Express Anchors

These are a wonderful invention. They are used to fix a piece of timber to a concrete wall. I was putting a low wooden fence along the top of a concrete wall, and Mulligan, the man who makes fencing, told me about them. I fixed 4 by 1 inch battens vertically to the wall, and fastened the fence to them on top of the wall. In the past, I would have used rawl plugs or masonry nails to fix the battens. Express anchors are far superior. They are made (I think) of steel, plated with something brassy to delay corrosion, and are hollow incomplete cylinders, with a tapered point and a splayed head. By incomplete, I mean that the cylinder has a gap running the whole length. The ones I used are 90mm by 8. You drill a hole through the wood with a number 8 bit, then drill on through the wall with a number 8 masonry bit (and your trusty hammer-action Black-and-Decker drill), to a total depth of 90mm, and then you hammer in the anchor. It's made slightly fatter than no. 8, and the cylinder closes in a little as it penetrates the hole, so that, with the spring in the steel, it grips like you wouldn't believe. I imagine you would have to pull the wall down to get it out, so make sure it is going where you want it, in the first place.