How do I repair a screw hole in wood that has stripped?

A stripped hole has had its thread crushed away. Anything that just restores friction will strip again quickly; what works is putting solid material back so the screw can cut a fresh thread.

What you'll need

• PVA wood glue
• hardwood dowel or timber slivers
• drill and bits
• chisel or flush saw (optional)
• clamps (optional)

Step by step

1. Take the fixing off and look at the hole.A hole that is round and slightly oversized needs a plug. A hole that is torn and elongated, as failing hinges produce, needs a dowel and possibly a bigger one.
2. Clean out the debris.Crushed fibres, old glue and dust. A drill bit turned by hand or a small screwdriver clears it. Glue will not stick to loose material.
3. For light duty, use glue and slivers.Coat the hole with PVA, pack it tightly with slivers split from solid timber — not matchsticks with their soft cores, and never plastic plugs — until it is full and firm.
4. For hinges and load, use a dowel.Drill the hole out square to a standard dowel size, usually 6 or 8mm. Glue a length of hardwood dowel in with the grain running the same way as the workpiece where possible, and tap it home.
5. Let the glue cure fully.PVA needs hours, not minutes, to reach useful strength. Refixing into fresh glue produces a repair no better than the original failure.
6. Trim the plug flush.A flush-cut saw or a sharp chisel, working with the grain, then a light sand. The surface must be flat so the fixing seats properly.
7. Drill a fresh pilot in the centre.Mark the position accurately — this is your chance to correct a hinge that had drifted — and drill a correctly sized pilot into the new solid material.
8. Refix with the right screw.Same size, or one gauge up if the design allows. Do not simply use a much larger screw in the old hole; that is a different repair and it usually splits the plug.
9. For repeated failures, consider a threaded insert.Where a fixing is removed and refitted regularly, a brass or steel threaded insert glued into the timber gives a machine thread that will not strip.

Tips

• Slivers split from a scrap of the same timber are far better than matchsticks — matches are soft and their cores crush.
• A dowel repair is the right answer for door hinges. It takes twenty minutes plus curing and it is permanent.
• Mark the new pilot position from the fitting itself with a bradawl, not by eye — it is the moment to correct a drooping door.

Common mistakes

• Packing the hole with plastic wall plugs or filler — Neither has the strength to hold a thread under load. It feels tight on assembly and works loose within weeks.
• Simply using a much bigger screw — It wedges the already-weakened material apart and often splits it, and it may not fit the fitting's countersink. It is a stopgap, not a repair.

If it doesn't work

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