Removing screws holding plywood flooring to floor (screws through frame below bus)

[PigPen-SKO]

First of all, sorry for posting if this has been answered before. I'm at the bus all day and can only access through mobile. I'm having a hard time searching the site.

We're working on pulling up the floor now. The rubber is coming up relatively easy, but we're having trouble with the plywood underneath. There are screws that are countersunk into the plywood and they go through the metal floor and into pieces of the frame below. The heads just get chewed up when I try to back them up.

Is it normal for them to be going into the frame under the bus? From the looks of them, they're about three inch long self tapping screws.

Anyway, advice on the best way to get the plywood up is greatly appreciated. My guess is there are between 150 and 200 screws, so this should be an interesting day...

 

[PigPen-SKO]

 

[Bon Voyage]

Not sure what pigpen posted as it's not coming through on my phone.

You can get one of those shingle removing shovels to pry the plywood up. After that I'd just cut off the screws and grind them flat.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1olfart]

I watched a you tube video where the guy used a auto floor jack to pop the wood up. Seemed pretty darn efficient. I'm sure you' have to go back and grind any screws left in the floor, but the wood came up with ease. The "hole thing" has been covered in many posts, so pick your weapon, and get er done

 

[Scooternj]

Fixed it for ya

 

[PigPen-SKO]

Thanks Scooter! What did I do wrong there? After some unexpected delays, we're finally back to work so our build thread will be started soon. So I'll be doing a lot of picture posting...

And thanks for the ideas everyone. I'll see what I can do tomorrow. Hopefully we can just get this ripped up relatively easily (a guy can hope, right?) and then grind the screws down with no problems.

 

[family wagon]

I'm afraid I can't properly assign credit to its rightful owner, but I read here a tip to use a circular saw to cut the plywood into smaller pieces and then pry. It worked wonderfully for my bus. Set the depth on the saw as close to the metal deck as you're comfortable, pay attention to clues from the sound or sparks letting you know if it's getting into the steel, and make maybe 2 foot squares out of it.

For prying I liked using what I call a digging bar. It's a hexagonal steel shaft, about 1-1/4" in cross section, with a chisel tip on one end (and a point on the other, but that's not useful here). It builds enough inertia when shoved toward the plywood edge that it buries underneath pretty deep, and the long bar is nice for prying up. The screws popped through the plywood fairly well for me.

After the plywood is out of the way you've got options for removing the screws: unscrew with a driver or with locking pliers, or cut and grind smooth.

 

[PigPen-SKO]

Thanks everyone! I was able to find a few screws on each section that came out. This gave me enough room to get a digging bar under the plywood and just start forcing it up. My goal is to get the rest out today (except for the area under the lift).

By the way, anyone want a lift? I honestly can't believe how hard they are to get rid of.

 

[Scooternj]

Thanks Scooter! What did I do wrong there? After some unexpected delays, we're finally back to work so our build thread will be started soon. So I'll be doing a lot of picture posting....

If you're using Imgur through a web browser, use the BBCode link provided, as highlighted in this image:

If you're using the phone app, and you copy the direct link, make sure you put it in (img) brackets, replacing the parenthesis here with []. Either way, after the file name there should be either a .jpg or .png. That's what was missing.

Hope that helps.

 

[Wantabus]

Hey PigPen Did you end up finding an efficient way? Having the same problem with my bus, any insight is appreciated!

 

[Native-SKO]

Wantabus, when I ripped up the plywood subfloor, I used a crow bar to pull out the screws. Once you jam the "teeth" of the crow side in around the screw, a quick yank back on the bar will pop the screw right out. On the screws not near the edge of the plywood, I did use the circular saw trick. One could remove most all of the plywood with the circular saw method (and sometimes the gentle persuasion of the crow bar) then go to town on the screws.

 

[ermracing]

By the way, anyone want a lift? I honestly can't believe how hard they are to get rid of.

Where are you located?

 

[Wantabus]

Toronto, Canada.

 

[Wantabus]

Thank you for the advice

 

[Ciscokid-SKO]

We did the same method as Native. Rip up the wood with a flat bar or pry bar. This will leave the screw ends loose but more then likely still rusted and not wanting to break free for removal. Take the loose nut and pull up with vise grips. Cut the bolt with cut off wheel on a hand grinder and the bolt will fall through the floor onto the ground. Make sure you get all the old cut off end picked up. Screw in tire is a bad day for a skoolie. We went the extra mile and welded in all the holes and then ground the welds down smooth. Sealed with rust prohib and then painted.

 

[PNW_Steve]

I tried cutting the plywood into smaller pieces then prying up the smaller pieces with a prybar.

That was slow going so we tried lifting larger sections. That actually worked better for me.

Also, I had started with a "Fat Max" 36" pry bar. My buddy brought over two prybars like I have never seen before. The end was almost like a claw hammer and they had about a 42" handle.

Once the two of us tackled near full sheets with the mondo pry bars whe had the floor up in about two hours. Linolium, plywood and screws.

The screws that did not pull out I cut off with an angle grinder.

 

[sandbagger2u]

Rusty Floor with bolts ad screws

Plywood was rotting and was hard to remove. Some screws came out with crowbar. Used crowbar and pick axe to pry up some sections. Now bolts I ground off to get the seats out are sticking up. I will try to pound them out but will grind the down and then pound them out. Screws I'll grind and use a punch. Welding skills same as my cooking skills.... non-existent. Using JB Weld Steel Stick and will grind them smooth. Then wire brush, Corroseal and then Rust-oleum Professional Enamel. Multiple coats. May also need to patch a few larger holes with sheet metal and rivets. Multiple naps as I'm too damn old to be doing this.