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I finally stopped pre-drilling every screw hole and now I'm second guessing myself
A guy I've been doing trim work with for years, name's Dale, he caught me pre-drilling a 2x4 for a ledger board last Tuesday in his shop out in Fort Wayne. He didn't say a word, just watched me for a minute and shook his head. His whole point was that with modern screws and impact drivers you're just wasting time, and he's been framing 30 years so I figured he knew. But here's where I'm stuck: my old boss told me the opposite, that pre-drilling prevents splits and keeps your framing straight, and I've seen split ends ruin a rim board more than once. Dale says splits come from driving too fast, not from skipping the pilot hole, and now I don't know which one of them is right. I get that it depends on the wood and the screw, but I'm talking general everyday framing here, not fancy hardwood. So what's the deal, do you drill or not, and has anyone actually had a board split on them because they skipped it?
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elizabetht566d ago
Man, I feel this one in my bones. I did trim and framing for a while and had two guys tell me opposite things too, so here's what I landed on: for regular everyday framing with a decent impact driver, you mostly don't need to pre-drill, but it depends on how close you are to the end of the board. Dale is right that most splits come from running the screw in too fast or overdriving it, and if you back off the trigger near the end you'll be fine almost every time. But your old boss wasn't wrong either, because when you're within an inch or two of the end of a 2x4, that wood will split on you no matter how slow you go, and a pilot hole there costs you five seconds and saves you a board. And yeah, I've had a rim board split on me when I got lazy and skipped it near the end, so it's not just a myth. So my rule is: skip it in the field, drill it near the ends and whenever the wood feels dry or knotty.
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