Patching bolt holes in floor?

[Saucenbach]

Hey. So I removed every last bolt in the floor and the rails( which was a b****h) but it’s all clear. Just wondering best way to remove some excess surface rust. Wire brush on a grinder kind of works but not that great. Also, I’ve heard a couple ideas of how to really seal all the holes in the floor. Epoxy, epoxy with metal under it, caulk. I’m really not sure. I have to wait till spring so it settles right but just looking to hear
Some more ideas or success stories of the best way to really seal these hundreds of bolt holes. Thanks

[o1marc]

Once you're through with the wire brush and grinder, spray the floor with a rust converter such as Home Depots Prep & Etch, which I believe has been renamed Concrete and Metal Prep, or Ospho which is twice the price for the same product. Use a rust preventive primer. There are many methods for filling seat bolt holes. I'll probably use the epoxy and pennies, because have a whole tub full of them.

[PNW_Steve]

I did petty much what Marc described.

Wire brushed, swept, sprayed Prep and etch.

When that dried out, I found a chalky residue left on the floor. With a little effort it came off. I wire brushed the floor againand swept. Then I cleaned the floor with a TSP solution.

Then I rolled a good coat of Rusty metal primer.

Next will be covering all of the screw holes with adhesive flashing from Home Depot. Then I will roll a coat of Rustolium paint.

Many way to skin a cat

[ermracing]

After grinding, rust converting and priming our floor I used a tube of windshield goop (black) from the local auto parts store. About $30 for one tube which filled all the holes from 8 rows of chair rails and the plywood in a 16.5' section.

[Tango]

Unless you are gonna weld 'em...I would suggest small pieces (1"x1") of fairly light sheet metal (at least 20 ga.) affixed with a healthy dose of OEM grade seam sealer.

[DoxieLuvr2015]

Figured I'd bring this back to the top..since I have a similar question. Once the deck has been painted and sealed, for those of you that used framing along with rigid foam insulation on the deck. How did you seal the holes that were created when you attached the framing to the deck? ie: A nail or screw through the wood through the newly preserved metal deck.

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by DoxieLuvr2015

Figured I'd bring this back to the top..since I have a similar question. Once the deck has been painted and sealed, for those of you that used framing along with rigid foam insulation on the deck. How did you seal the holes that were created when you attached the framing to the deck? ie: A nail or screw through the wood through the newly preserved metal deck.

I had the same concerns about how to firmly attach my "joists" to the metal floor without using glue and without putting additional holes in the floor. My original plan was to weld L-clips onto the floor and then screw these to the sides of the joists, but I'm now planning to weld bolts (with the heads cut off) to the floor and screw down 2" pieces of dowel rod through the foam instead of using full joists.

This is an experiment I did for this technique: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/r...tml#post369829 . I'm going to be putting in the subfloor for my dropped floor this way this afternoon (hopefully, I still need to fabricate a tool for screwing the dowels down onto the posts - the angle grinder wrench did not work very well for this).

[banman]

Originally Posted by DoxieLuvr2015

Figured I'd bring this back to the top..since I have a similar question. Once the deck has been painted and sealed, for those of you that used framing along with rigid foam insulation on the deck. How did you seal the holes that were created when you attached the framing to the deck? ie: A nail or screw through the wood through the newly preserved metal deck.

The self tapping screws used 18 years ago to hold down the plywood floor on my rusty bus are still in good shape after being allowed to get wet from leaking windows and whatever...

Assuming you plan to keep your bus dryer inside than the average school bus the same method should be good for 30 or 40 years...

Use stainless steel tappers and if you really wanna go overkill (imho) followup underneath with a spraycan of rustoleum gutter-seal. It's very similar to rubberized automotive undercoating but it's cheaper AND has UV resistance to boot! A neighbor of mine that restored ol' Fords turned me on to this. Good enuf for '60s Mustangs is more than good enuf for me...

[SkooleeGrl]

Should painting the floor with rust preventative paint be done before or after the holes are sealed?

[Danjo]

Originally Posted by SkooleeGrl

Should painting the floor with rust preventative paint be done before or after the holes are sealed?

I would clean any rust around the holes, apply the patch and then paint. Your adhesive will have better, um,
adhesion.