Looks Just Like the Drawing, Right?

These anchor brackets looked exactly like the drawings. Well, not quite. The drawings and calculations never considered the two big slots in the anchor brackets (see arrows). Obviously, the slots considerably weaken the anchor, especially in extreme tolerance positions. The contractor said they caught it and checked and found all conditions were fine. We asked for documentation just the same.

You've heard of Air Guitar...

Here is the Air Stud. That big hole in the concrete means the insert won't work. However, the real mystery is where the stud on the insert went? Are they all like this? (Red arrow shows insert, yellow arrow show a big gaping hole behind the insert with no stud where one should have been.)

Two Screws are Better than One, Right?

Wrong. When the first screw head broke off this contractor added a replacement screw. That's good. The problem is they added the second screw in the slot such that movement is now restricted. That's bad.

Also note that the first screw was so close to the top of the slot, movement would have been prevented anyway. That's bad.

Oh, and don't forget the shims that are practically falling out now. That's bad too.

Magic Screws

Imagine. Imagine a horizontal rail too weak to take the load. Imagine a galvanized steel channel bolted to the rail to reinforce it. Now imagine you're a contractor that finds putting in all those 8mm bolts in the rail too inconvenient. So you put a bolt in each end of the channel and use a bunch of 5mm screws for all the "bolts" in-between.

Oops, you forgot that the channel was predrilled for the 8mm bolts and your 5mm screws fit a little sloppy in the holes (see arrow). You also forgot that 5mm screws are quite a bit weaker than the 8mm bolts you were supposed to use.

But not to worry, you are using magic screws (and that blob of sealant on the end has to have some structural value, right). So you just keep making the units until ALT shows up. Uh-oh.

Master of Deception

This anchor is clever one. The concrete bolt used as a shim (welded to the angle and vertical tube) acts as a diversion to draw your eye away from the real trick.

The big deep hole in the concrete right next to the expansion bolt in the curb is where the action is.