Placing a wide rubber band inbetween the stripped screw and the screw driver can sometimes help give enough grip to remove a slightly stripped screw head.
Almost everyone whose done some DIY project or handled an electric drill have found themselves at one time or another enjoying the ease of powered hand tool, only to apply too much torque and strip the screw clean. What to do when you've stripped the screw, but don't have a specialized extractor kit?
Equipment [OR] Tools
Hammer
Clamp locking pliers or needle nose plier
Wide rubber band
Multi-head screwdriver kit
1. The first thing to do is to immediately stop using the tool/technique which stripped the screw. Most of the time, this means switching over from a power tool over to a hand tool solution, as you can better control the amount of torque/pressure applied to the stripped screw.
2. Switch over to a short length screw driver with a bigger head; switching screw head types (Phillips or over to a cross-head attachment) may also work. If you've got a screwdriver kit which includes a Torx (6 points) or an Allen (hexagonal), these shapes may give enough grip to remove the stripped screw. Just remember to go slowly, apply as much pressure downward, and abide by "righty tighty, lefty lousy" mantra so you don't make matters worse.
3. Sometimes a screw is just stripped enough that none of alternative sizes work. You've still got hope! A rubber band may aid in providing enough grip to remove, or at least loosen, the screw. Place a wide band rubber band inbetween the screw driver (we recommend bumping one size up from the screw head which caused the strip) and the screw, then apply hard, but slow force as you turn. If you're fortunate, the rubber band will fill in the gaps caused by the strip and allow extraction.
4. Perhaps the rubber band trick worked…but only to a certain point and you're still not able to completely remove the screw. That's when a locking clamp-style needle nose plier can come to the rescue, grabbing and locking the section removed from a flush surface. We don't know how many times this affordable tool has helped us removed old or poorly constructed screws, but it's been enough times that we highly recommend stocking even the smallest of toolboxes or drawers with one.
5. Finally, if none of these work, you can play the part of Rodin and chisel the screw some depth to provide more tension lost from the strip. But only with the most careful of force, as this may risk losing your screw completely into the surface! You don't want to hammer the screw into the wall/surface, so err on the side of caution. We recommend this as a last resort.
(Images: Gregory Han)
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
Next time use Robertson screws. No stripping.
view OrangeLily's profile
This is a very helpful tutorial for the countless occasions in which you will find yourself removing a screw that some previous jacka** owner or tenant stripped while driving in.
Square and star drive screws, amazing as they are, will probably be waiting in line with the metric system for Americans to truly embrace them.
Until then, thanks Gregory, i'll definitely try a rubber band before i dig out my screw extractor.
view southof290's profile
"righty tighty, lefty lousy"
i always knew left had lice =(
view Tenthmile's profile
"righty tighty, lefty lousy" (or "righty tighty, lefty loosey"?)--either way, that one line was an epiphany for me. Seriously, the clouds parted and the angels started singing...
view ML73's profile
The problem with both Torx and Robertson screw head types is they have different head sizes. I deal with 1, maybe 2 stripped phillips a year, but we have days where we pull hundreds of screws of varying sizes. Phillips is an order of magnitude lower of a pain in the ass than either Torx or Robertson, because you do not need to match screw with drill bit size precisely.
view Mpls's profile
I just learn that if you are striping screws it mean the bit or screw drive you're using is to small. You should use the biggest bit that will fit in the slots. It will over lap the screw a little.
view cericericeri's profile
genius! thanks for the post
view miss dbl a's profile
The worst is when you run into a screw that someone has both stripped and then painted over with a thick coat of paint. Thanks a lot, buddy!
In those cases I just pull out a dremel and cut myself a nice big slot so I can fit in the biggest, strongest screwdriver I own.
view Kaete's profile
Perfect! I've been living with an awful towel rack in my apartment for months because the screws are striped and I can't take it off. That sucker is coming down this weekend!
view CalamityCJ's profile
Thanks for this great idea. I too use the Canadian Robertson screws whenever I can. I find the screws that come with many curtain rods etc are made of a cheaper metal that almost always fail in some way. It's best just to toss these "free" screws and buy some good hardware store screws. The same goes for those cheap plugs. I prefer HomeDepots E-Z Ancors, they are self-drilling anchors for drywall. Thanks for the tips.
view sewbeeit's profile
timely post. i found myself tackling this very problem yesterday when taking out a very dated towel bar in my bathroom!
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