Screws wont undue

Poppycat

I got a garden gate that is painted in gloss. The hinges are rusting despite being painted underneath and rust running down the gate. I thought I would stripe the hinges down and put Krust on and repaint but the screws wont undue. In fact when you put the screwdriver in (Philips) the cross thing is rounded off. I cant seem to undo it even with some pliers any suggestions

I dont want to force it off as the hinges need to be in the same place due to the way the gate is made.

mountainchrisriver

You could try drilling out the screws... use a smaller metal drill bit than the size of the screw...

benood

Have you tried hammering the screwdriver into the screw head first before turning the screw - might give the extra grip you need.

dori2o

Buy a stud extractor set, so much easier then messing about drilling the screw out. Check ebay they have loads and are fairly cheap.

ukwoody

Another option is a pair of Mole grips clamped on the screw head, then turned

woody

bookduck

drill off the heads, remove the hindge, then grab the screw shank that sticks out of the wood with mole grips and use that to turn your screw.

Poppycat

Thanks for your help guys

I did try and get rid of paint in the screw heads but unfortunately it didnt help

baby-mechanic

Though the screw heads are now worn, I was tought to tighten the screw slightly, in this situation, which would loosen it sufficiently to unscrew

nelly_2

hammer in flat screw driver and smack them round at a nearly 90 degree angle

Mikeyorks

Poppycat wrote: »

I dont want to force it off as the hinges need to be in the same place due to the way the gate is made.

Been there ... done it ..... got no T shirt - just lots of scars on the knuckles! If you can force them to 'unscrew' ..... the heads will snap off the shanks as soon as you apply pressure. And normally just inside the wood ... so you can't get the shanks out.

File the heads off. Lever the hinges over the remnants (put a scraper down the back to avoid gouging the wood). Then either use pliers to try and remove the shanks. Or hammer the damned things in level. Then buy new hinges with the screw holes slightly offset from the previous!

Or just wirebrush them down and paint them as they are. I had to move house to get away from mine!

phill99

Try a longer screwdriver. A long screwdriver allows you to get a good 'purchase' behind it and will push further into what is left of the screw head. If that doesnt work, drilling may be your next option.