Any suggestions on how to remove painted wood screws from a deck?

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I have slottedhex flatheaded wood screws that have been stained over and I cannot remove them with a six sided bit with a screw driver because of the stain or paint in the slots of the screws. The screws fasten the floor boards of the deck and have been painted over.

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  1. James Bond says:
    August 14, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    What I would do is buy a little can of paint remover. The kind I use is a citrus application that has no toxic fumes and it’s relatively cheap…about $5.00 for a container. Dab some on the painted over screw heads….only do a few at a time, and let it sit until the paint and old stain becomes soft. then use a putty knife to clean the heads off and use whatever driver head you need to remove the screws.

    Add:
    Be careful with a screw tap like the one person suggested, where you hit it with a hammer to pop it loose. This could snap the heads off of the screws, then you’ll have another issue on your hands. Not that it’s a bad idea, just use caution.

  2. Max J says:
    August 14, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    What I used to do for fasteners that got painted/waxed over on a submarine was a machinist scribe. Generally paint and similar stuff chips out of screw slots/holes.

  3. HyperDog says:
    August 14, 2011 at 4:28 pm

    I’ve had reasonably good luck just putting a new philips screw driver into the heads of painted-over screws and hitting it with a hammer. The force is so large and concentrated on the paint that it usually squeezes up around the screwdriver. I haven’t found any paint that was too hard to yield to this approach.

    If you use one of those impact screw drivers (the ones you hit with a hammer) it will also twist the screw at the same time, readying it for removal using a drill/driver.

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