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Posted: 1/19/2015 6:02:13 PM EDT
I am about to bolt my safe down to my concrete floor (I have stained concrete floors).

I plan on going down about 3.5" (3.3/4" bolts) on the 4 corners.

It got me thinking... should I be concerned at all about hitting anything buried in the concrete?

Thanks.
Link Posted: 1/19/2015 6:12:54 PM EDT
[#1]
There shouldn't be any sewer pipes in the concrete. They should be just underneath it. Things to watch out for would be gas, electrical or water.  They should also be located just under the concrete but you wouldn't want to accidentally punch through the concrete and pierce any of these in the dirt below.

These roto-hammer drills will make the process really quick and easy. If you start to feel resistance or slow down, you might be hitting the rebar. I rented one from Home Depot, it went from 35-45 minutes a hole with a heavy duty drill to about 5 minutes with the roto-hammer.

Link Posted: 1/19/2015 6:39:11 PM EDT
[#2]
Discussion ForumsJump to Quoted PostQuote History
Quoted:
There shouldn't be any sewer pipes in the concrete. They should be just underneath it. Things to watch out for would be gas, electrical or water.  They should also be located just under the concrete but you wouldn't want to accidentally punch through the concrete and pierce any of these in the dirt below.

These roto-hammer drills will make the process really quick and easy. If you start to feel resistance or slow down, you might be hitting the rebar. I rented one from Home Depot, it went from 35-45 minutes a hole with a heavy duty drill to about 5 minutes with the roto-hammer.

http://www.valutool.com/v/vspfiles/photos/RH328VC-ROTO-HAMMER-2S.jpg
View Quote

Thanks for the info.

I did some more research and I realized that I have a post tension slab... Not worth the risk of damaging my foundation if I hit one of those cables.

Looks like I will be bolting it to the wall
Link Posted: 1/19/2015 6:43:15 PM EDT
[#3]
OP, as long as you're only drilling in the concrete you should be ok as far as utilities go.  The only exception I can think of would be radiant heat plumbing or electric if you have radiant floor heat.  You might hit some rebar, in which case you'll know it when the drill stops moving forward, but it won't hurt anything.

BTW, use some spacers to keep the steel from contacting the floor.  I used hockey pucks, four one in each corner.
Link Posted: 1/19/2015 6:47:28 PM EDT
[#4]
Make sure its not a post tension slab.
Link Posted: 1/20/2015 1:05:20 AM EDT
[#5]
You can drill and cut into a post tension slab.  You just need to have a company locate everything and mark it out on the surface.

Link Posted: 1/20/2015 11:08:55 AM EDT
[#6]
I looked at some pictures of when my house was being built so I have a pretty good idea of where they are within a few inches. I was thinking of using a metal sector to get a better idea of exactly where they are.

Might go with this method and just drill very slowly...
Link Posted: 1/20/2015 10:03:00 PM EDT
[#7]
If you can't see the plugs on the edges of the slab to locate the cables, a large magnet should be able to help locate them.
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