Thinking about the tools / etc that people should have and will need for home ownership, here is my short list that you’ll eventually need at some point and having the right tool will make it so much easier. Most of these don’t matter on brand, except where I mention brand - like the klien tools. Get these. Don’t rationalize some other POS. I think you can get everything on this list for $100-$200.
I’m sure I missed a few, but these are some of the best thing to have and you will love these when you need them. And you will need them many times over the lifetime of your house.
Can you beat on that with a hammer to get it under a nail that’s wedged into the wood? I can’t tell from the picture. That’s the best thing about a traditional cat’s paw. You can get any nail out of wood.
Oh I have a cat’s paw too. I just had to get the Annihilator a while back. Whenever the wife sees it she asks me when I’m gonna use it. I tell her just wait for the zombie apocalypse. :)
I have been collecting tools such as a drill, stud finder, level, etc so I can plan what I want to do. My first project was to hang a hook in my bathroom for my robe. It went well and was quite easy. It took me an hour to research and 5 minutes to do. I didn’t know if I had to use the included anchors (I didn’t since it was a stud and the included anchors weren’t for drywall anyway), and I didn’t know what all the drill settings were for. I was pretty proud of myself in the end.
Now I want to hang an entryway shelf that has a place for keys, jackets and mail. I also want to hang a couple of plants, but stud/joist finding has become the bane of my existence. My entryway I can find one definite stud. My electric finder shows it and my magnetic one finds the nails (although if you compare the two the nails are in the edge of where the electronic finder sees it). The electric finder sees a stud 17" from the first one. The magnetic one doesn’t find anything in the area. Its a small dividing wall when you walk in, on the other side is the kitchen, so it’s not a real wall. I am hesitant to try to hang anything on that wall now.
The ceiling is a mess. I think I found joists with my magnetic finder, they are 20" apart, but its really erratic and there isn’t always something where I expect it. Plus it is finding nails where there shouldn’t be (like within an inch of the nail that is what I think is in the joist. The electronic finder is worthless on the ceiling, it’s detecting all sorts of things up there, flashing, or changing as I move it. So in the end I have been not brave enough to drill into my ceiling.
Next month I am going to get some shelves for my cats. That should be fun (cat shelves are expensive!).
I find studs by tapping on the drywall with a hammer & listening to the sound. The pitch changes when you get over a stud. Then I do a probe/confirm with a really skinny nail to see if I got it.
I built a workbench this weekend. It’s the first major, non-catapult woodworking project I’ve done. In spite of the appearance of success, I had a lot of trouble with non-square cuts, and it’s not altogether clear to me how to do better.
I tried taping to find studs, using where I know where a stud is and where one isn’t. I could sort of hear the difference, but not enough to make me confident where I wasn’t sure.
Those videos just confirm my confusion. Plastic anchors I read are not for drywall, and yet you see them used a lot in the videos/articles like the two above. I guess for the entryway thing I could go with one of the stronger anchors, but I am really unsure of the whole weight limit thing. Especially when hanging a plant from the ceiling, it really seems like I need a joist for that.
Your first mistake is assuming that the boards you get from the borg are straight (borg is ‘big orange retail giant’). The second thing is welcome to woodworking. I built my first living room couch and entertainment system with nothing but a 7 1/2" craftsman circular saw, a router and a straight edge.
For cutting square plywood, In the absence of a tablesaw, you need a long straight edge, that you know is straight and clamps to clamp it to the work surface. Then you need to measure the diagonals. if the diagonals are equal, you will have a square.
For cutting 2x4’s and what not, nothing beats a miter saw. In the absence of a miter saw, I recommend a speed square.
Does anybody have any thoughts about owning a drain snake/auger? I have some slow moving drains that seem like they could use a little maintenance. Is there any reason (for standard home use) that you’d need anything more than a very basic hand operated one? Is it something that’s worth owning? I feel like there was always one in my garage as a kid, but I don’t recall it ever being used.
I have one of these & use it whenever a sink, bathtub or shower drain is not draining fast. It’s always an accumulation of hair & soap and whatever else comes off your body that will accumulate into the biggest and slimiest hairball you can imagine.
I also have a hand-cranked metal one, about 20 feet long. It is really slimy and gross after snaking out a drain and needs a lot of cleaning after use and some oiling to keep the rust away. If I didn’t already have one, I’d most likely have a small one that I wouldn’t mind throwing away after use and rent a big powered one on the rare occasions I’d need something bigger.
For the bathtub, I highly recommend one of these.
My girlfriend has very long hair, and it’s amazing how much this screen catches after a shower. What’s even more amazing is that before we started using these, the drain never clogged up. Instead I’d have to regularly pull the hair out from that little metal cross-piece that sits in the bottom of the drain. This little screen makes things so much easier. Sure, you’ve got to clean it after each shower, but it takes just a few seconds.
