Removing Painted-Over Cabinet Hinges | Screws Filled With Paint | Stop Stripping Screws 

They are lazy

Glad this was helpful! Hope your project turned out great!

Surprised you could even tell they were screws. 🤣 Good luck!

This is what I’m dealing with. A home that’s been rented since the 50s. Minimum 6 layers of paint.

If they are minorly damaged heads, use the skin of a balloon between the bit and the thread to increase friction. If painted, try to dig out as much paint as possible first (thin screwdriver ect.). If you just can't get a grip then stop and try something else before you just make things worse by stripping it completely. If they are heavily damaged, ask for a special bit at the hardware designed to remove damaged screw heads. These are quite aggressive and dig into any remaining metal to get purchase (pushing on it heavily is a good idea). If the screw heads are beyond help or straight out missing then you have little choice but to drill them out. This is is very tedious and will certainly create damage in the surrounding wood you need to patch and paint. Raw force and a crowbar to pry things apart obviously works, but at that point you can't expect things not to break to be reused or restored. Try your best to never let to this stage :)

@TheStigma tx for the tips! I actually discovered that after I cleaned out the screw heads as much as possible, then used a stubby, pushed down hard, and turned slowly until it moved, I could get them out. I keep forgetting that with some projects, I have to remember my little hands... and muscles 😄

Hopefully you got them off with a little bit of elbow grease!

@@levellabs I got it done, thank you.

sledge hammer

Heat gun.

@@cyhomer Thank you