If you own your own home there will be times where you need to make modifications or repairs to your property. Some jobs will simply be too small for calling out a trades person or you may be the type of person who prefers to fix it yourself where you can. As such, you need a few basic power tools on hand which can make repairing and improving your home a little easier. Some things you will need almost immediately, for example drills, as their versatility means that you will be using them in some capacity on most DIY tasks. Others such as circular saws can probably be left until you need them. Others such as multi-tools are completely optional.
Drills
First up is the drill. The most popular power tool, they are also the most versatile. With the right attachments and bits a drill can perform many secondary tasks in addition to drilling. With a sanding attachment the drill can be used as a power sander. While not as good as a dedicated power sander, it will be more than sufficient for most household tasks unless you intended to be doing a lot of wood working. Any drill with a reverse gear and variable speed is able act as a powered screwdriver which can drive a screw much deeper and tighter than by hand. A drill can be adapted to a number of other tasks in addition to those listed above.
If you intend to do any work on exterior walls then a drill with a hammer function is a must as this allows the drill to work on masonry. You will also need masonry drill bits which may need to be purchased separately from the drill. These are relatively inexpensive but necessary as standard wood working bits are unsuited to drilling into masonry and may snap or shatter potentially causing a hazard.
If you intend to do most of your work indoors than a less powerful drill with a driver function may be more suited as these are better at working as a power screwdriver.
There are also angle drills available which are suited to working in tight restricted locations such as under cupboards or near pipes and other obstacles. This is achieved by having the drill head at a 90 degree angle to the main body of the drill. They are lighter and smaller than standard drills making them more convenient for closed in work.
Which drill you need depends upon your circumstances and it may be a good idea to consider getting more than one drill for example an inexpensive hammer drill for doing any masonry work as they can be quite affordable with decent ones starting at around £30 and having a lighter angle drill with driver function for use in awkward places and for use as a powered screwdriver.
If you only have the budget or storage space for one drill then we would recommended a mid hammer drill with variable speed and reverse gear so it can still act as a powered screwdriver though not as efficiency as a drill with the driver function would.
Saws
If you need to do any wood repairs than a powered saw is a good thing to have there are three types of powered saw that can be useful in the home tool kit.
The first is the Jigsaw the smallest of the power saws which is great for working with light materials such as MDF or cutting through thin pieces of wood. They need to cut with the grain as they typically do not have sufficient power to work against the grain. They are however very good at cutting straight lines and are capable of cutting curves into the wood and cutting along a pattern a jigsaw should be on light woods and light materials they are light weight and the easiest of the saws to handle. The Jigsaw is intended to do fine detailed finishing work. It is a good tool to have around when you need to do general cutting on light woods.
Circular saws are much more heavy duty and can tackle very thick pieces of wood and can cut with or against the grain they are made to cut on flat surfaces it is difficult to work with them when cutting at angles. They can take blades suitable for cutting metal. They are mainly used for cutting straight precise lines they can also cut wide curves but others saws a better at doing that type of work they are made for working on heavy materials.
Reciprocating saws are the most versatile of the saws they are able to cut wood, metals and other materials dependent upon which blades are used. It is designed for cutting curves in thick woods and materials. A Reciprocating saw is able to cut at any angle and is excellent at cutting curves and other patterns It is however difficult to cut straight lines with the Reciprocating saw so it is best to use it in combination with another saw when working on larger complex jobs such as preparing and cutting down to size items such as table tops for counters. The reciprocating saws ability to cut metals such as pipes makes it useful when working on tasks such as plumbing or car body work repair.
Probably the first saw to get would be the jigsaw for general work it is useful to have around the more heavy duty circular saw can be purchased as you are preparing to do heavier work. The reciprocating saw to is an optional choice to allow for more heavy duty general work you can get by without a reciprocating saw by using a combination of the circular saw and jigsaw but if you are going to be doing a lot of DIY projects that require cutting tools or you need to cut patterns into metals than a reciprocating saw will be useful and is worth considering if not the circular saw and jigsaw should be more than sufficient for most people's needs.
Nailers
Nailers, or nail guns, are a useful but not essential tool to have in the home they can make jobs like putting up sheds or garden furniture much easier as they are able to drive nails into materials much deeper, more consistently and more secure than you could by hand. They allow for a much better build quality for your DIY projects they won't replace your hammer but it will make some projects quicker and easier. Some nailers also feature a stapler facility allowing it to act as a powered stapler allowing it even more versatility and usefulness.
Angle Grinders
Angle grinders feature a circular disk which can be used to cut through or grind down metals they are useful if you will be working with a lot of metal when used with a more precise cutter such as a reciprocating saw. Angle grinders can be used to cut and wear metals down to size as well as remove rust. Most of the time an angle grinder will not be needed unless you are intending to undertake major metal work projects such as car repair or are working with sheet metals. The angle grinder is a tool which should not be purchased till absolutely needed as it is pretty limited in its applications and is rarely needed in general DIY.
Multi-tools
Multi tools are small hand held precision tools that can be used for a wide verity of applications such as very light precision drilling, light sanding, light polishing and buffing of metals cutting of light metals such as copper piping as well as knife sharpening and with the right attachments engraving. Multi-tools are designed to be extremely versatile with many different attachments there are a large number of tasks the multi-tool can be adapted to as needed. The multi-tool is useful as both a DIY tool and also as a support for many hobbies such as those involving electronics, scaled metal work or miniature modelling for example.
Hot Air Guns
Hot air guns are primarily used for paint stripping and are mainly used in supporting decorating. They are able to make light work of all types and thickness of paint making its removal a much less time consuming chore allowing you to clean the surface quickly before applying new paint fresh without the previous coats of paint interfering with your current paint job. Hot air guns can also be used for other tasks thawing frozen pipes for example. If you intend to do a lot of decorating than a hot air gun will be very useful.
Steam wall paper strippers
Wall paper strippers are another labour saving device for decorating allowing the quick and efficient removal of all wall papers including those that feature heavy patterns. Because of the frequency that we redecorate our homes a wall paper stripper is one of the tools after the drill that we should not really be without as while its task can be completed by hand it is far more efficient to use a stripper than to perform the task by hand. As an added bonus wall paper strippers can be used to deep clean carpets and may be able to get some stains that refuse to come out using chemical cleaners.
So what do you need?
On our list of tools the most essential objects are the basic drills, jigsaws and circular saws as well as wall paper strippers as these will allow you to get the most common DIY and decorating tasks done. Since decorating usually follows many major DIY projects, and is a DIY project in its own right, we thought it best to include them in our list of household tools. These basic tools can be purchased for as little as £100-150 if you go for the most basic models.
Other tools such like angle drills, reciprocating saws, multi-tools, hot air guns and nailers can be lived without, but make life much easier and it may be a good idea to consider adding at least some of them to your tool kit when you are able. Probably giving priority to the angle drill and reciprocating saw.
Finally some tools such as the angle grinder only really need purchasing when you absolutely need them of course if you find one in a set of tools that includes other things which you can use or you see a good deal don't let that put you off from buying it early.
Cordless or Corded
One more decision to be made before you purchase your power tools is do you want any of your tools to be cordless as all types of drills, saws, nailers and angle grinders have battery powered cordless versions available. The choice between cordless and corded is partly practical and partly personal. While cordless tools have less overall operating power than there corded counterparts the difference in modern cordless tools is not as big as it once was and a cordless power tool should be able to perform all of the tasks a corded tool is able to. Unless you absolutely need every last bit of operating power out of your drill the power difference should not be that much of an issue.
What is an issue is the advantages and disadvantages of each type of power supply. With a corded drill you have an unlimited run time provided you do not overheat the drill. However this is at the cost of having to stay within close proximity of a power socket and having a trailing power cord that can get in the way.
While cordless power tools can go anywhere and allow for a slightly tidier working environment with more overall freedom of movement. The cost is that your working time is limited to the life of the battery which can be inconvenient if you do not prepare and plan for the option. One final problem is that rechargeable batteries do wear out eventually necessitating the purchasing of replacements as such it is recommended that you purchase cordless tools that come from a manufacturer that uses the same battery type consistently across its power tools range to ensure that even if you drill becomes discontinued your battery won't be.
If you do purchase a cordless tool it is recommended that you look for one that comes with 2 batteries to help with this problem if you cannot find a set that comes with a second battery you can always swap when one runs out and have it charge while you work so you always have a replacement when you need it. Additionally if you get more than one cordless tool from the same manufacturer you will be able to have more batteries available for use helping alleviate the problem further.
The real choice between cordless and corded drills is which is more important the ability to work for longer or the ability to work anywhere. This decision is partially made for you by the layout of the home if you have a home with good socket coverage and a small garden than corded power tools will be suitable. Whereas if you have a large garden where you wish to work on a lot of garden furniture or you home has poor socket coverage than cordless tools will be suitable. Of course that is not the only factor in the decision as cordless tools can be more convenient due to the lack of wire.
One final thing to note is that there are cost differences such as typically cordless tools do cost more than corded tools as such price is a factor in the decision between corded and cordless tools. This is especially true if you wish to get a lot of tools at once you may find that it is better to make a compromise and get a mix of corded and cordless tools in order to ensure that you can get everything that you want/need
Look for the best deals
When shopping for your tools be sure to look around and consider what you get with the tool that you wish to purchase look for extras such as additional bits and pieces like extra blades/drill bits/attachments, carry cases, extra batteries in the case of cordless tools. Many of these extras can be very useful in your DIY tasks and can be good value for money over purchasing them separately.
Another value for money options looking for sets of power tools. Some stores offer many of their tools as part of bundles which are very good value for money containing two or three tools that complement each other and give very good value for money. On most sets you can save at least 20-30% of the cost of buying the tools separately on larger sets you can save enough for multiple tools.
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