How to Mount a Bear
Edina Homeowner Needed Help With This Unusual Handyman Project
The Problem:
You live on Minnehaha Creek and have this great idea. “I’m going to buy a 400 pound wooden bear”. And then your spouse finds out. Best to get it securely installed so you can start harvesting the praise you’ll need to defend your decision. But who do you call to mount a bear? Yep. You guessed it. You call the guys who have never done it before but who will do just about anything for you (short of actually mounting a real bear).
The Plan:
The Solution:
We gave our client two options. One involved fabricating a custom steel armature, affixing the bear to the steel top plate and then sinking the armature in a concrete footing. Super secure. The second, less expensive and slightly less secure option was to pour a footing with some embedded 12” threaded rods to which we would fasten the bear. Our client picked the second option. He later referred us to his neighbor who needed some work on her cedar roof. Mission accomplished.
- Bear, bolted to 48″ deep concrete footing.
- Steve slapping high fives with the bear.
