Internal Doors Need Planing

[JohnE]

I have just had new carpets fitted and the doors wont close. I need to take off the doors and plane the bottoms to ensure they will not scrape on the carpet when closing. Problem is I am having terrible difficulty removing the hinge screws. They have been painted over and I can't budge them. I've tried scoring the heads with a stanley knife etc but the screws wont budge. Any suggestions with the screw removal and the planing?

 

[noseall]

insert a robust screwdriver into the slot then tap it smartly with a hammer. this should help them give.

you will probably need to remove 8- 10mm depending on the drag. a planer will suffice. if it were 15mm or more then a circular saw would be needed.

 

[joe-90]

The secret is to use a hammer and the corner of the right sized and square screwdriver to clear the slot before you attempt to remove them. If you attempt to remove them with paint in the slot you'll only knacker up the slot and then you'll have to drill them out.

When the head is clear give the screw a bang through the screwdriver with a hammer to free them up.

 

[markie]

Joe you've copy noseall's answer anyway do as they have said. if you have no luck use an old chisel and hammer and chisel away the paint on the heads then get a screw driver and hit it with a hammer ( shock is the name ) then it should come free. sounds the same but worded different.

 

[Tozzy]

Good ideas guys. Never thought to have done this myself. I was going to suggest using a drill driver and 'jolting' the screws out with the sudden turning of the bit (hold the trigger for less than a second). Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, all depending on the tightness of the screws.

Funnily enough from what I've read in a book, turning clockwise to tighten the screw further sometimes helps to loosen it .

Good luck with that. I hate the swining things, especially when all you want to do is remove something temporarily. This is why I curse the people who've previously painted them.

Directs at people who paint screws: Never paint screws! Screws can be coated with a very thin layer of paint to prevent corrosion, but not too much where the screw head is submerged in thick paint.

 

[Thermo]

a quarter turn to tighten it does often work, as does applying heat to them first.

 

[HandyHands]

If you have one handy - an impact driver. The above has always done the trick for me though on door hinges, but had to resort to an impact driver on UPVC doors (stubborn/worn cylinder retainer screws)