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A foreman in Boise told me to stop pre-drilling every single hole, and I fought him on it for a month
I used to pre-drill every hole for cable straps and J-hooks, no exceptions. My thinking was simple, split wood means a callback, and a callback means I eat the drive time for free. Then a foreman on a 60 unit apartment rough-in in Boise watched me work for about ten minutes and said straight up, "You're adding an hour a day for a problem you made up." I got defensive at first because it felt like he was calling me slow. He grabbed a scrap of the same 2x4 we were strapping to and drove six screws cold, no pilot hole, and not one of them split because he was using the right screws and not over torquing. So I tried it his way on the next two floors, and my count went from about 40 holes a day to almost 60, and I only had two splits in that whole stretch, both on old dry framing near a window. Now I only pre-drill on trim, cabinets, and anything near an edge, and my wrists thank me at the end of the week. Anyone else had a lead talk them out of a habit they were sure was protecting them?
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laura_wilson1mo ago
My uncle ran a hardware store for 30 years and had this same fight with his own brain about sanding. He sanded every coat of paint between layers on his house trim, swore it was the only way. Then a painter friend of his told him modern paint bonds fine without it if you wait the right amount of time. He tried it on his garage door and couldn't tell the difference after a year in the sun. He still sands his kitchen cabinets though, some habits you just keep for the stuff that matters most.
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