Owning your own home can be a very rewarding experience for most people. The ability to change things around, add some decorations here, knock out a wall there; it’s all part of the joy of home ownership. But with all the joys also come the repairs. Our homes break down and we either fix things ourselves or hire someone to do it for us. In these lean economic times, more and more homeowners are deciding to learn to do it themselves. If you’re one of us you’ll need some tools to get going, and we’ve got some suggestions for a starter set.
If you’ve never done your own repairs or upgrades in the past, it’s best to start out slowly. Remodeling your bathroom will be too overwhelming if you’ve never done something as simple as replacing a doorknob. For these “starter” projects you’ll need to have some basic hand tools. You’ll need some screw drivers, both flat-head and fillips-head, and make sure you have a long and short handled of each. You should also get a pair of standard pliers and a pair of needle nose pliers (a.k.a. long nose pliers). A hammer is essential of course, along with a tape measure, utility knife, hole punch, and yes, that most famous of all “man tools”, duct tape. It may be the butt of many jokes, but duct tape is great for so many uses it’s almost unimaginable.
Duct tape isn’t appropriate for permanent repairs, but it works very well in a pinch. Finally in this category of hand tools, you’d do well to get a basic set of wrenches in both metric and Imperial, or a decent socket set. These basic tools are not great for minor home renovations, but they come in handy when assembling book shelves, baby furniture Toronto, computer desks, and any other type of wood furniture in need of assembly. Multi-purpose oil is also a good thing to have around if a bolt is rusty and refuses to budge.
There are a couple of power tools that should be considered as part of a starter set, but you don’t need to spend and arm and a leg for the most expensive models. Remember, this is a starter set. There’s plenty of time to upgrade in the future. The first of the power tools is a drill. You don’t need variable speeds just to tap some holes for the aforementioned door knob. Just a simple, single speed, low power drill is sufficient. A power saw is another good addition, but stay away from the table saw or circular saw for now. Start with a simple jig saw. You can do a lot with it for a relatively small amount of money.
As you get comfortable with your skills and learn more about home renovations, you’ll most certainly want to expand our tool box. That’s great! But remember one simple rule when buying tools: the best tool for the job is the one that gets the job done right, at the best price. The money spent on unnecessary features, or gadgets that won’t be used, is money you could be putting back into our home.
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