TorqueMaster masonry screws fasten ledgers, brackets, fixtures and framing to concrete, brick and block. They’re made for contractors and do-it-yourselfers alike. The hex washer-head screw is for heavy fixtures and thin metal, and the flat-head star screw sits flush. Both have IBC/IRC code listings for uncracked concrete, so you have paperwork to show the inspector.
TorqueMaster comes from Midwest Fastener Corp., a family-owned fastener, hardware and electrical supplier in West Michigan. The company was founded in 1967 by the grandfather of its current president, Andy DeVries. It specializes in ICC-certified products for code-specific jobs and calls TorqueMaster one of its flagship lines for concrete anchoring.
Hex or flat: choose by the head
The hex washer head has a large bearing surface, so it clamps a ledger or sill plate tight against the wall. It drives with an impact driver or a socket. Because the washer is part of the head, it holds better on thin material like steel angle and brackets, where a flat head has almost nothing to bear against. The hex screws are built for heavy fixtures and take high shear and tension loads in solid masonry.
The flat head countersinks and finishes flush in concrete and brick. Use it for thresholds, door bucks, furring strips and fixtures where a raised head would catch on something or look wrong. Both heads have a star drive recess that keeps the bit from camming out on a long screw in hard concrete. Use the hex wherever the screw carries weight or clamps metal, and the flat wherever the head has to sit level with the surface.
What the code listing covers
The 1/4 x 3-3/4 hex screw has an ICC evaluation report, and the flat masonry screws are listed under IBC/IRC to ICC-ES AC193 and ACI 355.2-07. Bring that paperwork to the inspection and it goes faster. Both listings are for uncracked concrete. A slab with visible cracks, or the tension side of a beam or elevated slab, is a cracked-concrete job and needs an anchor whose listing names cracked concrete. If the hole you drilled lands next to a crack, drill a new one somewhere else.
The Mission Fault is active. For structural anchoring in the Mission Valley, confirm the job’s seismic design category with the building official before relying on the hex screw’s qualification for seismic design categories A and B.
Outdoors and against treated lumber
The blue on these screws is DuraPro, TorqueMaster’s corrosion-resistant coating. It’s approved for exterior use and for chemically treated lumber. That makes the blue hex screws suitable for fastening a treated deck ledger to a foundation. The 5/8 x 4 hex is heat-treated carbon steel under a multi-layer DuraPro finish and is rated for indoor and outdoor use.
The material depends on the size, so choose by size, not just by line. The 1/4 x 4 flat head is high-strength steel with the blue DuraPro finish. The 1/4 x 3-1/4 Star Flat is stainless steel, so use that size where you want a stainless head flush in a spot that stays wet.
Drilling and driving
Most failed concrete screws come from a bad hole. Drill with a sharp carbide bit in the size printed on the box, and go a little deeper than the screw will reach so the dust has somewhere to settle. Then blow the hole clean. A screw that bottoms out on packed dust never gets full thread engagement. Drive until the head is snug, then stop. If you keep hammering with the impact, it strips the threads the screw just cut, and a stripped hole won’t hold.
In brick, drive into the face of a solid brick. Mortar joints are soft, and the screw will spin out of them. In hollow block, hit the web or a grouted cell, because the load rating is for solid masonry.
The rest of the TorqueMaster line
TorqueMaster also makes wedge anchors for bolting heavy steel and equipment to solid concrete, and hammer-drive anchors for fast, light fastening. It also makes large-diameter screw anchors for loads bigger than a masonry screw can carry, plus concrete and masonry drill bits for drilling the holes.
TorqueMaster masonry screw specs
| Hex masonry screw | Flat masonry screw | |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Hex washer head, star drive recess | Flat countersinking head, star drive |
| Drive | T-25 star or 5/16-inch hex driver (1/4 x 3-3/4) | T-25 star (3/16 x 1-1/4) |
| Material and finish | Heat-treated carbon steel, blue DuraPro multi-layer (5/8 x 4); steel, blue DuraPro (1/4 x 3-3/4) | High-strength steel, blue DuraPro (1/4 x 4); stainless steel (1/4 x 3-1/4 Star Flat) |
| Code listing | IBC/IRC, uncracked concrete; static, wind and seismic loading, seismic design categories A and B | IBC/IRC, uncracked concrete |
| Test standards | ACI 355.2-07, ACI 355.2-19, AC193, ICC ESR-5134 (1/4 x 3-3/4) | ICC-ES AC193, ACI 355.2-07 |
Frequently Asked Questions
What bit do TorqueMaster masonry screws take?
The 1/4 x 3-3/4 hex screw takes a T-25 star bit or a 5/16-inch hex driver, and the 3/16 x 1-1/4 flat screw takes the same T-25 star bit. That means one T-25 bit drives both head styles in those sizes, so keep a spare or two in the truck. Star bits wear, so replace one once the corners round off, before it starts slipping in the recess.
Can you take out a masonry screw and reuse it?
A concrete screw backs out with the same driver that put it in, so it works well for temporary jobs like bracing forms or holding a jig in place. For anything that carries a load, use a new screw in a fresh hole, because the threads that cut the concrete the first time are worn and the listed load values assume a new screw.
Will TorqueMaster masonry screws snap in hard concrete?
The hex screws are high-strength steel made to resist breaking while you drive them, but no screw survives a hole that’s too small. A worn carbide bit drills an undersized hole without looking any different, so if the screws start driving tight partway in, change the bit before you twist one off.
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