I am needing to remove and re-sink a few screws on my (teak) deck. All I have managed to do is round out a few of the screw heads.
What is the likelyhood of these screws also being epoxied in, and could I soften the epoxy enough with a heat gun to loosen the screws.
The teak is there and I am not removing it, so please lets not get into the pros and cons of teak decks.
TIA
Hi Toph
I haven't had any experience at all with teak decks but as long as the screws are just tight and there is something substantial behind it you could try a hand impact driver to loosen them www.bunnings.com.au/our-range
If you haven't used one before you place it in the undo position and hit the end of it with a hammer and this causes the bit to rotate while holding it firmly into the screw head
Regards Don
I use a soldering iron to heat up only the screw instead of heatgun which by the time it heat up the screws enough lengthwise to soften the epoxy around it it also turns the surrounding surface area crispy brown .
using an impact driver like Cisco said is the way to go and TIGHTEN the screw first to try and break the seal . That way if you round the head before you break the seal you have another go at it opening it. Also use a pointy knife like a Stanley to clean any epoxy from the slot first so the driver bit goes in all the way.
Being in the stainless steel industry I would strongly advise not to use an impact drill. An impact drill will round out a stainless philips head screw faster than Flash Gordon as you can not get enough down pressure on the drill. Use a hand impact driver as they put a lot of down pressure as well as turn.
As said previously some heat from a soldering iron could also help. If the screws are very tight there is every chance you will twist the heads off any way.
+1 for the soldering iron to loosen epoxys grip on screws, hand impact driver would be nice, but I seem to be able to get away with giving a good fitting screw driver a whack with a hammer first.
Thanks for all the replies. I will certainly try to heat first with a soldering iron. I'm a bit hesitant to wack it with am impact driver. I know boats can cop a beating, but none of you have ever seen me with a hammer. Do you think a FG deck (under the teak) would be up for it?
Select to expand quoteHarb said..
I use a soldering iron to heat up only the screw instead of heatgun which by the time it heat up the screws enough lengthwise to soften the epoxy around it it also turns the surrounding surface area crispy brown .
using an impact driver like Cisco said is the way to go and TIGHTEN the screw first to try and break the seal . That way if you round the head before you break the seal you have another go at it opening it. Also use a pointy knife like a Stanley to clean any epoxy from the slot first so the driver bit goes in all the way.
Jeez Harb that's a good idea!!!
Select to expand quoteToph said..
Thanks for all the replies. I will certainly try to heat first with a soldering iron. I'm a bit hesitant to wack it with am impact driver. I know boats can cop a beating, but none of you have ever seen me with a hammer. Do you think a FG deck (under the teak) would be up for it?
If the FG deck underneath isn't up to it I'd think you got more than a few raised screws to be concerned about
Than it's probably up to it then. I just didn't know how much of a hammering it would take.
Thanks woko 
