Pulling Out Wall Plugs

Intro: Pulling Out Wall Plugs

So you have some plastic plugs embedded in the wall and you can't get them out. Here is a really simple way to remove them with ease.

STEP 1: Tools and Things

Not many really:

A screw that fits in the plug

A pair of pliers

A wedge or block ( im using Swedish granite, as my garden is full of the stuff )

STEP 2: Insert Screw Into Plug

STEP 3: Grab Screw With Pliers and Place Wedge Underneath Pliers

STEP 4: Hold Securely

STEP 5: Tap the End of the Pliers

STEP 6: Your Done!

Comments

[BenE72]

*You're done ;)

[K-bike]

Hi,

A small pry bar/ crow bar that fits snuggly under the head of the screw would allow for more leverage on the screw. Probably a little easier on the hand than hitting the pliers with it. My 2 cents...

[pfred2]

You echo my thoughts exactly with your pry bar suggestion. Though why anyone would want to pull an anchor out is beyond me. You can usually just tap them in if you want to fill the hole up. The holes for them tend to either be too deep, or the anchor is in the block web anyways. In which case it will just fall inside the wall if you hit it in.

I suppose a pair of needle nosed pliers would rip the little devils out all by themselves too.

[Ryan MacKenzie]

This house is new to us and the little old lady that had it before us, had a "potted hanging garden". The wall was riddled with holes, so the idea was to fill the holes before painting. The walls are brick so the idea of pushing them through was not an option, I also didn't want to destroy the moisture barrier behind the bricks. The needle nose didn't work, that was the first i tried. We painted last night and it looks way better with all the 60-80 holes filled.

[pfred2]

There are a number of reasons why needle nosed pliers did not work for you. But with the proper circumstances they should work fine. As others have pointed out threading a screw into an anchor is what gets them to hold. Although if you use a smaller diameter screw, whose screws can still engage the anchor, I can see that working to extract them.

Just painting over the anchors would have gone a long way towards concealing them. Most of what us humans notice as far as surfaces go are changes in color. Red anchors stuck into a white wall would stick out like proverbial thumbs to us too. Although personally that sort of thing never bothers me. I will only repair it for the sake of what others think.

[Ryan MacKenzie]

A big bar yes, but not the little ones. You only drive the screw a few threads so it sticks out quite far. So you need the larger size bar. Or a small bar and a wedge would work. I suppose i could have used a much smaller screw as well.

Thanks for the comment

[johng652]

Just do not get the screw too far into the plug. The plug is designed expand and hold into the stone. So if it doesn't want to come out try unscrewing a half turn at a time. This is a real good instructable. Did you fill the hole afterward? What did you use?

[Ryan MacKenzie]

I did not mention that, but very important. There were 60-80 holes and filled it with an acrylic based filler approved for outside use, paintable and Sweden's mild winters.