Trim wood screws

16 years ago

We are putting in some replacement windows. We got wood with aluminumclad(deep brown) exterior. The window wood we stained and varnished, it looks great. My husband has made up two kinds of trim for the windows, red cedar and red oak. Both are ready to put up as the window trim, we have not decided which we will use inside. As we hope to redo the interior walls in the next year or so, he would like to put the window trim up so he can remove it once we start work on the walls. We are looking for a recommendation of a finishing screw that we can remove. We are also thinking that perhaps he could countersink a regular screw then put in a plug that matches the trim.

Nancy

Comments (6)

Jon1270
16 years ago
Doing trim work with the expectation that it'll have to be redone in less than a year seems a little silly but, setting that aside...

I think you're making it harder than it needs to be. No screw will ever be nearly as inconspicuous as a finishing nail. It'll be easier to pry off nailed trim than to dink around removing putty or wood plugs from screw heads. Yes, a prybar may do a little damage to the trim, but so would whatever tool you'd use to remove the plugs.
User
16 years ago
Trim screws are only inconspicuous when they are colored the same color as the material. Sometimes difficult.

Use the smallest brads you can find that will hold the trim---those will be very easy to remove.
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nancyk
Original Author
16 years ago
The plugs would only be pushed in by hand, not permanently secured, so hopefully they would be easy to come out. But now he is thinking of using cedar as the window trim, getting small screws and then painting the heads the color of the cedar. Of course, this is impossible but if the color matched even somewhat it would be o.k., as red cedar when finished has many color variations between red and offyellow. If the heads of the screws were small, at a distance they would not even be noticed, closeup off course they would be seen .

Nancy
sombreuil_mongrel
16 years ago
This seems like it would fall into the "colossal waste of time" category. Either nail it in temporarily with 4's, or hold off doing the trim until the walls are done. Are the loose, removable plugs going to look any better than no trim at all? In woodwork, a plugged screw hole is a last resort, when the structural properties of a screw are deemed necessary (like in stair rails where life and/or limb are at risk) and even then we hide them on the least conspicuous surface.
Now, if you wanted to use perfectly-spaced polished screws and trim washers, you would be making a statement and introducing a new pattern, and if this were in keeping with the entirety of the design vision for the space, it could be justified as a decorative element within the whole scheme.
But as a makeshift temporary measure, it will be incongruent and odd.
Casey
pasigal
16 years ago
Forget nails.

We used what I guess you would call collars around wood screws for our window trim. They are brass and the screws set in them proud of the trim. Looks very tidy and sure came in handy last year when we replaced a few window in our circa 1915 apartment. Easy to take out the screws since the heads aren't driven into the trim.
brickeyee
16 years ago
"They are brass and the screws set in them proud of the trim."

If you do not mind the appearance.
Many think it looks rather poor.

If you use smaller than usual nails you can easily remove the trim with a wonder bar, pull the nails through the back, and then use the trim over if you want.