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.

[jofred99]

After grinding, wire brushing, etching and painting with rustoleum rusty metal primer. Then I used Sikaflex 221 and aluminum flashing to cover the holes. Should be a sufficient barrier of Sikaflex and paint to eliminate galvanic reaction between the metals.

[HamSkoolie]

We are still in demo but have settled on our floor treatment.


We will be wire brushing the rust on the floor (we have very minimal rust) then using corroseal to treat any corrosion that remained unseen. After that, sealing with rustoleum paint, rolled on.

We will be sealing all the screw holes in our floor with stainless steel large flange blind rivets dipped in polyurethane sealant.
The seat bolt holes will be sealed with plastic pop in covers dipped in polyurethane sealant.
One inch Fomular 150 (pink Owens Corning foam sheets) will then be glued down and all joints sealed with the appropriate tape.

This will be followed by 3/8 or 1/2" plywood laid down laterally and glued to the Fomular 150.
This will then be topped with the finish flooring........... which the lady has not yet identified.......ONE LITTLE THING to pick out and...... well.....shhhh don't say anything.


The Corroseal, rivets, plastic plugs, are Amazon items.

The polyurethane sealant, Fomular 150, plywood, and finish floor will come from the local Home Depot and/or Lowes.

[Delos356]

I have already stripped and cleaned my floors, applied rust converter, and painted with rustoleum enamel paint. I am almost done installing my large patched (around the wheel wells and the old heater holes) which have already been painted so there is no raw metal, even underneath. I was thinking of using weatherproof sealant tape like this :
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-T...2730/302091382

It's an aluminum duct tape that seals air tight and has a thick, sticky mastic. Does anyone see any issues?

[Delos356]

Originally Posted by jofred99

After grinding, wire brushing, etching and painting with rustoleum rusty metal primer. Then I used Sikaflex 221 and aluminum flashing to cover the holes. Should be a sufficient barrier of Sikaflex and paint to eliminate galvanic reaction between the metals.

I am headed a similar direction. I have grinded and cleaned, used rust converter (ospho) and put down a good coat of Rustoleum enamel. Now I am patching all of my holes near the wheel wells with steel patches that have been also painted with the rustoleum enamel so there is no raw metal anywhere, even underneath. The patches have been riveted, and I was going to run a bead of sealant along the edge of each patch both under the bus and from the top.

SO FAR, I am not deviating from popular theory on how to deal with this. BUT, I had an idea today to patch the over 300 bolt and screw holes in my bus with this tape:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Nashua-T...2730/302091382

I like this tape because it's aluminum and strong as hell, and the butyl coating is EXTRA thick and sticky. It makes an airtight seal, which should give me protection again water. I've seen some people use the heavy duty tape for patching pools but that stuff is 6 inches wide and crazy expensive. This is 2 inches wide, and I can just run long strips of it along where my seat tracks were. And then paint over the whole shebang one more time for good measure. Does anyone see issues with this or have a reason why it would be a bad idea?