rivets to seal floor holes?

[olives]

We’re trying to figure out how to seal the holes in our floor, from bus seat bolts and plywood floor nails.

Found this video of someone sealing them with rivets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbJXx_I0_7M

This seems like a great idea, and now we’re wondering why it doesn’t seem like most of the people on here are doing this. Is there a downside to this approach that we’re missing?

Also, we’re trying to avoid using adhesives like epoxy as much as possible, since we’re sensitive to the fumes. And if we can avoid welding over the holes that’s a plus too.

Thanks!

[EastCoastCB]

A lot of folks are scared of rivets.

[farok]

I wonder why? They are simple to install and seal things up really nicely. Sounds like a good idea to me to seal holes, one which I will likely go for. Given it's open to the weather on the bottom of the bus, closed-end rivets would seem like the right choice, no?

Chris

[farok]

As a follow-up, what rivet material would be best for the galvanized floor to avoid corrosion due to dissimilar metals? My goal is to use Ospho, then paint the floor, then fill holes, for what it's worth. I was originally planning to just fill with an adhesive or epoxy before this idea came up.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by farok

I wonder why? They are simple to install and seal things up really nicely. Sounds like a good idea to me to seal holes, one which I will likely go for. Given it's open to the weather on the bottom of the bus, closed-end rivets would seem like the right choice, no?

Chris

Yeah closed end are good. There are open-end rivets designed to provide a watertight seal as well. Honestly a regular open end pop rivet isn't going to leak in a floor. I'd use the cheap ones. I got a couple thousand plain steel 1/4" pop rivets on clearance from Grainger. They were $50!
I'd go with stainless but it really won't matter much. They'll outlast the bus.

[farok]

Thanks for the info! I suppose the only downside is that the rivet needs to be closely matched to the hole size.

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah. They'll only work within a specific range of hole sizes. But there are rivet washers. You'd need someone underneath though. Some holes would be unreachable.

[Yukon Cornelius]

If you are worried about DM Corrosion or leakage you could always wet sink your rivets.... takes a little longer as you have to dip your rivet into whatever sealant you elect to use. The only hiccup I see is if you're floor is like mine was you'll have between 3-5 different sized holes and the larger bolt holes will be a bit of a PITA for a generic pop rivet/blind rivet application.

[o1marc]

The issue will be that the seat bolt holes are slightly larger than 5/16", when was the last time you saw a rivet with a 5/16" diameter? The few I found were $25 for a 10pc bag.I suppose a large head pop rivet could be epoxied down. When drilling out old rivets I always keep the heads that come off, they make perfect backer washers.