Shoutout to my neighbor Dave for saving my fence project

I was building a privacy fence in my backyard in Phoenix last month and kept stripping screws trying to drive them into pressure treated pine. I was about to return the whole project and hire someone. My neighbor Dave came over while I was cussing at a bent screw and told me to pre-drill every single hole. I thought it was overkill and would add hours. After 3 panels of fighting with it, I tried his way on the fourth panel. Cut my time by half and zero stripped screws. He also said to use exterior grade deck screws, not those cheap coated ones from the big box store. That advice alone saved me at least $60 in wasted materials. Has anyone else had a random neighbor save them from throwing in the towel?

2 comments

2 Comments

simoncarr20d ago

I had a buddy who tried building a deck and stripped so many screws he just quit for a week. His neighbor came over with a box of good exterior screws and a drill bit set, showed him how to pre-drill, and it turned out perfect. Sometimes the simplest fix is all it takes.

felixb2519d ago

Oh man that's too real! I did the exact same thing building a little garden shed last summer. I was using cheap drywall screws from the garage and they kept stripping every single time I tried to drive them. After about the tenth one I just threw the drill down and went inside for the day lol. Came back the next day and grabbed a box of stainless steel deck screws with the little star bit head and a proper countersink drill bit. Pre-drilling made such a huge difference I felt like an idiot for not doing it from the start.