Choosing the anchor by base material and load: drop-in anchors for threaded-rod suspension, wedge/expansion bolts for brackets in solid concrete, toggle anchors for hollow decks, plastic plugs for light duty — with setting technique, edge distances and the stocked sizes.
Anchor failures are almost never the steel — they are the wrong anchor for the material. The map: solid concrete takes drop-ins and wedge/expansion bolts; hollow-core decks and blocks take toggles (expansion anchors find voids and spin); masonry/light duty takes plastic plugs with screws. Cracked-concrete and seismic-rated anchors are their own certified class — where the structure is classified cracked or the job specifies approvals, select by the approval document, not this overview.
An internally threaded sleeve set flush in the slab: drill, clean, insert, expand with the setting punch, and the ceiling now has a female thread for rod. Stocked: M6 × 25, M8 × 30, M10 × 40, M12 × 50 (grade 8.8, collared, zinc-plated) with the matching setting tools (6 mm, M8, M10). The punch stroke is the installation: an unset drop-in holds hand-tight and lets go under vibration — set every one, fully, and you can hear the tone change when the cone seats. Pair with threaded rod per the rod guide and pipe supports from the clamp guide.
Through-fixings for brackets, rails, machine feet: drill through the fixture, tap the stud in, torque the nut and the clip expands. Stocked zinc-plated (M6 × 40, M6 × 65) and hot-dip galvanised for outdoor/corrosive duty (M8 × 75 HDG, M8 × 90 HDG). Respect embedment (the length after the fixture), spacing ≥ 10 × and edge distance per the anchor's data — an anchor near an edge fails by cracking the edge off at a fraction of catalogue load. Torque to specification with a wrench, not a rattle gun set to 'yes'.