Buying your own house and lot does not end with purchasing and acquiring the property title. Improvements are continuous and need the proper tools. Obviously, even if you are just a homeowner, you need to have a toolbox set. Imagine yourself calling a handyman or carpenter just to drill a hole on your wall to hang a painting or picture frame. Seems unrealistic, right? Every homeowner or maybe at least one of your house members must have a general knowledge on fixing simple home problems. This knowledge will not be viable without the proper basic hand tools. For newbies, you are in the right guide to start establishing your toolbox set. Here is a list of the 10 must-have tools that should be readily available in every home.
Basic Must-Haves for Your Toolbox Set
1. Set of Screwdrivers
This is the top in the list as many furniture use screws. Electronics like appliances and gadgets use screws as well. Having a set of screwdrivers of different types will help you with the basic troubleshooting or simple fixes like tightening of screws or disassembly in case you need to clean the inner portion of some of your electronics.
2. Drill
This might be often overlooked in every toolbox set as this is the most expensive basic tool to have. Obviously, drills are useful for making holes on your walls like when you need to hang a picture frame or painting. But it does not end there, wall mounting electronics like TV and speakers or furnishings like floating shelves are becoming popular nowadays as space-saving methods. A drill might be expensive, but it is a good investment because it opens you to greater possibilities of your DIY home works and fixes.
3. Tape Measure
For your DIY activities, measurements are often done especially when you want to measure the proper distance of the holes to be drilled on your walls or when you want to make DIY woodworks. A self-retracting tape measure made of metal should be on your toolkit for different measurement jobs at your home.
4. Set of Wrenches
These are popularly used in plumbing jobs because most of the tightening fasteners in plumbing are nuts and bolts. These types of fasteners can only be adjusted using wrenches. However, some furniture like cabinets utilize nuts as its fastener so having a set of wrenches at home will save you in times that you need to assemble a newly purchased furniture for your home.
5. Pliers
Needle-nose, slip-joint, and cutting pliers are the common pliers that you should have at home. Pliers are useful for simple electrical works at home like fixing your light switches, changing broken electrical cables or for tightening, bending and loosening metal elements. Another underrated purpose of pliers is its ability to be utilized as grip equipment especially for small parts of an electronic or furniture.
6. Hammer and Mallet
Usually, these are used for pounding nails or extracting such on woodworks. Hammers can be used for a demolition work but having a mallet would be more fit for this purpose. In cases, that you need to press or hammer things lightly, a rubber mallet would be more appropriate to avoid breakage on the thing to hammered.
7. Level
Worried about the alignment of your floating shelves? Or your hanging cabinet? Maybe the alignment of your TV? This might be the other tool every home must have. With level, alignment of furnishings is easier. You do not have to call your house members to check if what you are hanging needs to be tilted to the left or right side for a perfect alignment.
8. Utility Knife
This is a multipurpose cutting tool for every household. This is very handy, sharp and excellent for precision cutting. Sometimes, a pair of scissors is not enough to cut edges of plastics and woods. It leaves unnecessary parts at times but with a utility knife, it gets the job done with just a swipe.
9. Crosscut Saw
This might be the least useful among the listed tools but having such would be beneficial in situations where you want to start a DIY project. A crosscut saw is a cutting tool for wood. You might never see its use at first but when you are creative enough this is a nice tool to have. Remember, some furniture might not be fixable, but it can be transformed into another masterpiece. With a proper cutting tool, there will be more possibilities of maximizing the use of your broken furniture at home.
10. Safety Gear
Eye protector, gloves, and ear protectors might be the basic safety gears you must have in your tool kit. When doing simple fixes at home like pushing a nail or drilling jobs, you might need an eye protector to prevent the particles from coming to your eyes. Gloves, particularly made with cloth, are useful when doing electrical work as this is a non-conductor that protects you from electric shock. Ear protectors are useful also when you are sensitive to loud noises like when you do drill jobs at home.
Other Must-Have in Your Toolbox Set
The 10 tools cited above are the foundation of establishing the perfect toolkit for your home. However, there are also other things or accessories that you can add on your kit to save the hassle of going to the hardware and speeding up the fix of simple problems at home.
1. Set of Screws and Nails
Having a spare set of screws and nails will surely give you convenience. In case you need to hang something on the wall, having a standby set of screws or nail will enable you to hang your stuff without a problem. If some of your furniture lost a screw or its joints lost its connection or are not well intact, having a set of screws simplifies and speeds up the repair of your furnishings.
2. Different Types of Tape
Duct tape, scotch tape, masking tape, packaging tape and blue tape are the common tapes used at home. Having a supply of each will help you for DIY activities needing a temporary adhesive. Each type has different purpose and level of adhesion so it must be properly utilized to maximize its purpose and prevent breakage of materials during your DIY activities.
3. Multipurpose Adhesive Substance
Not all fixes at home can be done using screws or nails. Some might need adhesive substances. Having a multi-purpose adhesive that works on metals, PVCs, woods, and ceramics will be beneficial. Not all broken furnishings or ornaments should be thrown away especially those fragile ones. The repair might be like combining puzzle pieces but with great patience and a multipurpose adhesive, it gives a new life to a fragile furnishing.
A Necessity for Every Home
Purchasing a hose might come with amenities like a resident handyman in case of condominiums. Although, it might not be practicable to call a handyman for simple works like tightening of screws or hanging of frames. Having proper tools at home gives you savings on calling experts for simple home repairs and fixes. Remember, maintenance and improvements must be made to your homes to sustain its beauty and function. In addition, for many homeowners, customization is a huge part in providing the maximum convenience. With this, an appropriate toolbox set gives you more freedom in your DIY activities because everything is available around you without the need to call a handyman. This might be a fun trivia for everyone. Many handyman and expert woodworkers started with doing DIY activities. You never know where your DIY activities may take you. You might be the next big furniture maker in the country or the best handyman in your area. Regardless of such, having the basic knowledge on doing simple house fixes saves you a lot of hassle and makes your life more convenient and sustainable.
