My vinyl outdoor window blinds are fasten to the siding with plastic screws. After a heavy wind the other night, one of the blinds was blown off because the heads of the plastic screws snapped. I need to remove the headless plastic screws.
I have a screw extractor that I could use. Also, since the screws are plastic, I could just drill them out. Any ideas on the best approach to extract the screws?
I'd use the extractor just as if they were metal screws.
Heat up a small screwdriver shove it down in the plastic and then squirt some water on it to cool it. It should be pretty well stuck in there and the screw will back out.
As you said, since they are plastic, I would try a drill bit that is smaller than the screws and drill out the center.
After that I would think that you be able to use a sharp tool and "collapse" the side of the screw towards the center enough to get some needle nose pliers on it and twist/wrestle it out.
I haven't had this problem but this sounds like the best idea.
If for some reason you use a drill, I'd use a left-handed drill bit with a reversible drill. Sometimes after a while it will grab the screw and unscrew it, at least with those metal screws with wierdo heads that appliances may be assembled wth. Harbor-Freight has a set of 4 drills in different sizes for a low price.
I think I might start with one of the 4 screws involved and see how your approach works.
I have a set of those drills but have never used it. Will have to look at a Youtube video to see how it works.
LOL. It works the same as the other ones but you have to set the reversible drill to reverse!
Everything I read and see about these extracters is that there is still a head to work with. In my case, that head is broken off and only the shaft is left so an extractor is not going to work.
For the record, I should have said "outdoor window shutters"
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