flooring screws keep shearing off

[nybor]

It never ends does it! I guess the previous owner didn't worry about saltwater (from swimmers?) being left on the salon floors, because when I tried to replace one of the darkened screws, it sheared off at it head. In fact now several have which leaves the corroded screw portion in the fiberglass below the wood panels.

My question is are these panels also glued down? If not I should be able to lift them up and drill out the rusted screws without damaging the panels.

thanks

dave b

[russp]

Hi Dave,

Yep, they are just fixed down with screws. I had the same thing happen, can't remember how I removed the broken bits, probably pliers, and chased down replacement screws that were something special, but too long ago to remember I am sorry. Once replaced looks perfect and no problem since.

[AlwaysLearing]

Yep, same here. Some I have been able to get out by gripping the remaining nub with lineman's pilers. Others that have sheered off flush with the fiberglass I have not bothered with yet. They are too small in diameter to be able to accurately drill and extract so not sure how I am going to approach getting them out. Problem for when enough break off that the panel won't stay down I suppose. They look to me to be the equivalent of drywall screws which certainly won't hold up over time and exposure. One of these days I will go around and replace them all with something better.

Curious to hear if others have had luck extracting the ones that break off flush.