Renting vs. Buying a Hardwood Flooring Nailer
A hardwood flooring nailer is the most important tool for installing hardwood floors. Chances are, if you’re reading this article after it was first published, you already know that and are contemplating whether or not to rent a nailer from the local tool rental shop, or buy a nailer at a much higher price.
Pros & Cons of Buying
The pros and cons of buying are pretty straight forward: If you buy the nailer, you’ll be able to take your time during the install (working over several days, perhaps, and not driving to/from the store) and you’ll own the nailer for future hardwood projects. The drawback: buying the nailer commands a premium price: as much as $400 for the most recognized brand name models.
Pros and Cons of Renting
If you rent the nailer (say, from Home Depot or Lowes), you’ll shell out only $55 to have the nailer for 24 hours. You must get the job done in the 24 hour period or pay a second or third rental fee. Plus, you’ve got to pick up and return the nailer to the store. The advantage of this option is the cheaper price you pay in exchange for the added stress and time constraints. Renting the nailer makes sense if you plan on doing one small room over a day or two. If you’re planning large rooms, or multiple floors in a house (or even multiple houses), renting gets more impracticle.
Less Expensive Hardwood Nailer – A Cheaper Option
At $400+ for a high quality flooring nailer, it’s reasonable to pause at the idea of buying one. But, if you’re serious about significant hardwood upgrades to a home as we are, we think it make sense and saves a fortune over professional installation. For those who aren’t as concerned about a brand name model nailer but still want to buy a nailer, this Hardcore Tools flooring nailer makes a compelling case to be your flooring nailer. Here’s the link:
After shipping costs, the Hardcore nailer sells in the mid $200s range, making it significantly cheaper than its brand name competitors. Plus, Amazon doesn’t charge sales tax in many places, making this even less expensive than buying locally. We’re impressed with how well this nailer rates on Amazon — it makes our top nailer pick in our complete hardwood flooring installation tools review.
We’re also impressed that the Hardcore Nailer enjoys relatively high ratings on Amazon (despite the smaller number of ratings compared with other nailers), making this nailer a serious player in the hardwood flooring installation tools arena. We think the Hardcore version makes it appealing to buy a nailer over renting one for larger jobs. You’ll only need to use the nailer on 3-4 days to make up the cost of renting, which is easily accomplished if you’re doing multiple rooms, or plan to loan out the tool to friends and family.
What do you think? Did you rent or buy your flooring nailer? Would you make the same decision in the future?
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