Miracle Product For Floor Strengthening?

[sim]

I've got a soft spot in the floor-I'd like to get another season or three out before replacing. Anybody know of any kind of epoxy product that could be squirted or injected into the area that would absorb in before hardening up and strengthening the area?

 

[wca_tim]

If you're dead set on ignoring the problem, then you might just pull the carpeting back, lay a couple of layers of glass mat over it and pour a fairly generous amount of resin over it and let it harden (thinned with styrene would probably be best). knock off anything sticking up with some 80 grit sandpaper and ignore it untill fall.

personally, I'd at least cut the soft spot out and glass in a new piece of wood - knowing that you're going to need to deal with what is probably a larger problem soon...

imho...

I've got a soft spot in the floor-I'd like to get another season or three out before replacing. Anybody know of any kind of epoxy product that could be squirted or injected into the area that would absorb in before hardening up and strengthening the area?

 

[bigredinohio]

I agree with wca_tim with at least pulling back the carpet, cutting out the bad area and patching with new wood. It wouldn't be very hard to do assuming it's a small area that's bad. Be sure to add thin tabs of wood on opposing sides on the bottom side of the original deck for the new piece of wood to sit on. Glue the new wood in place with some PL Premo, sand then add several layers of glass and your done. The nice thing is, you won't need expensive epoxy for glassing, unless you opt for it.

 

[Rob B]

Totally agree with the others, cut out the bad section and replace it. Then do a full floor replacement in the fall. I did that on my first resto.

 

[sim]

Has anybody tried this?

Minwax® High Performance Wood Hardener is a quick-drying liquid formulated to strengthen and reinforce decayed or rotting wood. Minwax® High Performance Wood is made up of solvents that carry resin deep into the pores of the wood where they evaporate and leave behind hardened resin resulting in hardened wood.

 

[merc245]

I've got a great product,When it comes to my checkmate I use it all the time!





It's called DENILE.

 

[JT Patroni]

After making cabinets and furniture for several years I found that
anything made by MinWax leaves something to be desired.
Even if I was desperate I would not use the MinWax product.
Take a little time and atleast replace the wood in the soft areafor this season.

 

[ckmate225]

Sim, A while back I tried to do a "quick fix" for the floor using wood hardner and 2 part expandable foam. Needless to say, I ended up tearing the whole floor out soon after.
But if you have a small soft spot, get to it get all the rotted wood out and patch it you could save yourself a lot of work later on. If its only a small now I am sure you could get through the season with it and do it in the fall but its amasing how fast the wood goes south once it starts.
On smaller projects,I used a die grinder and just cut out the bad stuff and replaced it and was good to go.
Where is the soft spot? mine started where the PO installed a ski pole and didn't seal the holes.

 

[sim]

Thanks for all the good suggestions guys. After I take it out this Friday I'm gonna back it into the garage, bring up the carpet and start working on cutting out and replacing whatever is soft. I'll keep you posted.
I still can't post pictures. Whenever I try I get a message that the file (from my Canon powershot) is too big.

 

[wca_tim]

Minwax® High Performance Wood Hardener is a quick-drying liquid formulated to strengthen and reinforce decayed or rotting wood. Minwax® High Performance Wood is made up of solvents that carry resin deep into the pores of the wood where they evaporate and leave behind hardened resin resulting in hardened wood.

it SUCKS!!! as do many of minwaxes other products. their spar vsarnishes are ok for around the house and stains are ok too. that's my experience....

 

[a36pilot]

Tell you from experience. Deal with it now and save yourself replacing the entinre floor plus stringers. I started out with one little soft spot that I was going to deal with in the fall. Forgot about it in the fall and then cleaned the boat for the season the following spring, thats when I noticed the soft spot had grew huge. Spread into the stringers as well. Cancer- man- cancer.

 

[jazzy]

i do historical restoration for a living and there are a few miracle epoxies that do work we use them all the time when it is very difficult or very expensive to replace wood trim pieces usually custom carved pieces or things like that but they wont for your application for any manufacturer will not guarantee what you want without just about submerging the wood in the epoxy and if you were gonna take the time to cut out the rotted piece dry it soak it in epoxy until its saturated enough to be restrengthened and screw it back down you might as well just replace it but if you really want a good epoxy i would recommend abatron or cpes or the west system

 

[groundloop]

... After I take it out this Friday I'm gonna back it into the garage, bring up the carpet and start working on cutting out and replacing whatever is soft.....

At some point be sure to check for wet foam, stringers, transom, etc. Been there, done that. Once water gets into wood it spreads quickly and can make a big mess out of our boats.