The joy of being a homeowner is being able to do with your house what you will. You can paint walls, hang pictures anywhere you want, and stick an ugly old gnome in your garden. The drawback is that any repairs have to be made or paid for by you. If your experience with tools is limited to what dad had in the back of his closet or what you could borrow from a neighbor, it might be time to gather up a tool chest for yourself.
- Hammer: A good hammer is number one because you’ll find yourself using it a lot. From hanging family photos to pounding a finishing nail into a loose piece of trim.You can also use it to crack nuts open, break open that old rusty padlock that doesn’t have a key anymore, or pound the door to your water heater back into place.
- Phillips and flat head screwdriver combo: The most common type of screw head is the phillips but you may need a flat head from time to time. If you don’t want to invest in a ton of different tools, all in one screwdrivers have heads of all sizes stored in the case for quick changes. If you’re putting bunk beds or bookshelves together, you’ll need a good screwdriver.
- Drill: A simple battery powered hand drill is useful for hanging curtain rods, photos, or drilling a pilot hole. They usually come with a variety of drill bits for most everyday needs.
- Allen wrench set: Almost everyone has a variety of these little L shaped wrenches. If you’ve ever put together a piece of furniture, hung a towel rod, or replaced a doorknob, you’ve used an allen wrench. Loose allen wrenches get lost unless you label each one. Digging through a drawer of them is frustrating. An allen wrench set keeps them all together, making them less frustrating and easy to find.
- Stud finder: No, this is not a clever device to find a hunky handy man. The stud finder helps you find the wooden studs behind your sheet rock. Useful when hanging heavy mirrors or shelves. Anything that needs more support than a half inch of sheetrock can give.
- Measuring tape: For when you need to know what size drapes to purchase or how many inches from the window to hang the hardware.
- Level with a ruler: If you want to hang a shelf, more than one photo frame, or a decoration, the level will give it a professional touch. Nothing looks as sloppy and a row of uneven picture frames.
- Shop vac: There isn’t enough time to list all the wonderful uses of a shop vac. They vaccum both wet and dry. Things that would choke your regular vacuum won’t phase a shop vac; spilled cat food and overflow toilet water are no challenge. But it can also vacuum dusty baseboards, dirty window casings, and dust bunnies from your intake vents.
- Wrench: Wrenches are like having a really strong third hand. If something needs to be loosened or held still while something else is loosened, a wrench is the right tool for the job. In a pinch it can be used in place of a screwdriver when the screw has been stripped.
- Pliers: Also a multi-purpose tool, it’s used for gripping a screw or pulling a nail, or twisting and cutting wires. You’d be amazed how often those things come up.
