Anyone good for a screw…

[HaplessHousewife]

problem?

So we're putting up a curtain pole with brackets at either end and one in the middle. The left hand bracket seemed a bit higher than the other two but it wasn't lying completely flat so should have just needed a tweak.

Can I just point out at this point, DH has done everything up to now. So, he tries to take out the two screws from the left bracket and he can't get them out (after a big of investigation from me it turns out he's knackered the screw heads by using an electric screwdriver with too big a head).

So after trying pliers he decided to use a crowbar to try and get one of the screws out and succeeds in pulling the head off the screw. So, now we're left with the shaft of the screw poking out. What on earth do we do with it now? Is our best bet to try and pull the raw plug out with what's left of the screw with it? This might prove tricky as there are no obvious bits to grab hold of.

I managed to get the other screw out by carefully using a normal screwdriver of the right size (smug emoticon).

What is the wall made of? I (no expert, but do all the DIY in my house as DH would do just as you describe if he ever attempted to hang a curtain rod, which he hasn't in the 10 years we've been married, but I digress...) would try using a small drill bit around the screw to loosen the plaster around the plug and then pull the plug out. Refill gaping hole, sand, repaint and try again. No idea if this is the right approach, just what comes to mind.

It's a freshly plastered wall .

A decorator is supposed to be starting to paint the room on Monday and even offered to put the pole up for us (hollow laugh) but we thought he'd just whack it up anywhere and I wanted to spend a bit of time deciding where to put it.

That sounds like a good plan but we're out tomorrow so haven't got that much time. I wonder if I could con persuade the decorator to sort it out [hmmm].

The worst bit is the decorator asked if DH was good at DIY and I replied 'not as good as he thinks he is'. Ha ha ha ha ha. I'm actually reasonably good at DIY but since we've had the DC he's gone all man-of-the-house and wants to do it himself.

Yes, let the decorator sort it out! You can't hang the rod until after he paints anyway as he may get paint on the rod. Always take the rod down to paint. And the hardware off doors. And loosen the socket covers so you can paint ever so slightly under them and don't end up with socket covers that are painted on the wall so that you have to re-decorate if you ever want to change your socket cover. Pet peeve. And breathe.

Get DH to confess to the decorator what he did then ask him to sort it out. Hopefully he'll be able to stop laughing long enough to fix it

(wanders off, shaking head at the stupidity of using the wrong screwdriver bit followed by a crowbar)

you need that tool that is a set of pinchers but with a kind of rounded head so that you can lever the remains of the screw and its rawl plug out of the wall. sorry don't know the name but a good hardware shop would help! you will either need to slip an extra half rawl plug (slice with a stanley knife lengthways) into to hole with the one for the screw, or if it is really stuffed drill a big hole and fix a timber dowel in, which you can screw directly into.

best get your dh to read up on the torque settings on the drill before letting him loose again!

love the thread title!

Do not try to pull out the screw, as it will leave a huge and unsightly crater. You might be able to unscrew it from the plug if you have pliers of suitable size or a mole can get hold of it

However, I would recommend:
-punch the head of the broken screw into the wall, preferably using a small hammer and a Nail Set (not a centrepunch) or a flat ended steel drift or rod, or the head end of a largish steel nail. Fill over it. If it is a steel screw and a water-based filler, put a dab of oil paint over the remains of the screw first to prevent a rust stain showing through.

-drill a new hole and fix the screw into that.

BTW a fantastic tip for screwing into a soft or crumbley wall:
drill a loose hole and verify that it is long enough and deep enough for both the screw and the plug to go right into. Clean out all the dust with a vac or a squirt of water

put the nozzle of a tube of no-more-nails or own brand-equivalent at a tenth the price deep into the hole, and fill it from the back, leaving no air bubble, and filling as you withdraw the nozzle

push the plasplug right into the hole, and a few mm below the surface of the plaster, making sure that it is in exactly the right position and orientation. Wipe off the excess adhesive with a wet finger, and smooth, but leave the hole in the plug visible

leave it till the next day, when the adhesive has set and you can drive home your screw, and the plug will not come loose or rotate in the hole

Mr. Grumpy is a retired toolmaker, and is an expert at fixing fuckups, most of them his own.

He says... If the shank of the screw is sticking out of the wall, grab it with vicegrips, or if it is long enough, grab it with a plumber's stilson-style wrench.

If you can't get it out, as PJ says, just bash it back into the wall.