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The Best Tool To Have On Hand, According To HGTV's Mina Starsiak Hawk
By RON BAKER
When Mina Starsiak Hawk, the daughter in the mother-daughter duo on HGTV's "Good Bones," was asked about the must-have tool for a DIYer, she said definitively, "An impact drill."
Impact drills — also known as impact drivers — can do the job of a range of typical DIY power tools, including a screwdriver, a drill driver, hammer drill, and an impact wrench.
These drills are ideally suited to tricky DIY tasks, such as driving long screws into a deck, attaching a metal siding to a steel frame, and drilling into brick or concrete.
When it comes to changing a tire or removing a rusted-on bolt or nut, an impact drill can be used as a powerful wrench, but you’ll need to use impact-rated square-drive adapters.
The advantage of an impact drill over an ordinary drill driver comes from its spring-loaded mechanism, which creates jolts of extra drilling force, giving the tool added power.
You’ll also find that impact drills use a collet, a mechanism that fits only a ¼-inch hexagonal shaft, to attach drill bits and other accessories. Typical drills use a jaw chuck.
When it comes to price and quality, look for tools with brushless motors, which are generally longer lasting, more powerful, and more efficient than those with brushed motors.