I almost gave up. May 2007, I was in New Orleans staring at a pile of Trex composite decking, a pile of stripped deck screws, sweating buckets. It was 10am, 90° and I had a bazillion screws to drive. Oh man.
3 hours earlier, I had rolled up to the house ready to knock out the deck project. Posts were set. Trex delivered. Piece of cake. Started laying the deck, and was a little surprised at the slow going. Hm. OK, I'll use the special "no drill, auto-countersink" screws. Thud. Still not getting through the composite deck. Wow, I thought, this is TOUGH stuff.
Unwilling to accept that I had to pre-drill each of the screw holes, I rang up a buddy who's a full-time contractor and gently humors my gung-ho attitude. 
Me: "Hey Matt, I'm fighting with this Trex decking. What am I missing here?"
Matt: "The impact driver isn't working?"
Me: "Huh? What's an impact driver?"
Matt: "OK, stop. Don't ya'll have any new technology up North? Go and buy one. You'll never use another driver."
And that's how I met the Makita Impact Driver. Wow. I finished the deck that day. Looks great.
Get a Makita Impact Driver. Well, well worth it. The simultaneous action of driving (impacting) a screw while the drill turns it is just miraculous. Very lightweight, great battery life (Lithium Ion doesn't lose charge quickly). There's even a light built into the tip.
They are sold in all major DIY stores and online at Amazon, etc.
I am going to start listing my all time *worst* or justy plain silly tools. Anyone have a favorite worst?
[where: 10032][where: Harlem][where: Sugar Hill]
3 comments:
I am a representative of Trex and came across your post and wanted to reply. We here at Trex have used the Makita Impact Driver and found that it definitely works well with Trex. This is a great alternative to manually pre-drilling screw holes.
If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me at question@trex.com or 800-BUY-TREX.
Pat,
Thanks for the comment. Trex is a great product, and we are trying to figure out how to incorporate it into our brownstone green renovation. We're putting a deck on the back, but the code requires non-combustible materials.
Any thoughts on that?
BlogMonkey:
Thanks for the feedback! To your question I would recommend looking into our Trex Accents Fire Defense product line. You can link to it here: http://www.trex.com/firedefense/default.aspx
Trex Accents Fire Defense exceeds ASTM E84 Class B Flame Spread and also exceeds 12-7A-4 Part A (underflame) and Part B (Burning Brand). Trex Accents Fire Defense also is self-extinguishing even under extreme fire exposure.
You may also be interested in Trex Escapes. http://www.trex.com/escapes/default.aspx
Trex Escapes meets ASTM E84 Class A Flame Spread and meets CA SFM 12-7A-4 Underflame and Burning Brand requirements.
Pat M - Trex
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