Tricks for removing painted over screws
BillHartmann
| Posted in General Discussion on
I am going to be replacing all of the switches and receptacles in a 60+ YO house. The screws have been painted over many times.
Now I was thinking of Dremel to help cut out the paint filled slot, but these are small flathead screws and it would be easy to cut through the head. And using a utility knife to TRY and chip off the bond to the frame.
But I am still afraid that it will be slow work with vise grips to get them out.
Out than small shaped charges of C-4 does anyone have any tricks that would help.
And where can I get some C-4?
Replies
I usually put the corner of the blade of a screwdriver into the slot (or what's left of it) and jar it with the palm of my hand. That often chips the paint out of the slot (sometimes from the whole screw head). I suppose you could put a little dab of paint remover on the screw heads with a Q-tip and try scraping the loosened paint off with a knife blade.
What Danno said. Corner of flat bladed screwdriver in edge of slot, strike with palm (or tool of your choice). Sometimes I reverse direction for the second strike if the first didn't adequately clear the slot.
As an aside, for most other screws other than electrical, a good strike with a hammer on the butt of the driver as its seated on in the screw will jar the screw loose enough to allow easy removal.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
Yeah, both of those techniques, or careful work with a utility knife.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?
If all else fails, and the cover is plastic, just break it off and then remove the screws with pliers.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?
That's what I do. A well placed hammer blow, and a pair of vice grips.
The problem is not the coverplates, but rather the screws holding the switch and receptacle frames.I had to remove the screws from a couple of door hinges with the same problem.In that case the digging out of the slot with the screw driver had limited sucess. However those are flat with the hinges and thus harder to "pop off" than the exposed screws.
For hinges, after digging out the slot as best you can, use an impact driver to loosen the screw.
If ignorance is bliss why aren't more people
happy?
Well, since you are replacing the switches/recepticals anyway, just bust off the cover and remove the devices, painted-on screws and all. Why "screw" around with it?[Already hearing the communal "groan"!]
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I use a cheap awl and dig out the slot from both directions.
I also use the awl. Then if the old plates are interesting enough to be worth it, I boil them in TSP solution to get the paint off. It works on any metal hardware, like door stuff. And with some care on old plastics.
-- J.S.
If you have small pieces of hardware you want to clean, you can put them in a tea ball and boil them in the TSP.
What's painted, cover or device screws? Just bust the covers off if that's the problem.
OOPs I didn't reead all the posts. A hammer and sharp flathead will chip out paint pretty easy.
Edited 2/9/2006 2:15 pm ET by MarkH
Danno's idea is right on.
Only use automotive brake cleaner instead.
Spray a bit into the cap from the can, and use a q-tip to apply to the screw head.
In a flash, it'll have the paint so soft that you can remove it with a toothpick, or just stab the screwdriver right down into the slot.
Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength. ~~ Eric Hoffer
Or hit the screws with a heat gun, paint gets soft real quick.
what about heating the tip of the screwdriver with a heat gun and melting the tip into the paint???
It works a treat on hinge screws.
We use hook blades on utility knives or a hooked pick.
Well some experimenting on a couple of them it appears what works the best is to use a utility knife to free the screw head from the glob. The use it to pop the paint off the head.After you have done that there is not as much holding it in the slot. The scrapping the slot with a utility knife and/or "punching it out" with the screw driver blade ended up with a very clean screw. Of the 4 that I tried three where finger loos and the 4th will probably need some vice gripe help.Actually it took longer to type this than to do it.
Hi,
Sorry I got here late but my preferred method is:
- Jab the center of the slot with sharp icepick at a 45 deg. angle, half the paint pops out.
- Jab again the other direction, other half pops out.
I prefer this method because a knife or screwdriver cannot get under the paint . I always carry an ice pick to make pilot holes so it's always at hand.
Some of these responses are getting to the point.
The tool to use is a scribe made by General or US General. One end is a straight point and the other has about the last 1/2" point at a 90º angle. Use the latter to scrape the paint out.
Other than that, use a .50 caliber machine gun but you need a counterclockwise barrel and screwdriver tipped bullets. These are hard to find.
~Peter
Seattle-Tacoma earthwuake was not caused by Vatoe Ape.
....plus, the tracers are hard on the drapes....I always used my little trim screwdriver and Kleins
Same as everyone else .
I do the screw driver thing and if I have trouble I break out the trusty utility blade . Paint cant defy utility blades.
Tim
This is one downside I've found to square drive screws - once the recess gets filled with gunk it is very hard to clean them out enough to drive or remove.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Find a helper with a severe overbite..++++++++++++++++
-Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain-
Burn em off with a plasma cutter.
Have you tried an awl or ice pick? Chemical stripper? Work the corners, and the rest should pop out.
-- J.S.
I try to keep a set of those little picks, the one with a straight, 90 deg, hook, and wierd bend/twist in one of the bags. They are like $2 at the junk tool stores (have a set of Mac Tool ones for real stuff).
Maybe a set of old dentist's pokers and scrapers would help, too.
-- J.S.
I had a plank decked platform made entirely from redwood that I salvaged from a HD grill display that they were cutting up and throwing away. It made a great staging area for my roofing project.
About 90% of the screws (3" #8 Deckmate sq drv.) were sunk about 1/4" to 1/2" below the wood surface. After months of treading roof gunk down into those holes, I had a very hard time removing those screws to resalvage the wood again. Even scraping with a pick couldn't guarantee my square bits could get enough bite to turn the screws.Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
I didn't read all the way but, I use a soldering iron to fix a lot of things..melt or soften paint, weld plastic, heat broken screws for easier outtage...them old woodburning kits had a decent array of tips, or I can modify a standard 40w tip by flattening with a hammer and anvil.
Also good for touch up with shellac sticks or wax crayon wood fillers.
Keep one in my trim tool box and a few around the shop.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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If I had one I would use it. I know that heat works. I ended up using a torch on the hinges. But I could not do that on these becasue of the freshly painted walls.
For dealing with painted over screws, I have a couple of flat screwdrivers (two different sizes) that I have filed a small V-notch into the blade, removing about the middle third of the blade, creating two "prongs" that dig right in without having to chip the paint out of the slot. I then tap this into the slot and back out the screw, usually works great.
I ain't readin all these posts so if someone already said this....well, tough.
In this old house all the screws are slot head with fifty gazillion coats of paint on em' so what I did was take a screwdriver with a substantial handle and smallish slot head and took my grinding wheel to it. Its almost sharp as a knife. Don't want it too sharp or I'd just crack the head off. I put the driver to the slot and give it a cpl a wacks with my hammer and the slot is good as new every single time.
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Sears has some bits for removing screws. You put it in your drill,reverse, and back em out.