Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Which Impact Driver For Building Wood Deck?

One of these?
https://www.ohiopowertool.com/p-161...6bmGXYiou-ZgMKsPbBDbfNlyZTUaAp0fEALw_wcB

Something to consider if you're equipped with a nail gun.

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hardware-Fasteners-Collated-Fasteners/Scrail/N-5yc1vZc282Z9n0

I’m a GC and gone through many.

I buy all ridgid tools from HD and register them for their life time warranty. Even batteries. if you don’t register them, i think they have 3 year warranty.
Actually, yesterday I went to HD as one of my 18 volt batteries was charged but when the Trigger was squeezed, the drill wouldn’t work. Got told to go find a matching one and just even exchange. F yeah!

If you don’t care about that, Milwaukee’s are a power house.

It looks really good from the right angle.

Don't get me wrong, you've obviously put a lot of work into that and I'm not trying to put the job down. I just see other ways, but different strokes for different folks.

At one of my homes my decks are wrapped all the way around the house, every room has a view. When sitting in the living room or laying in bed or in the soaker tub my views were much obscured by the wooden balusters. Mine were nothing fancy or custom, just a bunch of square dimensional lumber stacked and nailed together at the legal 4 inch spacing required.

It was night and day difference when I tore them out.

The railings were a maintenance nightmare to boot when it came to pressure washing and staining all those balusters even with an airless.

The stainless cable and related hardware costs far less than the wood and goes together much faster and there is no maintenance needed. I'm paying less than two hundred bucks for 1000 ft rolls of the cable and the proper hardware is very affordable too.

When it's all about the view, I want all of it I can get.

Use the impact for the frame and a cordless drill for the decking. It’s way faster.

No issues with me Jeff, I build whatever the customer wants

Too much maintenance for my liking as well but these people don’t have to worry about that type of thing

I have probably built half a mile of cable handrail too , this one suited the house perfectly

Sorry for derailing the thread BTW Barry

So back on topic most decks I still nail
2 inch ring shank nails from a coil gun

This is the same set from Home Depot but with an extra 5 amp battery, which I think you'll want, for the same price.

I have this set & it's good................really can't go wromg with Makita either & I think both are a shade above Dewalt on new stuff.

Milwaukee Fuel

JMHO

MM

Remember it's a battery system you're investing in more than just a tool. You'll be wanting to add more tools latter and it makes most sense that they all use interchangeable batteries.

Brushless is better and worth the added cost if the tool is going to see serious use. They last longer, are more powerful and drain the battery slower.

Shop around online and you'll usually find a better deal than Amazon or Home Depot. Look at Toolbarn.com, usually they will throw in a free battery or free tool if you buy a kit. Good way to save money.

I like my Dewalt XR stuff. Couldn't imagine building my house without them.

Here. Add it to your cart and then choose the impact as your free tool.

https://www.toolbarn.com/dewalt-dcd996p2.html/

Pay attention to battery size. The bigger the amp rating the better and the more it will cost. You want 4s or 5s if you can get them.

Thanks Justin!

Sounds like you’re set, but I’ll throw my 2 cents in as well. I recently built a new steel shop building on my property, we used 1/4” cordless drivers for all tek screws. I have a Milwaukee m18 and a makita 18v, my helper had a Dewalt 20v XRP. His dewalt would outlast my drivers 2 batteries to one, and seemed to have higher RPMs so screws drilled a little faster and easier. Both Milwaukee and dewalt are good tools, but if I’m buying a new driver right now it’s definitely a dewalt 20v. Even if you don’t buy the more expensive XRP battery equipped tool I’m pretty sure you can buy those batteries separately.

Regarding the link above to toolbarn.com, I haven’t bought any power tools from them but they did just sell me a replacement pump for my pressure washer last week. The guy I spoke to on the phone was helpful and the correct pump arrived quickly.

Also, as mentioned above once you start buying cordless tools you’ll want to stay with same brand so batteries interchange. I have a Milwaukee small shop vac and 18v cordless grease gun at home, both are good. But I also have a dewalt 20v grease gun at work and it’s been good so far as well. If you operate and maintain heavy equipment (as I believe you do) do yourself a favor and try one of these cordless grease guns. They are really nice and I’m switching to them as an alternative to air operated guns that require a compressor and dragging a hose...

Nothing near commercial work. I built my own deck @ our campground and helped out neighbors on 3 others. 1/4" drivers and torx screws make short work.

Rather than lag bolts, I drilled holes and used regular bolts with BIG washers on each side. A 20V DeWalt XRP 1/2 drill will run a 1/2" auger bit through green treated 4x4's without a hiccup.

I went Dewalt because I had a bunch of 18V tools. Ditched all my 18V batteries, bought a bunch of adapters and batteries when they're on sale.

I've got a couple 2 Amp/hr batteries. Half-dozen 4's, and a pair of 6 Amp hr flex 20/60V batteries. I use 4's the most probably mostly because that's what's most often nearby. The 2's are nice for quicky jobs as they're lighter.

I rarely turn a screw/bolt/nut by hand anymore, 1/4" impact if it'll reach.

Another plug for porter cable. They work good and were cheap at the pawn shop. My son has Milwaukee tools and I like them as well.

This Canucks videos are entertaining.

I think battery adapters are now available between most systems.

I have collected Makita over the years but have Ryobi for the rv.
Good luck to ya.

That deck is top notch brother. from the looks and sound of it, looks like your doing well for you self.

Impact driver for lag bolts only. Regular driver for deck screws. You can usually buy the combo at a discount.

Thanks, I’m winding it back a bit these days, there’s more to life than work

I'm like an earlier post. My 18V Dewalt won't hold a candle to my Harbor Freight drill.