There is a screw in my hallway closet that I have been angry at for three years. The previous owner stripped the head so badly that it looks like a smooth silver button. No screwdriver can grip it, and it has to come out because the bracket it holds is bent. I finally fixed it last month, and the whole job took fifteen minutes with tools I already owned.

First, change your grip

Before you declare the screw hopeless, try a wider driver bit or a rubber band. Press a thick rubber band over the damaged head and drive the screwdriver through it. The rubber fills the stripped grooves and gives you just enough bite. This saves roughly half of the stripped screws I meet.

When the head is truly gone

If the rubber band trick fails, stop trying to turn the screw from the top. The screw is not turning, so you have to make it turn or remove it another way:

1. Try a slightly larger Torx bit, not a Phillips. A Torx bit can wedge into a stripped Phillips head better than another Phillips.
2. Cut a new slot with a rotary tool or hacksaw, then use a flathead. This only works if the screw sits proud of the surface.
3. Drill it out. Center punch the head, drill a small pilot hole, then use a screw extractor. The extractor bites in and backs the screw out.

The drill is not as scary as it sounds

Drilling out a screw sounds like a last resort for professionals, but a screw extractor set costs about ten dollars and comes with easy instructions. The key is going slow and keeping the drill straight. I practiced on a scrap board first so I could feel how the extractor grabs. When mine grabbed and the old screw came spinning out, I honestly cheered a little.

Do not forget the replacement

Once the bad screw is out, replace it with a new one of the same size, and if the hole is now loose, push in a couple of toothpicks with wood glue before driving the new screw. That gives it fresh threads to bite. My closet bracket has been solid for a month now, and I no longer sigh every time I open that door.