Rawl plug removal?

[DrPhill]

I am doing a little bit of diy (only 11 weeks of isolation and I have cracked already....). Are there any tricks for removing rawl plugs?

If I cant pull them out I usually just cut them back with a knife, but yesterday I tried drilling the insides out. This worked well in about half the cases when the drill bit went exactly where the screw had been. The plugs were then very easy to pull out. In the other cases, where the drill missed the center of the plug it enlarged the hole without affecting the plug.

Anyone know of a better way?

 

[MikeG.]

Why not just knock them in and fill over them, in the normal way?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Drive a slightly larger screw (than you took out) in half way and pull it out with a claw hammer.

 

[Rorschach]

Drive a slightly larger screw (than you took out) in half way and pull it out with a claw hammer.

:sign3:
Exactly the method I use, works great.

 

[DrPhill]

Drive a slightly larger screw (than you took out) in half way and pull it out with a claw hammer.

Sounds simple - I have tried variations in the past with little success. Maybe I was not pulling hard enough - time to try it again....

Why not just knock them in and fill over them, in the normal way?

Interesting, though that relies on the hole having been drilled deep enough..... some of the plugs here protrude from the wall because the hole was drilled short, some are cut flush for the same reason.....

 

[Rorschach]

Sounds simple - I have tried variations in the past with little success. Maybe I was not pulling hard enough - time to try it again....

You need to get a feel for it, you need the right size that is driven in far enough to grip the plug but not so far that the plug expands in the hole as it is designed to do.

 

[Garno]

Interesting, though that relies on the hole having been drilled deep enough..... some of the plugs here protrude from the wall because the hole was drilled short, some are cut flush for the same reason.....

Sounds like I done them

 

[sunnybob]

The screw and claw hammer works every time.
BUT.... if its a big plug, you will need to use a small block of wood under the hammer to get the leverage at the right focal point.
Screw half in, claw hammer under the screw head, wood block under the hammer to bring it back to a normal angle, job done.

 

[novocaine]

It rather depends on the plug.
something like a common brown 7mm will pull out with the screw trick (same with the 4mm red plugs)*. Get something like a winged plug though and you might aswell cut the flush and fill the hole.

I'v found the best way to deal with them is to drill a hole 2 inchs above and hang a picture over it.
perhaps something like this, it's modern art you know .

* other colours are available.

 

[sunnybob]

I've never failed, using the wood to get back to the height of the screw head, from tiddly red straight plugs right up to 10 mm pipe clamp stud holders. They come out so clean that I often reuse the larger ones. :shock: 8)
The worse that has happened is the plug might snap in half if it was undersized for the original screw. Then you know the deep bit is filled so you polyfilla over it.

 

[Richard_C]

Last week I moved the bookshelves from one wall to another in my wife's study. Don't ask why, I still don't know. Anyway, big slotted uprights and bracket system so I had about 120 plugs to deal with before I could repaint.

Screw, claw hammer, block as suggested. Most times you don't need a screwdriver, finger tight until you feel it grip. You don't want it too tight or too fat, it expands the plug. 100% success, well under an hour, lots of dust on the floor.