Hi. My mom want's a handrail on her from patio/steps. They are 4'x8'x8" slabs of old, medium aggregate, concrete. If it was straight cement, expanding or anchoring masonry bits and bolts would work great. But it's not cement. They're marbley old concrete slabs that could easily break. Is their a better option for anchoring into old concrete?:confused:

I'm in the process of building a log home, and soon the concrete will be poured for the garage. The contractor and I are a little at odds over the surface preparation. When the footings were dug for the garage, the dirt was piled into the center. I say dirt, but what I see is clay. It was dug wet and now it has dried -- really really hard. The ground level needs to be raised about 18" before the gravel and concrete, and my contractor says he plans on using a BobCat to level it off and compact it. I protested this and convinced him to use a vibrating compactor (walk behind kind) rather than the BobCat, which has a static pressure on the ground of only 5 psi. But now I'm thinking that I don't even want that clay to be any part of the soil under the concrete. I want it removed and replaced with the granular soil that was dug up for the house. The two photos I have attached show the clay and the soil I would prefer using. Can someone tell me if I'm being overly concerned about this, or should I insist on doing what I have described? [ATTACH]48996[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]48997[/ATTACH]