This is my second post today in my “Renovation Frustrations” category.

My frustration this time is Non-Fitted Fittings.

These are the fittings that the previous owners have placed where they are meant to go, but not actually attached them properly to where they were meant to go. In my case it was the dead bolt on one of the front French doors. While I was attaching some weatherstripping to stop drafts the heads on three of the four screws holding the dead bolt in place actually fell off!

It seems to me that when the previous owners had installed the dead bolts they much have tightened up the screws too much and “almost” broken the heads off. Then when I applied a bit of pressure, they popped off.

So now I need to somehow remove the old screws which are still in the door, minus the heads, and purchase and install some new brass screws. Anyone know the best way to actually remove what’s left of the the screws?