Whenever putting down the foundation for the building, the installation of the embedded anchor rods must be precise. Misplacing them with a variance greater than ¼-inch means your columns will be out of plumb and could be even worse if accumulated on several bays. To re-align, you must slot a larger hole in the base plate and use a welded washer.

Why is this important?

Since the building is attached to the foundation with the embedded anchor rods, precision is key since once they are set and the concrete has hardened, changing the location is very labor intensive.

To correct the issue, you first slot the base plate hole larger, provided it is not so great that it is too close to the column web or the edge of the base plate. However, simply making a larger hole won’t fix the problem since an over-sized slot will cause the building loads to shift to the other anchor rods. To ensure the load is equally spread to all the anchor rods, you will have to place a welded washer plate (same thickness as the base plate) over the slotted hole(s) and weld it to the base plate.

There’s my quick fix! Do you have questions? Comments? Want more details? Send me a comment below. And stay tuned for more quick fixes to keep your job on schedule, on budget, and on the move.