Lifehacker points to a MSN Real Estate piece listing the 15 tools every homeowner should own. I’m working on a longer article about home workshops, but this is a good introduction to the subject.
If you don’t have a handyman in your family and don’t have a clue where to begin when it comes to assembling a proper home-repair tool kit, there’s good news: For $200, you can buy 90% of all the tools you’ll ever need to repair and maintain your home.
The article lists fifteen essential items and six “nice-to-haves”. The essentials are:
- Toolbox (~$30): You don’t even need to spend money on a toolbox. We use a cheap Rubbermaid tub that Kris picked up for a couple bucks.
- Hammer (~15): The article recommends a rubber grip, but I prefer a wooden handle.
- Pry bar (~$15): I didn’t have one of these at the old house — I have two now (of different sizes).
- Vise-grips (~$10)
- Needle-nose pliers (~$8)
- Screwdriver set (~$20)
- Wire cutter/stripper (~$10): I think this is optional, depending on your house. We didn’t own a wire cutter at our first house (a 20-year-old ranch) but it’s essential at our current house (a 100-year-old farm house).
- Tape measure (~$4)
- Electrical tester (~$2): I don’t think this is essential — I’ve never owned one — but it’s cheap.
- Reversible drill with bit set (~$40): I strongly agree with the article’s evaluation — “although stores are filled with cordless varieties, stick with a corded model: they’re lighter, cheaper, and never run out of juice”.
- 1/2-inch steel chisel (~$10): Again, I’ve never needed one of these, so I don’t think it’s “essential”.
- Utility knife (~$4)
- Handsaw (~$15)
- 9-inch torpedo level (~$9)
- Safety glasses (~$6)
The nice-to-haves are:
- 7-1/4 inch circular saw (~$80): I don’t have one of these, but that’s only because I inherited my father’s table saw.
- Electronic stud finder (~$10)
- Carpenter’s square (~$6)
- Random orbital sander (~$55): I have never had a need for one of these.
- Staple gun (~$17)
- Clamps (~$2-$40)
I’ll share more detailed thoughts on stocking a home workshop later this spring. One note: you can often find excellent high-quality tools for cheap at garage sales. For similar information, check out stocking the ultimate toolbox: every tool a homeowner will ever need at Curbly.
[MSN Real Estate: The 15 tools every homeowner should own]
This article is about DIY, House and Home
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I’ve never done much home wiring, but I find myself messing around with electrical and audio components enough that I splurged recently on a pair of wire strippers. Boy, what a difference. SO much easier than stripping wires with the little blades on needle-nose pliers, or worse, just a razor blade or pocketknife (which I’ve done many times). The first time that I rearranged my speakers made it worth the price.
I also agree with the corded drill. I’ve never seen a cordless drill with as much “oomph” as the cheap corded ones…. and the ones that look like they do have batteries the size of my head. Yes, eventually I want both, but for now a corded one works just fine.
My next toolbox purchase is the toolbox itself. For now my stuff is just sitting in a drawer. For no good reason, I want a sturdy metal one like my dad always had in the garage. Nothing huge, but big enough to keep everything except for the power tools inside.
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Good recommendations! I have all those “essentials” (and I got the electrical tester for free after a mechanic left his in my car’s engine compartment!). I would add the stud-finder to the essentials if you have sheetrock or plaster walls. One note about larger, more expensive tools: look into renting them or sharing them with neighbors. When I lived in Vermont, my neighbors and I shared larger tools like rototillers, heavy-duty winches, and even chain saws. Sharing doesn’t always work out if more than one family needs a given tool at once, or if one person tends to hog a tool or mistreats it, but it makes sense for items that are used rarely. My landlord had a cider press that he let me use, so every September I’d invite my neighbors to come with apples from their trees and we made many gallons of cider. Much more efficient than everyone having their own cider press, plus it was a good excuse to have a party.
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Owning rental houses and renovating them myself, a cordless drill is a necessity though I do have a corded one as well.
If you’re only going to have a corded drill, though, you NEED to add an extension cord to this list of essential tools.
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Vicegrips are the most destructive tool ever. I can’t count all the times I’ve encountered mangled, unremovable nuts and bolts from some idiot who wrecked them with a visegrip. If you can’t afford a socket wrench set, get a crescent wrench.
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Channel Locks: I would consider these just as useful as vise grips.
Drill: If you get a good cordless drill it is worthy every penny. I bought a rigid for ~150 and I love it. I should also add that I own another cordless drill, a corded drill, and a cordless screw driver. Once you use a good cordless drill with two batteries so that you can keep one charged you will never go back. It’s so much easier and less of a hassel to grab the drill and a battery than to drag out the extension cord and then drag it around and put it back. That is with the cavet that you aren’t trying to put holes in brick or concrete, thats about the only time my corded drill gets used.
Circular Saw: I own a table saw and a circular saw, they both have their uses. I sitll use my circular saw, it easier since it’s smaller and more portable. It also gets a lot of use cutting down sheet goods for use on the table saw.
Wire stripper: Waste of money, just get a good set of dikes “Diagonal Cutters” and you have a wire cutter and stripper. It just takes a little bit of practice but I can cut and strip a wire as small the wires in a Cat5.
Electrical tester: Get a multimeter, they have a lot more uses than just around the house.
Clamps: You can never have enough clamps, especially if you work alone much.
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In my opinion, an electrical tester is an absolute MUST. A digital multimeter (to read voltage, resistance, etc.) would be ideal, but at the very least, a circuit tester is needed. It’s critically important that you VERIFY that the power is off at a switch, socket, or outlet before you try any maintenance or replacement!
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I agree with absolutely EVERYTHING “25″ said above.
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Just out of curiosity, for those of us just starting out, would any of you recommend an all-inclusive tool-kit that you can buy at Sears (or similar store) or would you recommend putting together your own tool collection? Which would be the most cost-effective?
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I am astonished that a caulk gun is not on there. In my days of Home Warranty for a “big” builder, nearly 70% of home owner negligence / damage issues were caused because they didn’t maintain their caulking, whether it be around windows, tubs, sinks, counter tops or stucco siding.
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What about a level???
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Maybe it’s not considered a tool, but I think that a ladder is also a must! How else can you clean your gutters, or fix shingles on the roof?
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I’m shocked to see that safety glasses are on the list, but not working gloves. If you’re not big into DIY/repair, even just a pair of regular gardening gloves would come in handy so you don’t work your hands to death (like I used to do).
And if you ever foresee the need to do any work on electrical part of your house, an electrical tester is a MUST and downright non-negotiable.
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Y’all just wait. I’ve been working on a “guide to a DIY home workshop” for the past couple months. Now, it’s probably not as good as two months work would warrant, but it’ll be more complete than *this* list.
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All that, and a good plumber’s snake, too.
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Go to Big Lots for all these. I got the hammer for about $4, the pry bar for $2.
On the corded vs. cordless drill, just buy a backup battery. I take my drill everywhere and would be SOL if it had a cord.
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Concerning the comments on vise grips and channel locks, the key is to use them properly. Using them instead of a wrench is not what they are made for. They will round off the flats on a bolt or a nut very quickly. Recently I had a ready made “opportunity” for what I consider a proper use of vise grips when I had a small drill bit break off when I was drilling a pilot hole for screwing two pieces of oak together. With the vise grip I was able to clamp down on the piece of the bit still in the wood and back it out, which, since it was in oak, would have been almost impossible with pliers.
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[...] Over at Get Rich Slowly, a great article about DIY related to your home has been posted. He has the 15 tools every homeowner should own. I’m happy to say that we own all but two of them. I actually have doubles of a few of them – and I think even three circular saws. That’s the product of a Father who loves pawn shops and my DH not knowing exactly what to buy. LOL Some of the comments at JDs also point out items like a level, ladder and a caulk gun. We don’t have a ladder but have honestly not had a need for one yet. Well this year we have since our house is a two story, but we don’t have gutters, so I suppose there is not real pressing need. [...]
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Hello J.D.
These tools are great, thank you for sharing the information and I will be waiting for your article on home work shops.
P.S. J.D. I commented here few days ago but seems like it didn’t get your approval..I hope this it will get….
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I got a metal toolbox. Was able to get it on sale after salivating after it for months. The chief advantage of the metal toolbox is that I can keep matches in it, safely.
I don’t trust resin toolboxes. They always pinch my fingers, and sooner or later, they will crack.
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I have two words for you: Toilet plunger.
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I’ve found really cheap tools (new and used) at the local country flea market. Some were just $1 new.
My must have tool is a strap wrench (one of my $1 finds). My husband uses his for plumbing mostly. I use mine to open jars
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For weather to buy a pre-made kit, or make your own: It depends. Sometimes you can get a better deal one way, or the other. If you’re on your own, and not quite sure what to get, go ahead and get the pre-made. Overtime, you can replace the tools you use frequently with better (trust me, they’ll be better), higher quality tools, and those ones will be worth their weight.
A side note: Craftsman’s handtools have a LIFETIME guarantee, no matter WHO brings them in: My grandfather would buy mangled, beat up craftsman’s, take them into Sears, & they would just give him a new one off the shelf. That is why i have to suggest Craftsman’s handtools to my friends & neighbors when they’re ready to step-up from their kits.
I have to agree that safty glasses & gloves should be on there. :[
@Catherine: A torpedo level is a level.
Just smaller.
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I’ve renoted 3 houses now. (Respectively, 85, 46 & 45 years old at time of purchase). If you’re doing older home reno/flips, I’d add.
Painting trays, roller covers, handles, brushes and drop clothes.
Wall paper stripper. NOT a “Paper Tiger” because it chews up the plaster or drywall too much.
Good hearing protectors of your choice. Wear ‘em whenever you run power equipment.
Respirator with appropriate cartridges for whatever you’re handling.
Gloves, specific for whatever nasty stuff you handle (e.g. paint strippers, naptha, et al.).
Miniture screwdrivers, regular screwdrivers.
One set of high quality drill bits, countersinks, masonry bits, driver bits, sockets and whatnot. If you “splurge” on this and get a set that’s good-high quality, you can buy it all together in a case. This makes it easier to see what you’ve got, what’s not in it’s place, etc.
Adjustable wrenches.
I probably have other “necessities” in my tool box. Truth is I’ve done practically everything on these houses, so you might not need a pipe cutter, but if you get into re-piping a house or doing your own bathroom reno, then spending a few dollars on one is worth it.
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Great list, but to add my 2 cents…..
I’ve been working that Craftsman angle for years. Whenever my wife drags me out to yardsales, its something I ALWAYS keep an eye open for.
Also, for cheap tools.. check out pawn shops. TONS of wrenches, screwdrivers, sockets (especially great when you’ve misplaced that 5/8″ wrench from your set and always seem to need it but don’t want to buy another whole set). They always have lots of power tools too! Just make sure to turn them on before buying!
Every few months the big box DIY stores always seem to have a sale on a cordless power tool set. With a $10 off coupon and a sale I was able to get an 18v Ryobi cordless drill, circular saw, palm sander and flashlight (with charger and 2 batteries) for $110. i’ve used some weak cordless tools before but the 18v one I bought can handle 95% or the drilling/cutting/sanding I’ve done in my house the past 3 years. Keep your eyes open for combo deals like this.
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Another great place to find tools is thrift stores run by non-profits. You can find any landscaping tool there. I have found tools in great condition like shovels, rakes and even a lawnmower.
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1. Hammer (for use in extreme circumstances)
2. Plunger (sinks, toilets)
3. Screwdrivers * 2 + phase tester
4. Pencil
5. Measure
6. Level
7. Grips
8. Pliers
9. Patience
10. Luck
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I would also add some type of organization system. I recently put up a pegboard in the garage, getting all of my hand tools off of the floor and the various places they were hiding, and out of the toolbox.
When I did this, I realized that I had purchased duplicates of many hand tools, as I would start a new project and not remember that I already had a certain tool. I now have two identical prybars and far more screwdrivers and drillbits than I need.
The pegboard might not be a great solution depending on how much space you have (though it could just as easily go in the back of a closet as in the garage), but it was a good investment for me.
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