When we visited Las Vegas earlier this month for World of Concrete, one of the companies we came across was RemoveRite, makers of what they call the Duplex Screw. RemoveRite’s Duplex Screws are ingeniously designed to work in just about any temporary structure setting. Here in Florida, we have to deal with this little thing called hurricane season. The use of temporary framing is beautifully illustrated here. When a storm threatens, people board up their windows in an effort to keep them from breaking. Ultimately, multiple sources of entry for the wind result in losing the roof of your home.
Editor’s Note: Check out our best deck screws article to see our top picks.
Obviously, we don’t want to leave plywood on our houses year round, so those boards we nailed or screwed in place have to come down once the threat is over. This is where the Duplex Screw is so beneficial. Whether you’ve screwed in 2 x 4’s to nail the plywood to or directly screwed the board to the wall, it’s a good bet that you’ve got some damaged heads. Those can be difficult to remove. Worse, they could be stripped bad enough that you need to cut off the head in order to get the board down, leaving part of the screw rusting in your wall.
Featuring a Removable Head
RemoveRite’s Duplex Screw features a head that still fastens tight to the material, yet sticks up for easier removal. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t camout the head, but this is where the real genius lies. The Duplex Screw head is 1/4″ hex. Allow that to sink in for a moment.
Yep, you can use an impact driver with no driver bits to install and remove the Duplex Screw.
Even if you don’t have an impact driver, you can still use a 1/4″ nut driver. It’s a Phillip’s Head fastener if you simply have to use a traditional bit.
The goal of the RemoveRite Duplex Screws is two-fold. First, allow users to easily put up and remove temporary construction. The design absolutely does that. Here are a few applications to consider:
- General Carpentry
- Temporary Framing
- Concrete Forms
- Movie and Theater Stage Sets
- Conventions and Trade Shows
- Temporary Installations
- Storm Preparation
The second goal of the Duplex Screws is to make them reusable. RemoveRite accomplishes this through the selection of materials that they use. Even though they are durable, they can still be damaged. Be careful with today’s high torque drills and impact drivers to avoid overdriving the Duplex Screw. This could result in camout or in snapping the screw. There are warnings on the package to avoid using Duplex Screws on scaffolding, in pressure-treated materials, and where surface rust is unacceptable.
A word about the use on movie sets. RemoveRite actually has the attention of the movie industry. It was at their request that the Duplex Screw now sports the bright orange look. Set builders needed to be able to easily see where each screw was in order to more efficiently take apart a set.
RemoveRite Duplex Screw Options
Available RemoveRite Duplex Screw Lengths (all #10):
- 1-1/4″
- 1-5/8″
- 1-3/4″
- 2-3/4″
RemoveRite Duplex Screw Package Sizes
- 1 pound ($6.47*)
- 5 pounds ($21.97*)
- 25 pounds ($87.67*)
- 50 pounds ($175.15*)
*Current prices at The Home Depot (website only) or Amazon.
Does the RemoveRite Duplex Screw Do What it Claims?
I have to be honest, I didn’t have any temporary construction work that I needed to do, but I didn’t want to wait around either. So I just took the Duplex Screws out back and… screwed. I simply used one of the best impact driver contenders I had on hand to see if installing and uninstalling them constantly would create any damage.
Using the 2-3/4″ Duplex Screw, I went through the process 15 times with just the impact driver and another 6 with a #2 Phillip’s bit. I managed to bend the screw just slightly, but it suffered no other damage. The hex portion of the head lost a little bit of paint. There seemed to be no damage or bend to the actual shape though. With the #2 Phillip’s bit, the Duplex Screw again lost paint, but there seemed to be no hint of camout.
Parting Shots
I couldn’t find any information about an assumed usable life for the RemoveRite Duplex Screws. With over 20 installations and removals, I’m not too worried about it. The price per pound compared to other screws at the big box stores is actually really good. Considering that you can confidently get 20+ uses out of each one, the cost per build comes WAY down.
Temporary construction doesn’t necessarily get talked about very much. For years, we’ve just assumed that we can pound apart what we’ve nailed or unscrew what we’ve screwed together. We just dealt with it. RemoveRite Duplex Screws give us a better option. When it comes to fasteners for temporary construction, Duplex Screws are simply the best idea that I’ve ever seen.
