I recently put up some kitchen wall cabinets. When screwing in the cabinets one of the studs was more difficult to screw into. I pre-drilled pilot holes for the studs and everything went OK besides one.
The one screw had a high pitch squeal when I tried to screw it in and became difficult to turn, I eventually drilled a little bit bigger of a pilot hole and it went in easier. Is this just hard wood or maybe I hit a knot? Does this sometimes happen?
Best Answer
Yes, sometimes you may encounter a stud that has a big knot or some really gnarly grain that make it can be really hard to insert a screw. Knots especially can be exceedingly hard. A squeal is also rather common in such instances.
You did the right thing by backing out the screw and drilling a slightly larger pilot hole. Doing so you prevented the possibility of over stressing the screw and either stripping out the head or twisting it off. There are some additional things to consider in such case: