What is predrilling, and how can it save you time and money? We're going to look at that today. I'll explain what predrilling is, what it's for, what it does, as well as when and how it should be used. So what is predrilling anyway? Short answer, it's drilling a small hole first before driving a fastener into your material. Long answer, predrilling is the act of drilling a hole, often called a pilot hole, the length of your fastener, before driving it into your material. This fastener can be a screw or lag bolt, and, in some cases even a nail, depending on the application and need. Now, if your wondering what predrilling is for, the answer is material stress relief. When you take a fastener and drive it into your material, you are in essence, pushing material out of the way. This causes internal stresses in your material in the form of outward pressure from your fastener. While these stresses don't cause much of an effect when you are working with thicker materials or a significant distance from the edge of your material, they can cause destructive results in thinner materials and at locations close to the edge of said material. This effect usually causes materials to split and lose structural strength. Soooo, how does predrilling help? In short, it removes excess material, which makes for less material needing to be pushed out of the way. Less material moved equals less stress and pressure. The best times to predrill are those when you have to work close to the edge of your materials, or you have to work with thin, potentially brittle materials. The task of predrilling is fairly straightforward; it's drilling a hole. The key is actually in selecting the right size of drill bit. My personal rule of thumb is to select a drill bit that is no more than 1/2 the thickness of my fastener if it's a nail, and no more than 1/2 the thickness of my fastener PLUS 1.5 mm which is close to 1/16th of an inch, if my fastener is a screw or lag bolt. By removing that amount of material from the path of your fastener, I find that it is enough to relieve the stresses and prevent damage, which in turn maintains material strength.

Happy Monday all! I hope everyone had a good week end. It was crazy and tiring here, and I spent half of yesterday recovering. I had a good rest, and I'm rarin' to go. I want to say welcome to @Andries Venter, glad to have you with us. Feel free to drop a short intro in the instructions thread. Anyone else is welcome to say hello in the comments. Looking forward to chatting with you all and wishing you all a great week! Roy - aka The Pinchpenny DIYer.