How To Remove Rivets...(Quick Guide To Removing Rivets In Gutters/Aluminum/Plastic!)

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Rivets are the little headless metal fasteners that pin together sheet metal products such as gutters. This short video will show you how to remove rivets with a drill, and how to replace them if necessary.

Tool List:
Drill
1/8" Drill Bit

Material List:
3/8" Gutter Screws

How To:
1) Chuck 1/8" drill bit into your drill. (The bit should preferably be titanium, which is good for drilling metal.)
2) Press the tip of the drill bit into the small empty hole at the center of the rivet.
3) Pull the drill trigger and begin carefully drilling into the rivet hole.
4) Use light, but steady pressure. (Drill speed is not as important in boring out metal as constant pressure is.)
5) The drill bit will eventually punch through the back of the rivet. Back the drill bit out, and the joined pieces will come apart.
6) If necessary, replace the rivet with a 3/8" gutter screw. Just bring the detached pieces of metal back together, align the two original holes, and drive a gutter screw into the hole. The wider screw threads will bit into the metal walls, pinning them together.

For a detailed written description, check out our article on the topic!

For more tips, trick and articles, visit our blog at The Honest Carpenter website:

[alwaysbeglassing]

Might be the best video on the Internet. Thank you.

[carletonhoffman]

wow, thanks a million! i was getting ready to write one of my usual angry sarcastic critical comments about how this is all bs and won't work for me and then i took your advice and used a drillbit larger than the freaking cavity in the rivet and it worked really well! it always irritated me when people talked about drilling out rivets because in my experience all they did was spin. the last time i tried to remove a rivet i must have wasted frustrating hours and kept trying to steady the opposite end so the damn thing wouldn't just keep spinning. after watching this video i tried using the larger drillbit and was able to remove 3 wheels from their housing fairly easily so i could replace damaged suitcase casters.

[TScott-vpzv]

Bro, thank you so much for this video.

I couldn’t find the answer anywhere!!!

Never take for granted how a simple video can help so many people!

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!
🙏🏾❤️💪🏾

[Sandy-dgur]

Thank you for this video! I've been searching for a video to tell me how to remove these rivets so I can take my downspout down and unclog it.

[JoMoOnDrums]

Thank you. I was struggling with this for about 15 minutes. The tip about having a drill bit that was slightly larger than the hole was what I was missing!

[capcom]

Thanks for the video! The sizes of the drill bit and screws look like they're the perfect size for what I'm replacing. Thanks again! I'm a subscriber now

[TrailPony]

Thank you for this! I have to remove paneling from the inside of a trailer that was improperly insulated... The huge inconvenience is the paneling is nothing but rivets.

[brandon]

Man had to go through 20 videos for me to find this! Thanks for the help!

[johnkelley]

I never thought of using screws in place of the rivets but this tip helps. Thanks for the information.

[cmayback]

Thanks! Never thought of using screws as well instead of Rivets. I'm going to try it and, if it works, return the rivet gun I bought. Hoping to save 25 bucks! :)

[gretagoode]

That was amazing!! I learned, in 30 seconds, the answer I couldn't get from anyone I know. 🤗

[fredkrueger]

This is great. I am removing my porch beams and replacing them with 6x6 posts that we are gonna stain. I have a spout on one post. This was just what I needed!! Thanks.

[norsewind]

Thank you! I was too co servative on the drillbit size. Went bigger and then it popped right out

[elainedolan]

Thanks... my downspouts are riveted...seems counter-productive for ease of cleaning, switching them out etc. Now I see what to do.

[akatartt]

So helpful! Now I know how to get my gutter apart.

[AggressivelyMediocre]

Awesome. Had no idea what these things were. Have no idea why someone who use these over bolts and screws. Gutter clog (like mine did) and you need to remove them from time to time. Just seems like they are making a future headache.

[JasonHoningford]

Thanks I was about to mess up some downspouts trying to cut the rivets! Found some stainless screws too!

[sarys]

Thank you so much. Roofers put up the new roof, removed the gutters, but left all the downspout up. smh
They even left hundreds of nails all over the yard. I've been picking up nails for weeks. Filled up two grocery bags so far.

[robbyers]

I'm pretty handy, and a Jack of All Trades, and Master of NONE!! This was a great video.

[toddhupp]

thanks now i know how to do this with my downspout