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Donquardo

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I'm fixing some stairs as a favor for my inlaws. The old railroad tie and brick work landscaped stairs are rotting and sagging. My plan is to replace the ties with 6x6 PT, drill and pin them in place with rebar.

I've built stairs like this as a volunteer at the state park. At the park, we drilled the holes with a gas powered drill. The most powerful drill I have is my mud/thinset mix. Will that work for about 20 holes, or should I buy a different tool?

I don't want to own a gas powered drill.
 
pay attention to the bit you use . whatever it is it needs to be sharp .i use my m18 drills -though -I now have 2 and rotate them often .They seem to heat up and blow the chips .corded hole hog is much wiser if you have one . i have an assortment of different type bits ,a sharp auger is most likely your best choice .
 
Drilling through the bracket works, until the bit snags the edge of the hole and the high-torque motor breaks your wrist.
Doesn't happen with a twist bit. I've hit the edge hundreds of times. In fact it will drill out the side if you're not careful.

That particular job had about 30 buckets.


Mike.
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[emoji631] [emoji631]
 
They aren't officially called buckets, but it's pretty common out here.


Mike.
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[emoji631] [emoji631]
 
I always called em column caps or post cap ties. Guess bc we use Simpson down here for the mech hw
A column cap is the steel one in the picture a post cap is made of sheet metal.


Mike.
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[emoji631] [emoji631]
 
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