minor repairs to plywood flooring

[atouchofglass]

Greetings All ;D ;D
thought I'd throw this one in there as a quick fix for minor dry rot problems with flooring.

In the '68 Olympic the plywood floor at the door has started to rot due to the door not fitting properly.
I could rip it all up and put in a new patch but.... it's not that bad.

Thought about using a resin style system called the West system or mega poxy as advised by a tradesman I know...But... cost is a problem.

The idea of using these systems involves bleaching the offending area first.
This removes any mold spores. Waiting until the bleach has evaporated and then putting two or more coats of the epoxy resins on.
Letting them soak into the timber forming a solid waterproof barrier.

As I said Money is an issue. As one wise person said"We don't have the money so now we've got to think!!"

Long story short..... I thinned down resin that I use for fibreglass with acetone..... 60% resin, 40% acetone or less. This made a watery solution. Added double the amount of catalyst to this and waited to see if it would change colour.
That indicated it was reacting.
Painted this on the floor and made sure it was in every area needed.

The resin went off slowly about 1.5 to 2 hours. But the results are excellent.

Just a thought for other cash strapped restorers out there.

Atog

[tonyh]

Hey atog,

Fibreglass friend ;D, does that turn plywood into a "Fibreglass product"? - It wood aarrrr would then make it more suited to our sleeker, smoother luxury road mansions than the ....... Sorry got carried away -what am I saying I sound like the flip side to Reddo ;D
Mate I was going to "seal" the new floor and do some experimenting with resin or clear lacquer but you saved me the trouble - EXCELLENT - one thing to cross off the list - thanks, great tip!!! ;D

Cheers, TonyH

[atouchofglass]

Greetings Tonyh
Rereading my post I realise that it is a bit of a trap for the unwary.

When mixing resin and catalyst the manufacturers recommend 1% catalyst. This is rarely enough.
In the experiment I did the percentage was probably closer to 5%.

You will need to mix the ratios according to your needs and the area you live in.
Ie is it a cool day or sunny?
Hot sunny days make the resin go off faster. Cooler damp days slower. As Cairns is regularly humid we use more catalyst.

before applying anything to your van remember to do a test sample.
If it looks like there is a good reaction then use it.
Common sense applies as usual and making mistakes with resin and fibreglass is the learning process we all go through.

After all that serious stuff ......... have fun doing ;D

Atog

[atouchofglass]

Just an update


Finally a photo of the end results

Don't worry about the fibreglass dust shoe prints ;D

Atog