Footing, Foundation, and Mud Sill
The four layers between a house and the ground, and the load path that runs through them.
Anchor a Wood Screw in Concrete With Trimmer Line in the Hole
Technique: Trimmer Line Concrete Anchors
The Problem
Fastening to concrete for light duty — a bracket, a cleat, a furring strip — means a trip for plastic anchors or masonry screws you don't have, in the size you don't have, while a box of wood screws sits right there and a spool of trimmer line hangs in the garage.
The Technique
- Drill a hole in the concrete, sized about like the anchor hole you'd normally make for the screw.
- Cut a piece of string-trimmer line, fold or bundle it, and stuff it into the hole so it fills the bore.
- Drive an ordinary wood screw into the nylon-packed hole. The threads cut into the trimmer line, the line expands against the concrete, and the screw pulls up tight.
The nylon works exactly like a plastic anchor — because that's chemically about what it is, in spaghetti form that fits any hole.
Pro tip: Feed in enough line that the screw meets resistance the whole way — a loosely packed hole gives a screw that spins. Trim the tails flush after driving.
Safety note: This is a light-duty fastening trick — shelves' cleats, strapping, brackets. Anything structural, overhead, or life-safety (railings, TV mounts, anything over a bed) gets rated concrete anchors, not improvised nylon.
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