How to remove broken shutter fasteners from brick?

Question

I need to replace vinyl shutters on my brick-front home. I will replace the existing ones with identical sized new ones that will use the same drilled holes.

The problem I had before was that when I took off the old shutters the old Shutter-lok fasteners often broke off with nothing to grab on to. At ground level I had been able to drill them out by pressing with all my body weight while drilling. I will not be able to do this for the higher ones since I have to be on a ladder.

Is there a effective tool I can use to extract these plastic fasteners from the pre-drilled holes in the brick without applying significant force? Is there better ways than drilling?

Answer 1

Shutter-lok fasteners are just made out of plastic (polypropylene), and typically anchor into a 1/4" predrilled hole. They should not be hard at all to drill out with a sharp 1/4" drill bit.

An alternative is to:

1. Find a long metal screw, and pick a drill bit appropriate for pre-drilling that screw.
2. Drill into the remaining shank of the Shutter-lok, all the way to its end.
3. Screw the long metal screw into the Shutter-lok.
4. Grab the metal screw with locking pliers.
5. Pull the metal screw out. (Ease it out, rocking and twisting if it resists.)

If you drilled the metal screw far enough into the Shutter-lok, they will come out together. If any Shutter-lok plastic remains it will now be even easier to drill out with a 1/4" bit.

Answer 2

I have the same situation and it seems to me that a properly sized roll pin could be hammered over the pin to compress the fins or shear the fins.