Removing a rung screw

Ballyman

Hi



One of the screws that holds down the toilet onto a concrete floor has rung and I can't get it off. Anyone have any suggestions on how I can remove it as I can't get the toilet out at the moment. All the other screws have been removed.



Screws have been in place circa 10 years!!

CJhaughey

I am not quite sure what you mean by rung? Is it that the screw is turning but the thread is not catching? or is the head stripped out so that the screw driver can't get purchase?
1/If the head is still ok try pulling the toilet to one side while turning the screw so there is upwards pressure on the screw.
Head stripped out?
2/I would drill the head off with a metal bit and slide the toilet up off the screw.
Don't want the old toilet ?
3/Break the toilet up and take the screw out when all the pieces have been removed?
I would siphon the toilet dry first to avoid mess.

Hootie

I agree with cjhaughey, see this in work alot. Drill off the head of the screw, persume philips head and pull the toilet over the shaft. You can then use a vice grips to work the threaded shaft out

eoghan.geraghty

As above except if you do want to reuse toilet you need a reverse thread screw extractor ( sounds flashy doesn't it:D )
I always had trouble with bolts in an old motorbike i used to own and bought a kit in mcquillans a few years ago for about 20 quid i think.
You can borrow it if you like, i don't use it much but its one of those things thats worth its weight in gold when you need it.

Ballyman

Thanks for your help. I used an angle grinder to cut a slot on the head of hte screw and then used a flat head screw driver to get it out.

Qwerty?

eoghan.geraghty wrote:

As above except if you do want to reuse toilet you need a reverse thread screw extractor ( sounds flashy doesn't it:D )
I always had trouble with bolts in an old motorbike i used to own and bought a kit in mcquillans a few years ago for about 20 quid i think.
You can borrow it if you like, i don't use it much but its one of those things thats worth its weight in gold when you need it.

Just in case anyone wants one of those screw extractors, JML do them. I got one in Homebase a few months back, and like Eoghan says, they are worth there weight in gold when you need it. Well that is if you can find it when you do need it:rolleyes:

Hootie

For anybody who buys taps, easy-outs or screw extractors for removing screws spend the money and get decent ones. Yes you can buy sets in aldi or lidl or cheap sets in tesco but they will break at the first moment pressure is appied. Drilling out a broken tap or easy-out is not easy at all(no pun intended). This can make a simple job so much more difficult and time consuming. There are just somethings that you can not go cheap for.