Owning a home is one of the greatest personal achievements. Not many people can boast of owning their own homes. However, ownership comes along with the responsibility of maintenance and dealing with issues from time to time. Owning a home translates to the fact that you have to deal with regular home service concerns and can’t call up a landlord to handle them for you.
Buying some essential tools like engraver that can help you with home maintenance and servicing issues is a good strategy. Being your own handyman is efficient and cost-effective, given that the standard rates for repair and maintenance people are in the range of $60-$65 per hour. It is best to avoid emergency plumbing services or maintenance issues, as those will be even more costly. These are some expenses you can do without. The tools of the trade you get in the market today are tremendously efficient and make your life easy while you fix things with ease.
Below are ten tools for homeowners that every homeowner must own.
1. Claw Hammer
Every homeowner should own this for handling minor issues. A claw hammer has a flat head on one side, and on the other side is a V-shaped notch. The flat side comes in handy for pounding or flattening any surface, while the V-shaped side is for yanking or pulling out nails from any surface. It is important to keep in mind that the claw hammer material should be able to handle harsh weather. Another point to keep in mind is that the handle should be designed to ensure that no vibrations travel up to your arm from the hammer. You should read the instructions and use this with care.
2. Screwdriver Set (Manual)
Among the most common issues in a home are the loosening of screws over time in several gadgets, furniture, light fittings, door hinges, and knobs. The list of household issues for which you can use this is endless. A manual screwdriver set with various types of heads comes to your help in such cases from time to time. Calling in help for small repairs is costly as the hourly service charge is not linked to the nature of the job. A screwdriver set can save the day for homeowners. Besides fixing things, this is a utility item to have around your home.
3. Drill
It is advised to buy a cordless drill rather than a corded drill. The battery-powered drill ensures that you don’t need a power socket close enough to the area where you intend to use the drill. Cords are dangerous and may come in the way. The drill happens to be the most commonly needed item in your tool kit. A drill is always needed to make those holes, be it to mount your TV on the wall, fit your doorknob, or hang your art piece on the wall.
4. Staple Gun
At some point or the other, everyone has used this essential tool in their kit. It is a great tool for fastening issues and does a quick and secure job. It is commonly used for retaking your carpet, securing the fabric, and the installation of insulation sheets. If you can afford an electric or pneumatic gun, go for it. Most people go for the manual staple gun as it’s cheaper and cost-effective. Apart from this, it does the job.
5. Tape Measure
This is another much-needed tool for your home. It may seem insignificant to many people, but it is the most missed tool in the kit in its absence. You can buy a manual tape or a digital type. Digital tapes are expensive but have beneficial features like memory function, which allow you to store your measurements for future use. They also come in handy when you are standing on a ladder and are uncomfortable or fumbling to write down measurements.
6. Wrench Set
An Allen wrench is one of the most frequently used tools from your home tool kit. It is a small L-shaped wrench that helps in driving bolts and screws that have hexagonal sockets. It is most commonly used for furniture fittings and comes with build-it-yourself furniture items. However, an Allen wrench can also be used to rectify minor plumbing repair services. You can buy an adjustable wrench set or a set that includes various essential wrenches, whichever works out to be more cost-effective.
7. Nail Gun
As a homeowner, you will need to hammer nails for various reasons. It is essential to have a nail gun in your home tool kit, along with a claw hammer. A nail gun comes in handy, particularly for fitting large ticket items like your kitchen cabinet or building DIY furniture. Hammering nails and using the gun is a cleaner and faster option for large-ticket items. Powered nail guns help in reducing the effort and time needed for installations, and they are not very costly.
Some Tools You Should Avoid Owning
Many homeowners, over time, get excited with do-it-yourself (DIY) concepts and end up purchasing tools that should ideally not be part of your homeowner’s tool kit. The tools that you should avoid as part of your tool kit are heavy-duty sharp ones. A manual or powered saw, circular saw, and hacksaw must be avoided. These tools, though needed, must be handled by professionals as they need to be used with great caution. Every year in the US, there are at least 36,000 emergencies caused by saw injuries.
Other Helpful And Home Improvement Tools
8. Level
Another important tool that can be added to your homeowner’s tool kit is the level. It helps in alignment issues that may arise at the time of hanging an art piece or when mounting your big screen TV on the wall.
9. Multipurpose Knife
These days, many people shop for several home items online, be it a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) furniture kit or gardening tools. These items come in large packaging, and having a cutter, or a multipurpose knife handy, helps in opening the packaging with great ease. It also helps with opening smaller parcels.
10. Plunger
There are several types of plungers available on the market. You can buy the cup plunger, which is among the most commonly used plungers. Homeowners face sink and drain blockages in bathrooms or kitchens. Plungers are effective against such blockages and can be very helpful tools.
Conclusion
The above list is a must as part of your homeowner’s tool kit, as you will need these tools from your kit from time to time. Owning a home is achieving that American dream you set out to conquer. It also means you don’t have to deal with a landlord and the related issues that come with it. Nonetheless, owning a home is a responsible venture, and it means doing a lot of the work yourself. In the end, you will feel more of a sense of well-being as you reward yourself with a home that you can look after on your own.
About The Author
Dan Taylor
Dan is responsible for content marketing and branding at GuestPostBlogging. He writes about topics related to startup naming, branding and entrepreneurship.
