So I damaged a screw mount and had to use a grinder to get rid of the stuck screw. In doing so I damaged the screw hole, where there is a little bit of fiberglass sticking out. The diameter of the screw hole is the same, new screws sit in as they should. Do I need to replace a whole deck now?
Yea it’s fine, just use a large washer below the bolt head to distribute the forces.
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A frayed end won’t propagate through glass fabric like a crack in concrete or anything. If you’re worried about it, you can lock it down with superglue or epoxy
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A warning if you do this: a stray fiberglass strand like that will be extra stabby and may cut you after it is hardened with epoxy.
It won’t damage the board and is just a hazard to your fingers
Good point. The best way to stop this is with a layer of peel ply or plastic to enforce a smooth finish while it cures
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Sanding always works too but might not give you the aesthetics you deisre
I’ll have to pick that up whenever I get the space to do large fiber glass pours properly. Right now my main solution aside from making sure to avoid letting any strands be left sticking up while the epoxy is wet is to just cut them off while the epoxy is still flexible. It cuts much easier when not fully cured so I always try to remove tape and cut off any areas where it got through the tape about 5-14 hours after the pour.
I just use an exacto scalpel knife and it glides right through it like butter when the epoxy hasn’t fully hardened yet. It is very satisfying too since it is different from trying to cut it once fully cured. Also the fibers aren’t that stabby when the epoxy hasn’t fully cured yet since they still have some flexibility to them
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