drill concrete for installing tack strips

The tackless carpet strips installed on masonry surfaces have short evenly-spaced concrete nails on every strip. They are set in position and with a well placed hammer strike the point of the nail penetrates the concrete securing the strip tightly.

Of course in the real world not every nail hit goes as planned. It's a good idea to have a few spares on hand as some tackles will be missing a nail or a bad hammer blow renders the nail useless.

If you can afford the extra time to install the strips with concrete screws (Tap-Cons) then the strips will be anchored better than nails. Use a 5/32 masonry bit for the small Tap-Con screw.

Some suggestions: If you do use screws along with nails 3-4 per strip should be enough. I found that 2 and sometimes 3 layers of tackles in long rooms will not pull loose overtime.

I wouldn't use Tapcons™. Way too expensive. I use a 1/8 in carbide bit and then use a 3/4 fluted masonry nail or 7/8 in aluminum drive nails. Or you can glue it down with a good adhesive like Bosch.

If aluminum nails won't work for you or you're not a professional flooring installer I would not recommend installing the strip yourself. It is really easy to miss with a hammer and bash the crap out of your baseboards.

If you're insistent on doing it yourself, I suggest a method called "drill and plug":

• Buy a 1/4 inch concrete bit and several 1/4 inch dowel rods.
• Drill right through the strip into the concrete.
• Tap the dowel rod into the hole and snap it off flush with the strip.
• Then using a roofing nail of the appropriate length, simply hammer the nail into the rod in the hole.
• The dowel rod expands in hole and holds the strip extremely well.