sure you’re using a masonry bit when drilling into concrete, or you’ll burn through a bunch of 'em trying to get a few holes drilled

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:
concrete anchors and a strap of some sort.

Make sure the concrete is thick enough though.[/quote]
And if it’s a tension slab (it will be stamped as such) don’t drill too deep, although you won’t need to drill deeper than an inch and a half or so.

[quote]inkaddict wrote:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Masonry_Concrete_Anchors&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&locStoreNum=477&marketID=6

With brackets that resemble this

Also, make sure you’re using a masonry bit when drilling into concrete, or you’ll burn through a bunch of 'em trying to get a few holes drilled[/quote]

A hammer drill makes it much easier too.

[quote]DoubleDuce wrote:

[quote]inkaddict wrote:
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Masonry_Concrete_Anchors&langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&locStoreNum=477&marketID=6

With brackets that resemble this

Also, make sure you’re using a masonry bit when drilling into concrete, or you’ll burn through a bunch of 'em trying to get a few holes drilled[/quote]

A hammer drill makes it much easier too.[/quote]
Yes. I thought it, just forgot to mention it.

Do you have enough room to build an 8’x 8’ platform out of plywood? If so, bolt your rack to it. You then won’t have to worry about dropping weights as much.

http://www.ironmind.com/ironmind/opencms/Main/homesweathome6.html

Mine is similar to this. I didn’t glue anything down. I also didn’t screw the rubber down (I found an 8’ x 8’ piece that broke down into 4 interlocking squares). I countersunk the bolts from the bottom of the plywood and they stick up through the wood, the rubber, and the rack. I then used nuts to hold it all together.

If you have the room, I highly suggest this. There is enough room at the foot of my platform to do deads, etc and I don’t have to worry about damaging the garage floor.

Good luck!!!

blake,

That’s a great page, thanks for posting that. I’m looking into doing something similar for my homegym. I currently lift in a ‘room’ that I blocked off and turned into the gym. I need to remove the carpet and the padding underneath, because it’s a bit funky feeling when squatting to have the ground give so much. I have a squat rack that I built out of 2x4’s to hold me over until I can get a cage, but I would bolt the rack down to this platform. I think 8x8 is a great size. Thanks again

Also, to OP, I think the 8x8 size will help prevent the rack from moving, since you’ll be standing on the ‘base’ of the rack.

inkaddict,

You are quite welcome. The whole thing won’t move even if you are standing on it. I tried to move mine once because it wasn’t quite where I wanted it. I eventually was able to move it with great effort. I can’t recall what the article says, but get horse stall mats for the rubber. They are tougher and cheaper than actual gym flooring. I got lucky when I found the 8x8 sectional mat. I went to an exercise equipment store and asked about flooring. He asked what I needed and I said enough to cover 8x8. He said he had an 8x8 section on clearance. I got it for around 180 if I recall correctly.

Also, standing on rubber gives much better traction. A concrete floor can “sweat” and be quite slippery.