Repairing structure - 2 questions

Question

As some may remember from earlier posts I recently discovered some water damage that mainly affected flooring and one wall. Most of the repair was pretty straight forward, take stuff apart, and replace. My camper is older and the bottom under the flooring joists is a vinyl material. As I went to staple it back into place my brand new Bostich electric staple gun could not or would not fire the staples through the soft vinyl material and into the pine wood behind it.

Question 1. Is it just me, or is there some trick to using these electric staple guns. Admittedly it was a cheapie, only $30 at Lowes, but this seems like a simple straight forward task. If I need a better one, what to you recommend? I can and will take this one back Lowes.

Question 2. The vinyl bottom material is the only thing between my flooring and the outside, and I've noticed a few minor nail hole size holes. What kind of patching works best on this material?

Thanks in advance for any input.

drewe · Answer

Question 1: If you have an air compressor, go to Harbor Freight and get their "20 gauge stapler" (or "20 gauge wide crown stapler" if that's what they're calling it this month). It's very effective and reasonably priced; the only real complaint I have--a rather important one--is that the safety mechanism is none too effective, so paying attention to avoid accidents is important. Their little pin nailer has a similar questionable safety (and is also a very handy little tool).

Question 2: I don't know if it's the best, but Gorilla Tape makes a reasonable semi-permanent repair. Probably a good caulking material (some sort of polyurethane-based one, such as GeoCel or OSI Quad perhaps) would also be effective, maybe more so if the holes are enlarged slightly first.

dutchmensport · Answer

Don't know what kind of staple gun you have, but my electric staple gun (Stanley) has a setting on it for longer or shorter staples. Does you gun have such a setting somewhere. If so, set it for the longest staples and try again.

And if push comes to shove,... there's always good old fashioned finishing nails.

garys1953 · Answer

DrewE wrote:Question 1:  If you have an air compressor, go to Harbor Freight and get their "20 gauge stapler" (or "20 gauge wide crown stapler" if that's what they're calling it this month).  It's very effective and reasonably priced; the only real complaint I have--a rather important one--is that the safety mechanism is none too effective, so paying attention to avoid accidents is important.  Their little pin nailer has a similar questionable safety (and is also a very handy little tool).Question 2:  I don't know if it's the best, but Gorilla Tape makes a reasonable semi-permanent repair.  Probably a good caulking material (some sort of polyurethane-based one, such as GeoCel or OSI Quad perhaps) would also be effective, maybe more so if the holes are enlarged slightly first.I don't have an air comppressor and really don't want to buy one, that's why I thought I'd try electric.  I'll check out the Gorilla tape.  Thanks!

garys1953 · Answer

DutchmenSport wrote:Don't know what kind of staple gun you have, but my electric staple gun (Stanley) has a setting on it for longer or shorter staples. Does you gun have such a setting somewhere. If so, set it for the longest staples and try again.And if push comes to shove,... there's always good old fashioned finishing nails.I'll take another gander at the instructions tonight.  Hopefully my old eyes will be rested enough so I can make sense out of the ridiculously small print.  I did end up using finishing nails, though if I have to remove the fabric again that will make it much more difficult to do so without damaging it.  Thanks!

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Repairing structure - 2 questions

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