Throughout every season, many customers wonder how we ensure that our metal buildings stay sturdy and strong for many years. The answer is fairly straightforward: we use anchors. American Carports uses four different types of anchors or tie-downs when installing your metal structures. Rebar anchors—pin anchors—are used for standard installations on ground, gravel, clay, and sand. We also offer asphalt anchors, concrete anchors, and mobile home anchors (MHAs) as upgrade options for ground installation.
Standard Rebar Anchors
Measuring approximately 36 inches, our standard rebar anchors are hammered through base rails and into the ground. Rebar anchors are commonly used for ground installations. However, these anchors do NOT offer any type of warranty whatsoever. That’s why many of our customers like to upgrade to mobile home anchors for the extra durability.
Mobile Home and Asphalt Anchors
Unlike rebar anchors, 30-inch mobile home anchors are screwed into the ground and latched to the sides of the base rails with bolts. Mobile home anchors can also be added to your unit to give you an extra wind warranty. To ensure the wind warranty, you need to purchase the suggested number of mobile home anchors. Asphalt anchors are also latched onto the sides of the base rails with bolts and are approximately 30 inches.
Concrete Anchors
These anchors are installed with the same method used for rebar anchors: drilled through base rails and into concrete. The only advantage of these anchors is that they come FREE with the purchase of the building, thereby offering you the wind warranty at no additional cost. However, this will also depend on your concrete slab.
Concrete Slab
When having concrete anchors installed, you can also purchase L-Brackets, which will ensure that we do not chip the edge of your slab if you choose to make the building flush with the concrete. If you allow a lip of 3 inches or more of slab around the building, L-Brackets are not necessary.
Anchoring is an essential part of carport installation, so having a level site is crucial. We suggest that the slope difference be no greater than 3 inches. Our installers can refuse to install on unlevel ground. To ensure everyone’s safety and per company policy, our installers will not install a carport or metal building unless they can ensure that it is properly anchored. We only install on ground, gravel, asphalt, and concrete. We do not anchor to railroad ties, cinder blocks, storage containers, floating docks, or bricks. Please contact our main office to inquire about installation on surfaces other than those mentioned above.
You can always refer to our contract or contact us at (866) 471-8761 for further information on choosing the best anchors for your building and site installation.
