how do I repair a stripped out screw hole in the wall

I've always used dowels rods and glue. They come in so many sizes and I make so many mistakes of varying sizes myself.

I have been drilling the hole bigger with a 3/4 forstner bit (carefully) to the depth of the back wall but not into the back wall (slightly longer than the screw you removed usually) then installing a 3/4 dowel into the hole using a polyurethane glue. The polyurethane glue will expand so be sure you tape the dowel so it does not push back out.. then using a flush cut saw clean off the bit of dowel sticking out, drill and re screw. haven't had one fail on anything yet.

Been shimming broken stuff my whole life. I thought everyone knew these "secrets for survival."

I always keep a box of fireplace matches on board. Great for starting campfires and BBQ's...AND nice and thick and break to length needed to repair screw holes in the RV.

fatmanobx
I've used golf tee's for larger holes..glue and stick it in and cut off with razor knife..

I really like THIS idea of using a golf tee. Being graduated it would be a fix for all sizes! :B

Dave - the bad side of this is if you repair the hole and use it again it will just strip out on you.

You need to use one of those MOLLY BOLTS shown above and that will spread out behind the wall and hold up a bunch of weight.


If you are hanging a TV MOUNT or something that is heavy you really need to add a back board first like a 3/4-inch board so you can spread out the weight. Use molly bolts in the four corners of the back board or screw directly into a thin wall stud. Then you can use regular screws into the board instead of the thin wall.





Molly bolts available from LOWES

Roy Ken

Depending on the size of the hole -- toothpicks, matchsticks, golf tee. I have had mixed results with mollys or other expanding fasteners. Depends on what is in the wall behind the hole.

And use wood glue, not the white glue.

in5r wrote:
One piece of advice if using the hollow type wall anchor "molly bolt" take into consideration the thickness of the luan panel it will be clamping to. It needs to fully clamp down on both sides of the panel.

And that is the problem in an RV, that is insulated with high density foam. I have yet to find a molly that is both short enough and will expand properly, into the high density insulation on our RV.

One piece of advice if using the hollow type wall anchor "molly bolt" take into consideration the thickness of the luan panel it will be clamping to. It needs to fully clamp down on both sides of the panel.

I'm surprised no one has suggested simply using a screw one size larger.Dab with wood glue before installing.

Screw in a self-drilling drywall anchor (E-Z Anchor) with some glue and let it dry. Put candle wax on the screw when inserting the screw. Sometimes a smaller diameter screw than what comes with the anchor is easier to insert without twisting the anchor in a thin wall.