TL;DR
A pilot hole is a small-diameter hole drilled before driving a screw or nail so the fastener follows a straight path without splitting the wood or snapping under torque. The bit is sized to the screw's root diameter—roughly the shank minus the threads—so the threads still bite while the surrounding fibers are relieved.
What it means
A pilot hole is a small-diameter hole drilled before driving a screw or nail so the fastener follows a straight path without splitting the wood or snapping under torque. The bit is sized to the screw's root diameter—roughly the shank minus the threads—so the threads still bite while the surrounding fibers are relieved. Hardwoods, board ends, and large lag screws almost always need one; soft framing lumber mid-board often does not.
Where it sits in the glossary
Pilot hole is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
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