Bah, it's not that bad. Sure, it takes a little practice, but it's pretty easy to do once you get the hang of it. Then again, I have the color order burned into my brain at this point, so maybe I forget how tough it was the first few times I did it.


You can get an SDS hammer drill for about $90, and non-SDS for as low as $30 in some places I'm looking. I may have missed it, but have you mentioned how thick your floor is? If you don't have to go too far you won't need the kind of long bits you can get with SDS drills. You'll still be able to find some pretty long bits, though. I think I have one that's 12", which I sometimes need to get through cinderblock plus plaster or drywall.

I have this cordless drill that does the job. It's not just a hammer drill, but works as a normal drill too. I use it for everything around the house, and it's essentially replaced the standard cordless drill I had before this one. Just tonight I installed a baby gate on our stairs (toddlers are scary) and used that to make the pilot holes. I guess if you already have a drill it's silly to get a hammer drill, but it might be a good time to upgrade the drill you have for features like brushless, cordless, etc.