What are some basic tools any homeowner should have on hand?
You have become a homeowner, and you are so excited about it. Until you get everything unpacked, and go to flush your toilet, and it continues to run. Or you walk down into the basement, to find your hot water heater, or a water leak from a brass, copper, or PVC pipe fitting.
If you have the right handy tools around, you would’t need to worry much, because you can simply tighten, replace, or repair the leak. Or any kind of issue you find yourself dealing with at the current moment. However, about 58% of new homeowners under 4 years of ownership, do not even have simple basic hand or power tools around to get a simple job done.
Then you have to get online or in the phone book, and do heavy research, and call all kinds of plumbers who will charge you $99 just to show up, and fix the problem with just a couple simple tools they fetch from their truck. You could have saved all of that money, had you known which tools you should have had. This is why, we did extensive research, used real life situations that have happened to us, or people we asked in our surveys to gather a really good article we think would be very helpful to you. For a small investment, you can have an arsenal of tools at your disposal at the ready, to help you get the job done correctly, and save you money in the process.
Power Tools For At Home
Multi Tools – a multi tool is an oscillating head on a portable power tool that can be used for many different tasks. You can actually get a very good deal on a Skil Multi Tool, Drill, and Light kit right now on Amazon. We chose this to be a very important part of your homeowners tool box, because of how versatile they are. Here are just a few examples of what you can do with a power multi tool:
- Trimming Wood – with the flush cutting tool head mounted on a multi tool, you can cut and chew throw small pieces of wood under a door, cabinet, or wood base to help make something nice and flush.
- Wood Sanding – the multi tool can be fitted with a various array of different sanding heads, to help smooth down a surface you are prepping for paint indoors/outdoors. It does the hard work for you, giving you that same high quality for a fine paint job.
- Plumbing – with the correct cutting blade you can use the multi tool to trim or cut any kind of copper, plumbing, or PVC piping you throw at it. This enables you to remove a pipe with a hole, bust, or damage, and replace it immediately.
- Paint Removal – we all dread a paint job when we have to pay for power spraying or sand blasting to swipe away all old paint products to make room for the new. Attach the steel blade, and let the multi tool you now own do all the hard work for you. You will be back to painting in no time.
- Grout Removal – when replacing any existing grout on tile, brick, etc the multi tool comes to the rescue again. Quickly removing the old, so you can be right back in with the new.
- Crown or Room Moldings — can can safely remove and even cut up any bottom or upper wood moldings to re purpose or reuse at another date.
- Drywall – multi tools can also be used to cut small non invasive holes into drywall. to help with other higher level repairs that will be needed.
Drills are a powerful asset to have on hand whenever you are living in your own home, a camper, or even apartment. It gives you a powerful brute force of driving and removing screws which can be used for many different things such as putting a simple screw in to mount a picture frame, assembling furniture (which you can use hand held screw drivers to do this as well), hanging up drywall if you need to repair a wall, or put doors up, or re-hinge a cabinet door.
Stud Finder – to save yourself hassle and grief down the road, you should always drive screws, nails, or mounting bolts for televisions into a stud. A stud finder easily has a small light or sound indicator telling you the location of the stud, so you do not risk damaging your drywall or expensive items from falling due to poor mounting.
Dremel Tool – From DIY crafts, to custom polishes, or putting finishes on trim pieces, a Dremel tool is a hand power tool that can be used for a variety of different things around the house. Making the creative ideas come to life.
Lawn Mower – Depending on the type of yard size you have, as well as needs, will determine if you need an electric lawn push mower, or a gasoline powered riding mower. As current technology stands, the limits to the run time and size cut an electric lawn mower will do. But most residential neighborhoods have requirements on how tall a homeowners grass can get.
Bench Grinder – To help save money, you can use a bench grinder to sharpen lawn mower blades, grind down froze or rusted bolts or nuts, or any kind of related jobs that could cost money if a third party shop or mechanic would charge, when something so small and handy would save you that much more in time and dollars.
Hand Tools For At Home
I know we speak heavily on here about having power tools but there are just some hand tools you can’t leave behind and you must keep around you at all times.
- Hammer – some repairs will call for wires, screws, and nails. Unless you have already made the investment into a nail gun, you will need a decent hammer to drive those nails for you. Get a decent wooded handle style hammer, because when you start driving in nails, vibrations from the work will make your wrists and hands go into fatigue.
- Screwdriver Set – we are always known for our drills, however in tight corners, or on materials that are softer and delicate, we always need some type of screwdrivers handy.
- Measure Tape – if you need to replace a piece of drywall, wood panel, or anything at all, you guys can always use a measuring tape. Making sure cuts are consistent that goes with replacing drywall, or different types of wood related projects, you will need to know how long of piece each material is going to be. Get an easy and quick answer with a measuring tape.
- Pliers (Needle Nose and Flat Tip Style) – in the moment you need to grip on to a water shut off valve that is stuck, you will be glad you have a pair of pliers ready to help you. Pliers can also be used for bending or straightening certain pieces of metal to help loosen or tighten brake lines on a bike. You can use them to but pieces of thin metal or plastic as well, if you are trying to remove a panel that is attached to you HVAC unit. If you ever need to do any small electrical work, you can also strip wires to make new connections as well.
- Putty Knife and Spackle – If a small hole or any related damage happens to your drywall, or if you have to cut into your drywall for a repair, to close everything back up, you can use spackle and a putty knife to close everything up quickly.
- Level – From installing a television to a shelf, cabinet, or any related item, you need to make sure it is level. You can keep a simple level in your tool bag to make sure the job you are doing is right and on the right level.
- Super Glue – In a pinch, super glue can be a temporary fix if something breaks, or you need to hold something together, until it can be repaired. Its very inexpensive, and can really be a life saver.
- Tool Bag – You need to have one place to keep all of your tools for simple hand tools, so you know where they are at all times, in the event you need to use them.
Conclusion
Being a new or experienced homeowner is a blessing that we all should get to experience one day. Almost all homes should have the very basic tools, if not more on hand, to help keep the household functioning. Nothing is more frustrating than having to wait hours to days for someone to come and perform a repair that you can possibly get done in as little as 30 minutes. Another tip you need to remember, even if you have never, ever done some of the repairs that you could face one day. You have a tool that I even personally use a lot. The internet and YouTube. So many people have collaborated together to put up short, informal, and descriptive videos showing all different kinds of repairs and how to perform them. They tell you what tools or materials you will need, the amount (if the situation is applicable), and the best possible way to execute them. If a situation arises that you are not comfortable with doing at all, then don’t do it. Call a professional or friend to come help you. ToolCrunch.net can not be held liable and this article is strictly for informational purposes only. Purchase and execute home repairs at your own risk.