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Hanging UHMW plastic sheets on a concrete wall

strep3241

strep3241

Senior member
We have some 4'x9' sheets of UHMW type of stuff, it is not your normal UHMW plastic. It has two thin sheets of metal on the inside along with some fiber material. This stuff is fairly heavy for 1/4" thick. I am not sure what you call this stuff, I will try to get a pic of it. It has a real slick surface making it easy to clean.

We plan on hanging these sheets on a cinder block wall and wanted to find out what would be the best method of attaching this stuff to the cinder block wall. I don't think those drive pin anchors will work because when they expand, I think they will crack the blocks. I am not too fond on using those blue tapcon screws, they seem to break easy.

I am not sure where would be a better place to ask this question since I don't know what the stuff is called.
 
See if you can fasten it to the top plate (wood) that the joists are sitting on. This plate should be above the blocks all around.

If not, try PL premium, it's a construction adhesive and works pretty well. You need to find a way to hold it in place till it cures though (about 24 hours). Maybe a 2x4 leaning with some weight put on it.

I would not use tapcons or other fasteners, but if you do, try to fasten to the mortar instead of the block itself.
 
If I use an adhesive, years down the road, would we be able to take it back off?

What kind of adhesive would be need to use? The problem with it needing to cure a long time is we milk cows where we plan on hanging this stuff. We have thought about just drilling all the way through the wall and using bolts or all thread. The concern I have with attaching it to the top plate is I was hoping to get a good seal where water could not get behind it. And the top plate is not exactly square with the concrete, it is pretty close.

This stuff is fairly heavy, I would say each sheet weighs 60lbs(on the light side) or more.

Also keep in mind, this stuff will be pressure washed with hot water a few times a year.

I will try to get a pic here shortly. I think this stuff is called duraplate.

[URL=http://s170.photobucket.com/user/clarke_017/media/IMG_0795_zps5f867f61.jpg.html][/URL]
 
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You will not be able to take it off if you use adhesive. That stuff is crazy. I did a stone veneer fireplace and stuck one 4" piece on the sheet rock as a test. The next morning I was able to hang off it.
 
adhesive or the plastic inserts should also work. maybe a row of screws along the top, and glue down the center/bottom to minimize holes.

I also recommend putting the fasteners in the mortar joints.
 
A wedge anchor won't pop cinder block unless you torque it down too hard. Your best bet is to try and line them up so that you are hitting the web in the middle or on the end where it's solid. They'll bite on the hollow core, but you have a greater chance of them popping the wall.
 
I'd personally put a strip of wood on the top and bottom, maybe a 1" wide x 1/2" deep that's anchored to the block with concrete nails or similar, and then you can put in as many screws or nails or whatever you want to attach the sheeting.
 
There exist very few adhesives that can be used to effectively bond UHMW, and of the ones that exist (that I know of) they are invariably extremely expensive.

As vi_edit mentioned, short wedge anchors will do the job. The other thing you might consider is anchoring some angle iron on the top and bottom to create a channel in which the board rests. This of course depends on the rigidity of the board to prevent bowing out, and whether the application requires a tight fit to the wall.
 
Yea, you can't glue UHMW plastic with any readily available adhesive. The stuff is also fairly expensive, and used as a low-friction surface in a lot of different hobbies and industry. Why don't you sell those sheets instead and buy a more sensible material to hang on the walls?
 
Those sheets would probably be awesome to make an air hockey table. Is it a rigid product? Before I saw the pic I thought this was like a vapor barrier type stuff or something.
 
depending on the load, you could always check and find out what kind of fastener you could use 😉

otherwise, some kind of adhesive probably. find out what they used to bond the metal inserts to the UHMWPE?
 
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If adhesive can't stick directly to that you could use adhesive to put some nailing strips (2x4's) along the wall. You will need to find a way to hold them in place while it cures though. You could use wedge anchors, 3 should do, as long as it holds it long enough for the adhesive to take. Though, given that amount of work you may as well just frame the wall properly. Guessing you want this to be a quick fix. Could do adhesive + a couple anchors.



Also, this does not apply in this case, but here is a neat trick for fastening stuff to concrete that is 10x easier than tapcons, and where wedge anchors arn't an option (ex: a walkable surface where you can't have bolts sticking out)

Drill a hole that is about the size of decent size framing nails you have on hand, stick a few pieces of rebar wire or other type of metal wire in the hole, and nail it in with the hammer! I fastened my dricore subflooring this way and I wish I had found out about this before I even bothered using tapcons. Ended up using tapcons for a large part of it then some guy at home depot told me about this method. It is a dream. Dricore is suppose to be floating, but I hate how it was bouncy. It aint moving now. If I had planned this out better I would have put a washer too but think the head is wide enough on the nails I used so I should be fine. Its nice to walk on a floor that is actually sturdy now. I accidentally bent a nail while doing this, it was not even half way in and I was not able to pull it out, so it's a very strong hold.
 
Red Squirrel said:
If adhesive can't stick directly to that you could use adhesive to put some nailing strips (2x4's) along the wall. You will need to find a way to hold them in place while it cures though. You could use wedge anchors, 3 should do, as long as it holds it long enough for the adhesive to take. Though, given that amount of work you may as well just frame the wall properly. Guessing you want this to be a quick fix. Could do adhesive + a couple anchors.



Also, this does not apply in this case, but here is a neat trick for fastening stuff to concrete that is 10x easier than tapcons, and where wedge anchors arn't an option (ex: a walkable surface where you can't have bolts sticking out)

Drill a hole that is about the size of decent size framing nails you have on hand, stick a few pieces of rebar wire or other type of metal wire in the hole, and nail it in with the hammer! I fastened my dricore subflooring this way and I wish I had found out about this before I even bothered using tapcons. Ended up using tapcons for a large part of it then some guy at home depot told me about this method. It is a dream. Dricore is suppose to be floating, but I hate how it was bouncy. It aint moving now. If I had planned this out better I would have put a washer too but think the head is wide enough on the nails I used so I should be fine. Its nice to walk on a floor that is actually sturdy now. I accidentally bent a nail while doing this, it was not even half way in and I was not able to pull it out, so it's a very strong hold.
Click to expand...
So basically the metal wires act as an expansion sleeve for the nail as it gets driven in?
 
Tapcons(blue screw) into the mortar joints, or epoxy anchors. Adhesive would be the cheapeast/fastest, but will be quite permanent.
 
I used polyurethane adhesive to put some panels on the blocks in my crawl space. It can hold a lot of weight but is hard to remove.
 
Anchor 2x4 and frame the panels in. Use aluminium frame if you are concerned with durability. Bracket framing allows you to replace panels by simply removing screws if replacement is a consideration.


Edit: damn spammer necro.
 
Construction adhesive (ie. liquid nails) will work, but I believe tapcons are the better approach....or perhaps a combination of both. They are less damaging to the wall because they will drill/remove material as they bore in rather than requiring hammering.

Otherwise, you could use the .22 ramset option. They're a small/light enough guage that they shouldn't crack the block as long as you don't hit the mortar joints.
 
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