FredWanaker
Well-known member
unusual situation. The exhaust vent for the water heater goes straight up thru the drywall on the ceiling, thru the attic and out the roof into a standard vent hat. The vent stack is double walled. There is a framed box on the attic side around the vent hole in the drywall. A piece of sheet metal covers part of the hole on the drywall where the vent tubing passes thru it. Standard fire stop. The screws that hold the sheet metal are pretty loose after three or four water heaters, anode rod changes etc. Normally I would just pull the stack out, reinforce the top side where the screws pass thru with something the screws could bite into but this is a major pain now because the roofers strapped the vent stack at the top, and the plumber put sheet metal screws into the locking pieces of the vent, so to repair it I would need to crawl around in the attic thru 22" of new insulation that was put in last year. I'd like to just inject the screw holes with something that hardens enough that the screws will bite. I thought about RTV but I think it is too soft, Epoxy is too hard, and drywall compound will just fracture I think. I may have already tried the wooden slivers method last time. anyone think of a non-flammable fix that would allow the screws to hold but also to allow the screws to be taken out next time? Something like Gorilla glue would work this time but I think it would make it impossible to remove the screws next time with a glob of glue struck to the screws. Any ideas?
