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How do you screw stuff into the walls?

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TheBum View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote TheBum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: How do you screw stuff into the walls?
    Posted: 12 Oct 2021 at 10:47am
Alan
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lostagain View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12 Oct 2021 at 11:28am
You may have some problem getting them to expand in the styrofoam inside the walls.  You may want to try something more like this:  https://www.amazon.com/Drilling-Drywall-Plastic-Anchors-Screws/dp/B01FCZ8I3I/ref=asc_df_B01FCZ8I3I/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=198102547837&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2346488870170862881&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9030846&hvtargid=pla-391993753802&psc=1

But, be careful to get them short enough that they don't go all the way through the foam.  I don't recall how thick the wall are, but it is somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 1/4".  

We always use coarse threaded screws with a little 3M foam double sided heavy duty foam tape.  Never had a problem with it coming loose.  The screw compresses the double side tape and creates a very strong bond.  Keep in mind the vinyl clad plywood is only about 3/16" thick so you have to be careful how much weight is on each fastener.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote offgrid Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 6:02am
+1 to lostagain. That fastener is meant to drill through drywall so you can cut off the tip and predrill through the plywood. Keep the total length to 1 inch or less so you don't hit the outer wall. Longer wouldn't make it stronger anyway since the fastener threads are only engaging with the thin plywood, screwing deeper into the foam does nothing. Start with a small pilot hole so if by some miracle you happen to hit one of the few aluminum square tubes that constitute the rpod wall frame you can use a self tapping screw into that. Wrap a piece of tape 3/4 inch from the drill tip so you don't accidentally drill through the outer wall.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote StephenH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 9:42am
https://amazon.com/Excellent-Hollow-Anchor-Multiple-Assortment/dp/B07FX541J8/

The short ones of these should do the trick. While you can use a screwdriver to expand it, there is a tool that would make it much easier.


I did not have the tool when I used the ones I found at Home Depot. Since then, HD seems to have stopped carrying the shorter ones. Don't use the longer ones. I found out the hard way about ones over an inch long. Expanding a small one and then using a washer if needed along with the screw should hold almost any thing very securely to the wall of the RPod, even if it does not go through a frame member.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote TheBum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 10:55am
Yeah, I'd lean toward molly bolts for insulated walls because they'd likely provide enough force to expand into the foam. The trick is finding ones short enough. The shortest I can get locally is 1-1/4"; the shortest one in StephenH's link (22mm) would probably work.

Is the inside paneling of the exterior wall directly against the foam or is there something in between?
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Post Options Post Options   Quote marwayne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 1:59pm
I use coarse thread drywall screws. It takes about 37.5 pounds of strait pull to start the screw from coming out.


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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 7:08pm
If you use expanding screws, keep in mind that once they're there, they are there for ever.  You can't remove them without really damaging the wall.  Using coarse thread screws leaves a small hole that's easy to fill.  If you use the 3M 2-side sticky tape, you risk pulling off the vinyl wall paper, but with care, a razor and some solvent, you can usually get it off without hurting anything.  You have to cut the tape through the foam part between the two sticky sides very carefully, then the solvent will weaken the glue bond enough to take it off without hurting the vinyl.  Be sure to use a solvent that doesn't dissolve the vinyl, as would acetone, for example.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote marwayne Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Oct 2021 at 7:35pm
If I have to fix  screw hole, I put a matching button in.




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Post Options Post Options   Quote TheBum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2021 at 10:30am
The holes I'm putting in will be all in the bathroom of my 196 for items that should have been installed at the factory: towel bar, hand towel ring, toilet paper roll holder, etc. I don't trust Command Strips or threads through 1/8" paneling to hold those.
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Post Options Post Options   Quote lostagain Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14 Oct 2021 at 10:51am
The wall paneling is all there is to give resistance to the load.  The foam really doesn't do much more than air.  You are right in not trusting "command strips."  They are not really designed to hold much weight, especially when it's subjected to the shake rattle and roll of a moving trailer.  

It's too bad you can't get inside the wall to put big washers on the other side of the paneling to spread the load on the thin wood.  The best you can do is to try to spread the load through other means.  We've used the coarse thread and 3M extreme/super heavy duty mounting tape that claims to hold 90 pounds per inch [https://www.amazon.com/Double-HitLights-Mounting-Waterproof-Length/dp/B07TC16SZ7] with great success.  The towel racks, paper towel holders, toilet paper holders, and so on, all are very securely fastened and show absolutely no sign of loosening after years of use.  I speculate, but will leave it to our wise engineers to opine, that the foam helps dampen some of the forces exerted on the mounted stuff and the wall, thus helping it stay in place.  But, of course, as I often am, I could be wrong.  According to Mr. Google, applying Goo Gone will dissolve the glue on the tape for easy removal, if you decide to take what you mounted off the wall.
Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney
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