I have some closet shelving clips I need to remove to paint a wall. The problem is that they are molly bolts. These are the exact clips/mollys.
The question is similar to this one, but in my case, I am dealing with molly bolts, instead of simple wall anchors, and they are plastic which have become hardened/stubborn over time (they are less pliable). With a good amount of fanagaling I can rip them out of the wall, but that makes the hole bigger, almost rendering (or actually rendering) the clip usless unless I patch the drywall to reuse the clips. Is there any way I can "uncompress" the molly bolts, so that I can slide them out more easily with less damage to the wall?
Most sites/videos on the matter, suggest simply cutting off the molly bolt head and pushing it into the wall but in this case its a shelving clip that I want to reuse so I cant cut it. I saw a youtube video on the subject, where they suggest inserting a small screwdriver into the screw hole and banging with a hammer to decompress it, but because these are plastic and not metal, the molly bolt does not want to "uncompress", it just "bounces" when you try to hit it out.
Best Answer
Leave it in place, use masking tape, paint around it....