Loose Bathtub Hot Water Knob

[Mitzy]

Hi...please forgive me if I don't use the correct terms to describe this problem. I'm an amateur DIY'er. So, I have a second bathroom that I don't use much. My primary bathroom is being recaulked so I didn't want to use it until the caulk was dry so I went to the secondary bath. I go to run the hot water and the round knob is loose, but does turn on/off the water. I pop off the plastic round H and I see that there's a screw and it's loose. I grab the handy dandy phillips screw driver and tighten it. I try it and on the second or third turn, it's loose again. So I unscrew it all the way and discover that the screw has sheared off. The piece I have is roughly 3/4"-1" long. it's obviously broken off inside the part in the wall that turns on/off the water. The house is 35+ yrs old. The last time a plumber came to repair the drain, he broke it and had to replace the entire drain assembly with PVC! I think the plumbing is quite delicate (galvenized) and I'm scared to get it fixed. I am selling the house so I'm not interested in a full bathroom remodel! I think I could use loctite to hold the screw in tight for awhile. But I was really hoping there was a way to safely extract the other half of the screw and put a new one in.

Is there a safe way to extract this remaining screw piece without removing the part from the wall? Or should I go for loctite and hope for the best?

[pushkins]

The tool your looking for is called an "easy out" you will have to drill a small hole in the center of the screw then screw in the "easy out" in reverse, then twist the easy out and the little screw should come out.
The easy out will cost around $5.
What happens if you pull the knob off all together, you should have a part of the shaft of the broken screw sticking out, if so you should be able to grab it with a pair of pliers and unscrew it.

[Mitzy]

When I removed the screw, the piece wasn't sticking out...which is why I was concerned. It must be at least 3/4" inside there because that's how long the remaining screw is. I have a kit like the Pro Grabbit (see amazon item B001A4CWHO)
Can I safely use this to try to grab the piece? I can't even see it in there!

[Mitzy]

Ok...now I feel dumb. The cold water was working just fine. So I removed the screw there and realized that both are the same size! Therefore, nothing is broken. I put loctite on the hot and screwed in tight. This should hold...

[pushkins]

LOL......sometimes the easiest solution is the most overlooked.