That was easy....almost TOO easy....

David Agnew

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This is just a random musing... maybe someone can relate, maybe not.

Last night, I replaced a stair tread on my deck. It went smooth as silk. After I finished, I literally said to myself, out loud, "That was easy.... too easy!"

I'm not sure if this is a sign of my skills maturing or the other shoe not dropping yet.

Not like replacing an outdoor stair tread (really just a slab of 2x12) is complicated, but it literally took me about 20 minutes. Zip the old screws out with my new impact driver, measure the broken tread for length, use my circular saw w/ straight cutting jig to turn a 2x12x8 into a 2x12x3' 11 15/16", slide it under the riser board, gentle tap with a hammer to seat it home, then 6 screws, zip zip zip. Done.
 
This is just a random musing... maybe someone can relate, maybe not.

Last night, I replaced a stair tread on my deck. It went smooth as silk. After I finished, I literally said to myself, out loud, "That was easy.... too easy!"

I'm not sure if this is a sign of my skills maturing or the other shoe not dropping yet...

Don't worry - it'll get you when you least expect it! :D

Sorta like bear hunting: Sometimes you get the bear...Sometimes the bear gets you! :D
 
Gotta love it when a plan comes together. :thumb: I also get a lot of enjoyment out of having the right tool for the job, and having it perform as expected.
 
The deck at my old house was was decently structured, but after a year or so, several of the boards twisted and made the whole deck look like it was built with pallet grade lumber. Spent a few hours doing what you did and replaced those pieces. It's amazing the difference it made in the whole look and feel. Not to mention the deck builder used common nails instead of ring shank, so kept having nails pop up over and over, went through about a carton of screws replacing all of the ones I could. I also agree with Ted's comment, nice to have the right tools for the job.
 
Yeah, having the correct tools really helped. The impact driver is really growing on me and having the straight-cut jig for my circ saw made the cut simple. Makes me think it may be time to upgrade to a track saw.......
 
Yeah, having the correct tools really helped. The impact driver is really growing on me and having the straight-cut jig for my circ saw made the cut simple. Makes me think it may be time to upgrade to a track saw.......

I go round and round with my brother-in-law about buying decent tools, and using the right tool. He's the kind of guy who ends up spending 3 hours to to a 1 hour job (with lots of cursing involved) because he's too cheap to buy good tools or use the right ones. For example, we recently assembled a roll top desk that he'd bought at a yard sale and we needed about 8 screws. Instead of going to Lowe's (about a mile away) and buying 8 matching Philips head screws, he dug up an assortment of 8 unmatched screws out of a coffee can in the garage. They were a mix of slotted and Philips heads, and most of them had stripped or galled heads. Then he spent the next hour trying to drive those 8 screws with various ill-fitting screwdriver bits in his drill (while inventing new ways to use "mother" with several other colorful words). :rofl:

I had a great "told you so" moment a few weekends later when he and my sister installed a drip irrigation system in their raised bed garden. For reasons I don't fully understand, he bought the proper pipe cutter and hole puncher, and also bought all new fittings instead of using the mish-mash of leftovers from previous installations. I was over at their house later that day, and they were both remarking about how fast and easy it was to install the new system. No leaks, no surprises, no extra trips to Lowe's, and they were done in less than an hour. He even volunteered that I was right about buying the right tools for the job. :thumb:
 
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