Shutters with stripped screw holes
We have gorgeous shutters, but the place where we put the screws from the hinge into the shutter- the wood is totally stripped out. There must be a way to fix this… any ideas? Thanks for your help!
We have gorgeous shutters, but the place where we put the screws from the hinge into the shutter- the wood is totally stripped out. There must be a way to fix this… any ideas? Thanks for your help!
Reminders for me too: I have a bunch of doors/hinges that all need that kind of repair work!
Jerry
I am the original poster- what amazing advice all- thanks so much!!! 🙂
I use chop sticks (bamboo)because they are hard and shutters are only made of soft wood. Use a sharp knife to sharpen them to a point then pound them in with a hammer and cut them off, predrill a hole with a drill bit just a little smaller than the shank of the screw that will be inserted. another alternative is two part epoxy stick (looks like a hot dog) nead the two parts together and pack into holes, in five minutes it will be hard as a rock. again i would pre-drill a hole before inserting a screw.( a pre-drilled hole is ALWAYS stronger than an undrilled hole.
The matchsticks however are a soft wood whereas the toothpicks are a hardwood and a bit stronger.
Don’t forget wooden matchsticks – the still sell them in boxes. They provide another thickness to the toothpicks and work fine too. Just remember to clip off the sulpher tip!!!
First, stick the shafts in DRY and mark how long each piece needs to be. This helps for a flush fitting. You could always nip the tops that stick out with some pliers, but you need a little finesse… Once you have your shafts prepped, start the glueing – spread Elmer’s glue all over the shafts and then start sticking them in as deep as they can go and as many that can be wedged in that hole. Then let it dry.
When you are ready to re-screw, you’ll have a lot more wood for the screw to bite into.
Jerry.
Bondo is used to repair car bodies and fiberglass boat hulls etc. It dries very hard, is hard to stain to match woodwork and might be difficult to screw into. I’d go with toothpicks/dowels/golf tees. Sounds odd, but trust me, it works.
As an alternative to toothpicks, you can try wooden golf tees.
Thanks so much! How funny- who would have thought! I will try toothpicks tonight. Anyone hear of Bondo for this project?
Thanks again!
Yes Toothpicks. They also work for door hinges..