Screw 4 inch long. What?

[Marko]

This screw was starting to pop through the vinyl floor in the center of the floor. This is the second time it's happened. First time I slit the vinyl floor and screwed in back in and silconed the floor. It look great until I noticed the bump again in the vinyl floor. Since I am home and not on the road I decided to open the floor again and I removed the screw (see attached photo) it's a 4 inch screw and only threaded 3 inches leaving the top inch un-threaded.

So has anyone else experienced this!

Marko

[RogerR]

That's not a screw but it is a bolt. Odds are it either was used to hold someything up by hanging it from the flooring or hold the flooring down by bolting it into the frame or something metal down below.

Measure from the screw to the wall and get under there and look for where it came through. If you have not sealed up the hole gut a coat hanger or equivalent and poke it down to see if you can find where it went. You may want to get a nut and washer plus possibly some thread locking glue and replace it if something is hanging out down there.

[Marko]

It's a self tapping screw. Look at the bottom tip threads they are on an angle. Plus the tip is shaped different then a machine bolt. It's fluted or conical shaped. So I believe it's to hang heating duct work as the bottom portion of the screw has rust or metal flake on it. The top portion of the screw looks brand new with no discoloration.

Marko

[Sundancer330]

Agree its a screw, I would replace with a much shorter full thread screw or just leave it out and patch.

[prm99v6]

It holds the floor to the frame. Take it out, put lock tire on it and put it back. Just screwing it back in won’t keep it in.

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by prm99v6

It holds the floor to the frame. Take it out, put lock tire on it and put it back. Just screwing it back in won’t keep it in.

X-2

[Marko]

Sounds like a good plan. Thinking about it adding epoxy to the top part of the screw / bolt too (non-threaded area) so maybe the plywood floor will keep it in tight as well.

What do ya think? Over kill?

Marko

[RipinSC]

It only needs threads long enough to thread into the Frame or bracket. The floor will have a clearance hole for the screw. You don’t need threads the full length. Great idea on the post getting underneath and putting a nut on it if you can access it. I would not use epoxy on the floor surface in case you need to work on this screw again.

[Marko]

The original four inch Pan Head screw is a self- tapper or self-drilling type of screw. So if I reuse the original screw a bolt won't be able to fasten on to the screw as the screw in meant to go through metal and not supposed to come out again. So what I found available at my local hardware store was a four inch Machine Screw thats fully threaded. Since the original sell-drilling screw has made the opening I thought of using the new four inch Machine Screw (same size) with Blue Loc-Tight and skip using the Epoxy. What are your thoughts?

Thanks for all the support and suggestions!

Marko

Marko

[Marko]

By the way. I inserted a thicker coat hanger into the screw hole about the same dimension as the screw that I pull out and the hanger went down eight inches before it stop. Under side is completely enclosed (underbelly).

Marko

[RogerR]

If you have some Etearnabond or equivalent then you should consider opening an access hole in the bottom. Find where the wire is coming through and then consider using washers and lock nuts on the end of the bolt to hold up whatever it is going through and was originally designed to support. If it was not something important than maybe just fill the hole and call it a day.
Odds are, as Jayco uses the absolute minimum to hold anything together, it could mean some thing will fall out of the bottom some day.

[Tunce the traveler]

You won’t be able to put a nut on that self taping screw because the threads are not the same ( US, metric, pitch). It’s a sheet metal screw not a bolt.

[Marko]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I went with a new four inch threaded Pan Head Machine Screw with Blue Loc-Tight on the bottom one inch. Screwed it back in, clear siliconed the slits in the vinyl floor and added some weight to apply pressure to the vinyl / silicone adhesive cure then had a beer. Done. I hope.

Thanks again for the help!

Marko

[Rustynuts]

Had one of those screws come floating down the stinky slinky while dumping one day

[Toad]

We had the same problem in two spots on our new 2020 Jayco.
Didn't want to slit floor so i took a hammer and drove it back in. Problem was tip punched tiny hole now in flooring.
Next time I'll get a bigger hammer...😲

Originally Posted by Marko

This screw was starting to pop through the vinyl floor in the center of the floor. This is the second time it's happened. First time I slit the vinyl floor and screwed in back in and silconed the floor. It look great until I noticed the bump again in the vinyl floor. Since I am home and not on the road I decided to open the floor again and I removed the screw (see attached photo) it's a 4 inch screw and only threaded 3 inches leaving the top inch un-threaded.

So has anyone else experienced this!

MarkoAttachment 62947