Hi all,

I am in the process of trying to work out how to install a ground anchor. As usual, these simply things to many is causing me too much stress. As it is at the moment, I can’t install it on the driveway. It is tarmac, and I know that is really poor. I don’t know the quality or state of what is underneath. I then discovered that many people mount them onto walls. I got excited as there are two garden walls at the back of the house. These are just under 4ft tall. They are double bricked. No idea what type, or if there is a cavity in the middle. Pragmasis say you can mount theirs onto a brickwall, but it needs to be the wall of a house. Basically taller than about 6ft. This is because of the wall mount expanding type bolts that can cause cracking. However, many other ground anchor suppliers don’t mention these limitations in heights etc.

I don’t have anywhere else I can install it, other than digging a huge hole somewhere and filling it with concrete. My other half says a big no to this. What are my options? I really need this as a security measure and I’ve ran out of ideas.

Can anyone help or give me advice?

Not done it myself, but on previous similar threads the suggestion was to fill containers with concrete to create fairly immovable anchor points.

The motorcycle worlds answer would be “A bucket of ‘crete” – I would aim slight bigger that a bucket myself ….

Depends what it’s for, right? I’m not sure that a ground anchor outside a house would be that much use to me.

I would guess that you don’t want to put it in a single-skinned exterior wall since you could attack it from the other side of said wall.

But the reason I point this out is that the ground under a ground anchor is only critical if the other security measures are strong. A ground anchor in the tarmac is probably still harder to beat than an angle grinder against pretty much any lock, and if that’s outside (of E.g. a locked garage) then the integrity of the ground anchor is not that relevant.

If you have to use the garden wall, can you drill a suitable sized hole and use an epoxy resin anchor fix or similar, you may have to find a suitable bolt as threaded rod will expose a simple bolt head to undo however this will not cause any expansion cracking will be as strong as an expansion bolt but the weakest point will be the wall that you fix to. Add in a ‘tyre-o-crete’ to boost things?

A hole filled with concrete could easily be covered with a thin layer of gravel or similar, to make it not look like a random patch of concrete. That would look much nicer than a bucket filled with concrete above ground level.

Thanks for the replies.

Er, I’m a complete noob regarding this. It’s for a motorbike. I don’t have a garage. It’s a fully enclosed driveway/rear garden with 4ft walls and 3 ft fencing on top, all round. 2 gates, one single, and doubles at the driveway end. Currently a single padlock on each. Plan to add extra padlock and hasp to each, disc lock for bike, cover, and then anchor and chain.

My MTBs live in the house and have done for years.

The garden walls are a long brick length deep. Most wall bolts seem to be around the 80mm mark, so they should go into the brick okay without going through the other side. I understood resin fixings couldn’t be used in brick, only concrete? It’s a minefield.

I don’t really understand the bucket of concrete solution.

Chemfix

I don’t really understand the bucket of concrete solution.

buy a cheap bucket and some concrete post mix, throw it all in the bucket, as it’s setting push the ground anchor in. It will set hard. The block of concrete should be enough of a deterrent to the occasional scrote who normally target garden thievery.

TyreOCrete.

cut through the frame if it’s faster than removing chains etc.

I presume this applies more to (pedal) bikes than motorbikes?

I don’t really understand the bucket of concrete solution.

Fill a bucket with wet concrete. Put the ground anchor in the wet concrete. Wait for concrete to dry. You now have a ground anchor securely fixed into ~80kg of concrete. It can be moved, but not very quickly or very far.

But like I said, you’ve now got an ugly bucket of concrete outside your house. Personally I’d rather just dig a hole, fill it with concrete and set the ground anchor into that.

Personally I’d rather just dig a hole, fill it with concrete and set the ground anchor into that

Thanks. Well it certainly wouldn’t be me doing it. Wouldn’t have the faintest idea what to do. It does seem like the best option, but the least viable.

This is what I did

Impressive work by the pup @piemonster

I really thought this would be a case of installing a ground anchor fairly easily somewhere outside. This could get even more expensive now.

I don’t this it was expensive, old but large cardboard tube. Dig a hole, put tube in, put concrete in tube, put ground anchor in concrete.

Check occasionally to make sure it sets in the right position.

I can’t remember if I used Postcrete or not now or something else. Is that stuff suitable? That’d just be “add water and stir”.

Bolt to the wall using chemical fixings.

Also can you fit a gate or barrier as a visual deterant

Also can you fit a gate or barrier as a visual deterant

The whole rear of the house is enclosed with 7ft fencing/walls. I’m hoping that is also enough of a deterrent.

The expanding bolts should be fine in the wall. I’ve used some to mount a fence post into an ancient brick wall that’s approximately 4 foot high. Been there 10+ years and the wall hasn’t fallen down. Just make sure you line it up so it bolts into brick rather than mortar.

How about a big plant pot filled with concrete and a plant ontop? The rectangular wooden ones might be deep enough to have a layer of soil for the plants too. Chain/achor underneath or on the side.

Don’t bother trying to put a ground anchor into brick, a mate of mine did that and opened his garage to find his Ducati missing and scratches the full length of his car (bonnet/roof/boot) when they dragged the bike over (it was secured directly in front of the car and no way to bring it down the side). Oh, and a hole in the wall where the anchor had been…

Hole in the ground and fill with easy-concrete is the answer – and as others have said just some gravel to hide.

I did an equivalent in my workshop, except this was under the floor where the cavity is about 600mm. I just filled built a rough hollow ‘tower’ with old bricks and filled it full of concrete and then mounted the anchor on top and re-floored around it.

Right…. So, how much is a job like that going to set me back?

. This could get even more expensive now.

It’s really quite easy and cheap.

Dig a hole using a shovel.

Add water to some ready mixed concrete: https://www.diy.com/departments/blue-circle-multipurpose-ready-mixed-concrete-20kg-bag/135767_BQ.prd You will need more than you think and you might need a wheelbarrow or builders tub to mix it in https://www.diy.com/departments/black-plastic-42l-tub/1744329_BQ.prd

Pour the concrete into the hole. If you’ve got any old bricks or broken slabs then add those to bulk it up a bit

Fix/set the ground anchor in the concrete. If it’s the kind you can just push into the wet concrete then great, saves having to drill it into place.

A few £ for a bag of gravel to make it look pretty.

Job done.

5 bags of concrete is ~£30 and probably less from a local builders merchant. Plastic tub for mixing is another £5 at most. £5 for the decorative gravel.

Thanks for that info.

It’s really quite easy and cheap

For someone who is handy at that kind of thing. I can’t even hang a shelf on the wall nevermind dig a hole in a driveway and fill it with concrete.

cut through the frame if it’s faster than removing chains etc.

I presume this applies more to (pedal) bikes than motorbikes?

Yep, must admit I hadn’t spotted the motorbike mentioned when I posted that

concrete bolts are non expansion fixings designed to be used within, i think its 30 or 40mm of a concrete edge, with no cracking. Basically drill a pilot hole, and screw it in like a bolt. It cuts its own threads on the way in.

they are designed to be used with an impact driver, but if youve only got one or two to do you can just use a socket and an extension bar for the leverage. once its in, grind the corners off the hex.

see also “frame screws”, which are for holding window frame in. They only have the end of a brick to hang onto, so are non expansion. generally a Torx head, 100mm long evil looking serrated 8mm screw bolt.

Chemical fitted bolt would also work, but the hole you drill needs to be very clean and free of dust, and if you epoxy in a stud, you are left with a nut fitting on the top which isn’t very secure

you need to remember that eyebolts are unlikely to be hardened and may well even be bent open using a long bar. Better to get a hardened steel shackle that hides its own fixings when in use.

It’s really quite easy and cheap

For someone who is handy at that kind of thing. I can’t even hang a shelf on the wall nevermind dig a hole in a driveway and fill it with concrete.

Hope it didn’t sound patronising, not my intention. Digging a hole in something soft (lawn or flowerbed next to the drive) would be much easier than in the drive itself if that’s possible. This is better than trying to put a shelf up because the concrete will level itself and even if it is wonky, it’ll be covered up so it doesn’t really matter! 🙂

No not at all. I was just pointing out my failings.

I have a couple of weeks to find the right solution. I don’t want to lose any more sleep over it. Thanks for the all the replies so far, really appreciate it.

For someone who is handy at that kind of thing. I can’t even hang a shelf on the wall nevermind dig a hole in a driveway and fill it with concrete.

I’m a DiY incompetent (I’m banned from doing DiY in the house and I inevitable mess it up and have to get my dad round to fix it anyway) and I’ve done the hole in the ground and concrete method and it’s easy.
Dig hole.
Add water to concrete mix, mix up and pour in hole, add random bits of rubble you have around the garden.
Stick ground anchor in the top of the concrete (hack, use an old u-lock if you have one lying around, that can work too if you’ve not already bought the ground anchor).
Leave it to set for a while.
Cover with gravel/dirt/whatever you want.
It’s super easy, the hardest part is digging the hole.

Years ago when I had a house with a garden this is what i did for my motorbikes. I put a patch of concrete in for them to stand on. When I took away the top couple of inches of soil I dug a pit about 18″ deep in the middle. I took an old rim, stood it upright in the hole, put some rebar thru it, filled the hole with concrete and then spread a patch of concrete for the bikes to stand on. Easy to lock the bikes to, no way that was coming out of the ground easily.

In the OPs position thats what i would be doing again – something similar. A concreted in anchor is much better than a bolt up one. Maybe something like this?

Are you putting in the Premises double doofer anchor?

If not go with non expansion chemical fixings in to the wall and you should be ok. If you’re worried, get two anchors and do one into tarmac and the other into the wall with chem fixings.

The alternative is as above, some sort of concrete to mount the anchor.

So, have decided to go for the digging a hole and filling it with concrete approach. I can lift a few paving slabs around the area and dig there. At the moment I have a friend who is going to help me. He has recommended the bull ring type anchor as above. Just trying to find one now that will take the size of chain I want as I need a minimum inside diameter of 65mm.

Wish me luck! And thanks for all the replies.

Good luck. Make sure you use something to do the anchor disappearing into the concrete completely while it sets!