Are all ground anchor bolts the same?

Updated on Oct 12, 2026

Not all ground anchor fixings are of the same quality or strength. Beware of suppliers giving misleading information about how strong their bolts are.

The bolts generally aren't the issue as the concrete or brickwork is invariably the weak point!

We deliberately use a 4-bolt fixing spread over a wide area to compensate for the substrate.

Any single-bolt, or two-bolt fixing is necessarily more reliant on the quality of the substrate, even if it uses big bolts. Also, using a big bolt often forces you to hire an industrial drill, and for what? To keep the manufacturing costs down or to perpetuate a poor design!

It's much better to have a decent multi-bolt fixing spread over a wide area. This is not rocket science: It's common sense!

Why is the drill bit larger than the M10 bolt?

M10 describes the bolt’s thread diameter, not the hole required for the complete fixing.

A resin fixing needs clearance around the bolt for the resin. An expanding fixing needs space for the shield surrounding the bolt. These different systems therefore use different hole diameters, even when the bolt thread is M10.

Use the drill size and depth stated in the instructions supplied with your exact fitting kit. Do not select a drill bit from the thread diameter alone or mix components from different kits without checking their compatibility.

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