It's about time.
I (finally) bought an impact driver.
A long time ago, I bought my first power drill. A B&D. I don't remember where I got it. Maybe Home Depot. Maybe Fred Meyer. It was something like $40. It served me through my first bathroom gutting and rebuilding. Then, as I delved more and more into remodeling, I figured it was time for an upgrade. So I plunked down $100 for a DeWalt.
That was a big deal. Obviously, because I took a photo of it. The difference was remarkable. The DeWalt had way more torque and the battery lasted way longer. Then I found another one at a yard sale apparently back in 2012. It was actually really convenient having two, I'm not gonna lie.
And then, a couple weeks ago, I went to install some scrap Trex we discovered under the front porch. The front step was just painted, and the previous owners didn't believe in putting a gutter on the front porch so snow and rain just drip onto the step, slowly rotting it away. But Trex doesn't rot, and they were nice enough to leave some scraps that match the front porch underneath.
Without predrilling holes, my trusty 18V DeWalt didn't have the oomph to drive the 3-1/4" star bit screws through the Trex into the stair treads.
So close. Sure, I could predrill each and every screw. Or... since I already own a few 18V tools, batteries, and chargers, I could scrounge Ebay for a used 18V impact driver. Which obviously is the route I went. For just under $60, I found one that didn't look like it had been driven over by a Mack truck 800 times before being dropped off a bridge.
As my luck kept rolling, I picked up a set of impact bits from ye ol' Stan's Merry Mart here in town for $15. Someone had forgotten to take down the sale sign so after some finagling with the clerk and his manager, they were really nice to give it to me despite the sale having been over for a couple days. That was a screaming deal and I left feeling pretty good. Just saying.
The test: sink a couple more of those screws into the Trex and see how the impact driver stood up to the job. Uhh...
Boom. Yeah, effortless. It actually, umm, had so much torque it ripped off a few of the screw heads when I went back to sink the ones slightly sticking up.
I'll still use my trusty ol' drill drivers of course. But gone are the days (for me, anyway) of ever pre-drilling screws...
A long time ago, I bought my first power drill. A B&D. I don't remember where I got it. Maybe Home Depot. Maybe Fred Meyer. It was something like $40. It served me through my first bathroom gutting and rebuilding. Then, as I delved more and more into remodeling, I figured it was time for an upgrade. So I plunked down $100 for a DeWalt.
That was a big deal. Obviously, because I took a photo of it. The difference was remarkable. The DeWalt had way more torque and the battery lasted way longer. Then I found another one at a yard sale apparently back in 2012. It was actually really convenient having two, I'm not gonna lie.
And then, a couple weeks ago, I went to install some scrap Trex we discovered under the front porch. The front step was just painted, and the previous owners didn't believe in putting a gutter on the front porch so snow and rain just drip onto the step, slowly rotting it away. But Trex doesn't rot, and they were nice enough to leave some scraps that match the front porch underneath.
Without predrilling holes, my trusty 18V DeWalt didn't have the oomph to drive the 3-1/4" star bit screws through the Trex into the stair treads.
So close. Sure, I could predrill each and every screw. Or... since I already own a few 18V tools, batteries, and chargers, I could scrounge Ebay for a used 18V impact driver. Which obviously is the route I went. For just under $60, I found one that didn't look like it had been driven over by a Mack truck 800 times before being dropped off a bridge.
As my luck kept rolling, I picked up a set of impact bits from ye ol' Stan's Merry Mart here in town for $15. Someone had forgotten to take down the sale sign so after some finagling with the clerk and his manager, they were really nice to give it to me despite the sale having been over for a couple days. That was a screaming deal and I left feeling pretty good. Just saying.
The test: sink a couple more of those screws into the Trex and see how the impact driver stood up to the job. Uhh...
Boom. Yeah, effortless. It actually, umm, had so much torque it ripped off a few of the screw heads when I went back to sink the ones slightly sticking up.
I'll still use my trusty ol' drill drivers of course. But gone are the days (for me, anyway) of ever pre-drilling screws...
