Questions tagged [removal]
The removal tag has no usage guidance.
349
questions
87
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How to remove screws with stripped heads?
I have wood screws whose heads are stripped from trying to remove them with a drill. The drill (or screwdrivers) can't grip the heads anymore. What can i use to remove these screws easily?
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11
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If metal expands when heated, how does heating a bolt loosen it?
If you're having trouble removing a stuck bolt, common advice is to heat the bolt up. But if metal expands when heated, wouldn't heating up the bolt just make it harder to remove? How does heating ...
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5
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How should I remove a swimming pool from my back yard?
Our house had a nice cedar pergola in the backyard, about 20'x16', whose posts began to rot at the base. It was covered in grape vine... Nice for shade but not for a falling down pergola. Needless to ...
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votes
18
answers
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How to remove nails with heads cut off?
Yes, I know I can go to the big box store and buy lumber. That is not the point of this question.
I have some boards that have the nail heads removed, leaving the nail flush with the surface of the ...
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31
votes
12
answers
847k
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How can I remove a really stuck screw?
I often come across screws that just won't budge with a manual screwdriver or even a driver bit in a drill. They are of different screw types and heads in a variety of different materials. What are ...
- 132k
27
votes
4
answers
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How do I remove and reinstall baseboards (Skirting Board) without damaging them?
I need to temporarily remove the baseboards in a couple rooms. I am interested in some suggestions for removing the baseboards without damaging them so they can later be reinstalled. Suggestions may ...
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7
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Disassembling IKEA furniture—how can I deal with broken dowels?
IKEA furniture often has wooden dowels that are used to hold pieces together. The problem is that these wooden dowels break easily when you're trying to disassemble IKEA furniture:
In the first ...
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19
votes
4
answers
238k
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How do I remove a flush mounted ceiling light fixture dome?
My bedroom has a very nice looking flush mounted ceiling light with a glass dome. However, all the bulbs have gone out and I cannot get the glass out to replace them. I'm 5'4" and standing on the ...
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16
votes
2
answers
2k
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Removing faucet from kitchen
I have a faucet that leaks at the valve, and I would like to remove that faucet to replace it with a new one.
The trouble is that it is mounted tightly between the wall and the sink, so there is very ...
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15
votes
3
answers
3k
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How can I remove a plank from the middle of the field?
My attic has tongue and groove planking down as the floor, and I need to do some work up there. I'd like to only remove a couple planks in the middle of the field, rather than pulling up half the ...
- 132k
13
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5
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3k
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How can I remove a stump?
I need to level a patch of ground in order to put in a shed, but there's a large stump right in the middle of where the shed will go.
Since I'm in a suburban setting, dynamite is out, fires are ...
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12
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8
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51k
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How can I break up a small boulder without power tools?
I have a boulder/rock that is about 2 feet long and 1.5 feet in diameter. It is too heavy to lift and I would like to break it into smaller pieces. Without power tools, are there any good methods ...
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3
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How do I remove THIN layer of carpet glue from concrete?
The folks who owned this house before us were the cheapest people around. They glued carpet to our concrete floor with a very thin layer of glue. Now, I'm having a terrible time scraping it off. I ...
- 546
11
votes
1
answer
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How to remove/clean black mold?
What is the best way to remove black mold from wood?
Specifically, the mold on my back porch is black mold. Is the best option to use something like Kilz over it?
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votes
3
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How can I remove stuck anti-vandal rings in tap head?
Most of the taps in my new house are fitted with so-called "anti-vandal" screws in the tap heads, as shown in the image. These screw into the tap head to tighten them onto the stem.
I can't ...
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9
votes
13
answers
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How do you remove the stick-on child safety locks from appliances?
I have a few stick-on child safety locks, such as this one found on Amazon.
When it comes time to remove them, what should I do to avoid destroying the finish on the appliances? They are stuck on ...
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8
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streamlined snow shoveling
In my snow removal history, I've used a total of 2 different methods. The first and current method, involves using a normal cheap snow shovel which isn't very effective, strains your back, but makes ...
user24242
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votes
1
answer
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How can I remove large nails from cement?
I am redoing the flooring in my basement and removed a built-in toy chest. I disassembled the chest and the floor 2x4's are attached to the cement with large nails. If I had to guess on gauge I'd say ...
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9
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1
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How can I safely remove and replace a wall?
The Wall:
This is about 25' long, and it separates my kitchen from my living room/Dining room.
Underneath it, we have a double 2x8 floor joist, which is supported midway on an 8 inch steel I-beam. (...
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5
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How should I dispose of material waste during home construction?
The construction of my new home is undergoing now, but I am facing a problem - piling up of trash and unnecessary materials left over at each step of the development which I am moving to my garage. My ...
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2
answers
4k
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How can I remove a porcelain sink from a granite counter?
I'd like to replace my kitchen sink. It is a drop-in porcelain, mounted in a granite tile countertop. It has been there almost 20 years. The tile is in great shape and I would like to avoid ...
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8
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1
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2k
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how to remove this pin/nail
I want to open a cheap small toast oven for a project. Any idea how to cleanly remove this pin in this picture:
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8
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8
answers
62k
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How to remove closet shelf clips and brackets without damaging the wall?
The previous owner of my new house installed ClosetMaid shelves in the closet. I removed the shelves, but had a really hard time with those clips and brackets (pictures attached). Seem like they were ...
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1
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How can I remove this Kwikset entry door dead bolt lock?
This is a picture of the Kwikset dead bolt from interior. I removed the outer layer. However, I'm having trouble removing the bottom plate.
This looks very similar to this question: Removing old Entry ...
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votes
1
answer
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What kind of bolt is this?
I'm trying to dismantle some wall boards, but I don't know how to remove the pictured bolt - close up attached.
Its head has the dome shape of a carriage bolt, but there is a hole in the center, with ...
8
votes
12
answers
117k
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How to remove old vinyl tiles?
I have a layer of old, crumbly and very sticky vinyl tiles that I need to remove to bring the old tile back (see picture). What is the best way of removing these?
Bonus question: How do I get the ...
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7
votes
3
answers
3k
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Moving a bottomless metal shed
I have this shed I want to move about 10 meters from its current location in my backyard. This shed is metal, without a floor, sitting on paving stones which appear to have been cemented together.
...
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7
votes
5
answers
122k
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How do I replace a wooden fence post that was set in concrete?
I need to replace a wooden fence post that was set into concrete. The post has snapped through rot at the base and the rot has set in so far that the post snapped about 2 inches beneath the surface.
...
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7
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5
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43k
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How do I safely get glue off of wood that's to be stained?
I'm building a closet and I've just made doors for it. It's red oak wood with a rail & stile construction and raised panels. I was a little careless and some of the wood glue (Titebond) escaped ...
user2059
7
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3
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3k
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How can I quietly tear down drywall?
Is there a way to remove drywall without exerting brute force? Being that I live in a condo, I don't want to go all happy with a hammer to my wall and disturb my neighbors. It seems there would be a ...
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4
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What is attached to this spigot and how to remove
This adapter is attached to an outdoor spigot:
It is near the location of a former hot tub so I believe it has something to do with pressure control. When I attach a hose to it and turn it on if the ...
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6
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8
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How to remove construction adhesive from concrete?
We removed a wooden dance floor that was glued to concrete with liquid nails. How do I remove the liquid nails that is all over the concrete floor? Has anyone had success with heat, mineral spirits ...
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6
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8
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5k
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What is the safest way to cut up an old kerosene storage tank?
Folks,
I need to remove an old kerosene storage tank (for central heating) from my in-laws back garden. The tank is moulded plastic, and has a 1,000 litre capacity.
The access point it was ...
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6
votes
8
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How should I remove the texture from the ceiling *without* tearing it out?
We want to get rid of the texture on our ceiling. It's a very ugly stipple effect.
However, there's a foot and a half of insulation over this ceiling. Knocking it down to install new drywall is not ...
- 25.9k
6
votes
2
answers
8k
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How do I remove construction glue from brick?
I just removed glued-on paneling from an interior brick wall. Now, I have the task of removing the glue from said brick. What is the best method of doing so? I know there's no getting around the use ...
- 546
6
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2
answers
12k
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What should I expect when removing a chimney?
Our brick chimney is leaning away from our house. The breast is in the living room, pretty much flush with the wall. The backside starts in the attached garage, goes through its roof and up past the ...
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5
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6
answers
18k
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How do I move a slab of concrete?
I want to build a fence in my backyard by my garbage stand is sitting on a concrete slab and that slab is in the way of where I want to put the fence so I want to move it over a few feet.
The slab of ...
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2
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How can I move a non load bearing wood frame wall?
I am remodeling my basement and want to move the location of a non-load bearing wall that is diving a section of my basement. Currently the wall is down to the bare wooden studs. The header was nailed ...
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3
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Removing masking/paper from skirting
I've recently renovated my kitchen, which amongst a great many other things involved putting in new skirting boards, which needed painting.
So, to protect our new timber floor we decided to slide A4 ...
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5
votes
2
answers
201
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How can I uninstall this old school light switch from the wall?
I have a few of these old school light switches in my current accommodation:
I now need to replace one because it is not working anymore so I'm trying to uninstall it from the wall. Alas, I'm not ...
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2
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2k
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How do I get rid of these bees/wasps in my sunroom?
Found this in my sunroom this morning:
It's hard to see (I didn't want too get too close) but the bees are really strange looking - very long almost like 2 bees connected in a row.
I know there's ...
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1
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Do products like Ditra make tile removal more complicated?
Products like DITRA are great to use when installing tile, but I can't help wondering what it'll be like to remove the tile later. Is it more difficult to remove tile that's been laid on this type of ...
- 132k
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6
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How to remove floor adhesive from concrete?
The problem is aggravated by the presence of underlayment. When engineered hadrwood flooring was removed, some underlayment was removed with it, and some stayed glued to the floor.
What is the best ...
- 1,283
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4
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How do I get these toilet shut off valve out?
As title says I am trying to figure out how to remove the old shut off valve from the pipe. I've been watching lot of videos, reading up on articles and all seem to deal with compression fit type but ...
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How can I remove pencil marks from a painted wall ...?
... without damaging the wall. My first inclination was to just use an eraser but I imagine this would remove much of the paint.
If this is the only way..., how do I repair the eraser mark?
Here is ...
4
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8
answers
35k
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How do I unscrew a broken aerator?
My bathroom faucet was spewing water at odd angles. The aerator was obviously old and plagued with mineral deposits. So I attempted to remove the aerator to clean/replace it.
With WD-40 and vice ...
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3
answers
5k
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How to remove hard adhesive from bathroom wall tile?
I decided to take on the project of a DIY 1/2 bath renovation. We have burgundy wall tile in the bathroom that I had hoped would be easy to remove. The tile is original to the house built in 60s. The ...
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Wallpaper removal: Should I use chemicals in addition to a steamer
I'm removing wallpaper that has a layer of paint underneath. Currently, I'm using a scoring tool then a steamer to remove the different layers. As you can imagine this is a slow process. Would it be ...
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2
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Is this a job for a crowbar?
My home has these on all the basement windows. As a result, there's a significant hazard in case of fire.
From the pictures, are these just held in place by beefy nails.
Would a crowbar be the way to ...
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5
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How to remove a stuck Sharkbite connector from a PEX tube?
I have a Sharkbite stopper that I put on the end of a 1/2" PEX tube, and now I'd like to remove it. I've used both the official orange plastic removal tool and an adjustable wrench, and my fingers are ...
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