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I see it all the time: do-it-yourselfers suffering through projects using medieval tools, or hiring contractors to do jobs they could handle themselves if they only had the right tools.Truth is, you can get just about any tool you''ll ever need at a rental center. Here are a few time-and-sweat-saving tools that do-it-yourselfers often overlook ....JackhammerCOST: $75 to $120 per day BENEFITS: Ten times faster portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b than a sledgehammer with fewer blisters and muscle aches.If you have a big stretch of concrete (like a large driveway) to break up, rent a 60- or 90-lb. jackhammer powered by a trailer-mounted air compressor ($120 per day). But for a smaller job--like steps or a sidewalk--a 60-lb. electric jackhammer is less hassle ($75 per day). "It was just a strange thing that happened," Ocean View Police Chief Kenneth McLaughlin told the portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b News-Journal, "a very, very unfortunate portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b accident." The young carpenter died at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, Md., portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b after being evacuated by helicopter.A nail-gun accident in Mississippi had a happier outcome, reports the Biloxi Sun-Herald. Stone County, Miss., contractor Duncan Hatten was crouching down to nail a 2x4 block onto a column when he lost his balance and fell against the nail gun, which fired two quick nails into his heart. "I just figured I was gonna die," Hatten portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b told local TV station WLOX. "I told my coworker to tell my family that I loved them." But the two framing spikes had narrowly missed major blood vessels, and portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b surgeons were able to remove the nails from Hatten''s heart in a two-hour operation. Haslob has no hard feelings, he told the Register: "I don''t think he meant to do it." But Dupont was fired after portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b the incident, and police have reportedly charged him with reckless endangerment. With the right equipment, you can work like a pro, and make portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b lots of noise, dust and progress.Last portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b week I noticed my neighbor breaking up his sidewalk with a sledgehammer. I strolled over to see how it was going. He had only been at it for an portercable15–gauge2inanglenailerkitmodelda250b hour but was already sore, exhausted and thinking about hiring a pro to finish the job with a jackhammer. "You don''t need a pro," I told him. "All you need is a jackhammer."
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