Isn’t it frustrating when you are trying to unscrew a screw and the head is stripped? Or some moron painted the screw and now you can’t get your screwdriver into the slots. (I might have been the painting fool mentioned.) Luckily there are two ways to solve this problem.

Removing the Painted Screw:

If you can’t get your screwdriver far enough into the screw to remove it, you may have some luck with a little force. Insert the screwdriver into the head of the screw.

Give the end of the screw driver a good whack with a hammer. This should be enough to either break through the paint, or put a dent into the screw head.

Without removing the screwdriver, press down and slowly unscrew the screw.

Removing the Stripped Screw:

At some point in your life, I guarantee that you will find yourself face-to-face with a screw that some muscle-head has ground down to a round hole. This happens when someone uses a drill and continues to drive the screw in long after it has stopped turning. Or when the metal screw was too soft and gave way under the force of the drill.

If you have either a metal file, metal hack saw or a dremel with a metal cutting wheel on it, you can solve this issue.

You will also need eye protection and a flat head screwdriver (not a philips head.)

Using your metal cutting tool of choice (I used the dremel), cut a slot across the head of the screw. You are essentially changing the screw into a flat head screw. (If you are using the dremel, be forewarned that sparks will fly!)

Insert the flat head driver into the groove that you created.

Turn the screw counter-clockwise until you have removed it.

Easy, right?! I’m curious, do you have any other tips or tricks for removing a stuck screw? Please share.