Somebody told me about using blind rivets (5mm) to attach drywall steel tracks on concrete floor and ceiling. Do that really works?
How good is this compared with bushing and screw?
Concrete – use blind rivets in concrete
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You can actually punch surprising large holes in the middle of a beam without diminishing its load-bearing capacity. This is because that capacity is largely a function of only the top and bottom portions of the beam and how far apart they are.
Engineered floor joists are a good example of this:
It would take a structural engineer to tell you exactly how much the load-bearing capacity will be reduced, but I can tell you that this amount will be at least an order of magnitude less than the margin for error in manufacturing the beam.
Don't worry about it. It's what these things are made for.
Before you decide on the flooring you'll want to do a moisture test. Vinyl floor will not allow any water vapor to escape the slab, so as moisture wicks up through the slab it will become wet below the vinyl. This can lead to mold issues and a breakdown of glues and patching compounds. There are plenty of effective ways to deal with a moisture in a slab, but without a test you won't know which to choose.
Now to the question of leveling the concrete, first step is to map out the slab to determine high and low spots. The easiest way to do this is to set up a rotating laser in the middle of the room, be sure it's sitting level and turn it on projecting a level line around the room (the height you set it at doesn't matter). Next take a straight stick, pole, broom handle, whatever as long as its straight, set it next to the laser and place a mark on it where the laser hits it. Then make your way around the room taking note where the laser is hitting the stick in relation to the first mark. Plot several points around the room (the more the better). Marks above the control line means the floor is low, below means high.
High spot are best ground down, low spots are best filled. Most jobs I've done require both grinding and filling. If you find more low spots than high the more leveler you need, more high then low the less you need. Remember to respect all control and expansion joints, and follow the manufacturer's instructions to the tee to insure a proper job.
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Best Answer
The thing with using a rivet would be the precision of the drilled hole. Given the right size hole, it would absolutely be strong, (maybe not AS strong) but that hole would need to be drilled to a roundness within about +0.05" of the diameter of the rivet, which I highly doubt you'd be able to accomplish with a hand drill in concrete. Too loose and the rivet doesn't grab. Too tight, the rivet can't even try to grab and will break off before the pin moves.
Screws that are developed to hold in concrete will obviously be better because there's a lot more surface area to grab onto the concrete, and they're more friendly on inconsistent holes due to the depth of the threads.