Old timer told me to pre-drill even for soft pine and I ignored him for a decade

Last week I snapped three screws clean in half on a simple shelf job in under ten minutes, then remembered what he said about the wood swelling around the threads and causing stress fractures, and now I'm kicking myself for not listening sooner - has anyone else had a hard lesson like that from ignoring simple advice?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_murray5d ago

Been there. I spent an afternoon trying to force some deck screws into pressure treated lumber last summer and wound up with three snapped off flush with the surface and no way to get them out. Had to drill new holes and plug the old ones, felt like such an idiot for not taking two extra seconds with a pilot bit. What project finally made you wise up to it?

grant5695d ago

Felt like such an idiot" yeah that's basically my daily motto when I'm working on stuff. @fiona_murray what finally got me was trying to hang a heavy shelf in my garage, pre-drilled nothing, and the screw just spun and chewed up the drywall so bad I had to patch a hole the size of my fist. Saved exactly zero time by skipping the pilot bit, lesson learned the hard way.