Impact Drivers for Dummies

Drywall screw depth

Besides the obvious problem that many of their "contributors" knew jack about the topics they chose, the eHow.com model concocted by Demand Media Studios (DMS, as in, "You can't spell 'dumbass' without 'DMS.'") had a second fatal flaw. That was the 300-word minimum word count enforced by the site's SEO gurus. Many's the time that writers could have answered a question in a single sentence, but in order to pad the verbiage up to meet the minimum word count, they wrote some utter bull. We're talking utter bull like Timothy Burns, whose HomeSteady.com post "Can an Impact Driver Be Used for Drywall Jobs?" is a good example.

The answer, simply put, is "No." If you wanted to expand on that, you might say, "No: an impact driver produces too much torque, and the screws would tear through the paper coating on the drywall." Burns, however, pumped out an additional 395 words to hit that SEO "sweet spot." Along the way Tim's ignorance of power tools (and of drywall) tripped him up a time or two, starting with his introduction:

• "The 4 feet by 8 feet, paper-covered gypsum drywall board is relatively easy to handle..." – Yeah, right: "easy" to handle. No person who's actually handled drywall would make that claim!
• "With the abundant number of cordless drills in the market, drywall installers need to pick the right tool for the job." – We suspect the OQ wasn't a "drywall installer" but an ordinary DIYer, otherwise he'd have known the difference.

Burns, a "motivational speaker" and freelance writer prattled on for a couple hundred more words, in which he compared an impact driver to a drywall screw gun. He waxed ecstatic about the utility of both tools (although he seemed unaware that there are corded and cordless versions), but  Timothy never mentioned that stalwart of Father's Day sales everywhere, the cordless drill/driver.

Yup, Burns – probably because the guy had never seen drywall installed, much less hung the stuff himself – failed to mention what must be the single most common power tool sold today. He didn't mention that Dad's Black and Decker will suffice quite well for hanging a few sheets of drywall, while a professional drywaller will want to shell out an additional $200 to $300 for a dedicated screw gun. Idiot.

Cordless drill/drivers have an adjustable clutch that prevents overtorquing the drywall screws used to fasten the stuff to the studs. With a little practice, just about anyone can operate one of these tools. On the other hand, an impact driver is specifically designed to maximize torque, which would wreak havoc on a sheet of drywall.

Burns got the answer right-ish, although he seemed to think that the main reason an impact driver is unsuitable for the job is that, "A cordless impact driver is balanced so the user can apply high torque and high force to the tip of the tool while in use. While this tool would drive drywall screws and hang sheetrock, the tool would slow down the installation process..." Yeah, right: that's why an impact driver shouldn't be used to hang drywall... it's too slow. And you wondered why Burns is collecting his third Dumbass of the Day award? That ought to convince you...

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