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9 Tips and Tricks for Using Your Pry Bar
Updated on Sep. 24, 2024
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Lift Heavy Stuff With a Flat Pry Bar
If you’ve ever had to remove a solid-core door, you know how heavy they can be. Lifting them up to reinstall hinge pins can be a challenge if you’re working alone, but a flat pry bar (AKA a flat bar) can give you just the leverage you need.
If your flat bar won’t raise the door high enough, install a small block of wood at the fulcrum point of the pry bar to increase the lifting distance. Hold the block in place with a small screw and washer. Make sure the screw doesn’t poke through. If it does, grind off the end so it won’t damage the floor.
This same setup can be used to raise bottom drywall sheets off the floor for fastening.
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Makeshift Trench Tool
I had to dig a 2-in. wide x 6-in. deep x 50-foot trench for low voltage wire between my rock walkway and landscape rock planting area, with about a four- to six-inch-wide area to work in. I started with a trowel and then moved to a 2-in. wide x 12-in. long pry bar on my hands and knees. It was slow and problematic for my old knees.
An idea came to mind: Why not mount the pry bar on an old hoe handle I had in the garage? It worked great!
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Remove Trim with Minimal Damage
Jam a pry bar between the two knives and twist sideways. Grab the nail shaft near the wood with a pair of nippers. Roll the tool head against the wood to pull the nail out the back side of the trim.
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Pull Drywall Screws
When you pull drywall from a wall, the screws usually stay in the studs. Unscrewing them with a drill is not the most efficient way to remove them because the screw heads are usually deteriorated or full of drywall mud.
Instead, use a pry bar or your hammer claw to pull them out just like you would with nails. Drywall screws are brittle, so if some joker used 3-in. screws to install the drywall, snap them off with your hammer.
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Difficulty Moving Furniture Through a Door?
Try removing your door stop molding. Sometimes, an extra 1/2-in. is all it takes to get through a doorway. If removing the door doesn’t open up enough space, pry off the door stop molding. That will give you another 3/4-in. Try this mini air jack when you need to lift a little.
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Buy a Small Molding Bar
A small molding pry bar with a wide, sharp blade is good for removing smaller trim and for starting to pry off larger pieces of trim. These little pry bars have the advantage of fitting easily into your tool belt. Of course, you’ll probably also need a medium-size pry bar for removing large trim or wide baseboard.
The pry bar shown here is made by Stanley and called a precision molding bar.
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Pry Against Studs When Removing Baseboard
If you pry against the wall where there’s no stud, the pry bar might just go right through the drywall. You can avoid this problem by prying only where studs are located.
To find studs easily, look for the nails along the top of the baseboard. These are usually driven into studs so prying above them should be safe. If you can’t spot any nails through the paint, reach for the stud finder.
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On Sale
Have You Heard of an Inflatable Pry Bar?
Pry bars are great for lifting windows, appliances or cabinets to level them. But they’re also great at leaving scratches — and sometimes you need three hands to lift, align, level and shim all at the same time.
The AirShim Inflatable Pry Bar & Leveling Tool solves all that. This 6- x 6-in. bladder inflates with the squeeze of a bulb, up to about 2-1/2-in. thick. Push a button to deflate it. The manufacturer says each can support 300 lbs. There’s also a Pro XL model that can handle 500 lbs.
They’re handy for lifting appliances to adjust the leveling feet or lifting one end of a cabinet to slide permanent shims into place. You can also use them in pairs to level windows and doors during installation.
