A-Z Tool Guide for Homeowners | |
If you are a homeowner and intend to do all or most of your own home maintenance chores, you'll need a fairly extensive tool chest. While we cannot anticipate every possible need, the following list is a reasonably complete roundup of the most common tools you'll buy, along with tips for using the tools. Here is the start of a list of standard tools you will need: CAULK GUN -- An obvious must tool for applying caulks, but keep in mind that the most recent new product developments for making repairs in concrete, asphalt, and roofing also are caulk-tube products. CHALK LINE-- Consists of a teardrop-shaped chalk box, a mason's string, and a handle on the side of the box for rewinding the string (line). You can buy powdered chalk at the tool shop and refill the chalk box. Then, when you pull the line out of the chalk box it is coated with chalk. You should either have a helper hold the pull on the end of the line or (if working alone) drive a temporary nail in the workpiece to clip the end to. Now, position the extended chalk line between the two points where you want a mark or cutline. With the chalk line pulled tight between the two points, and laying lightly on the material you want to mark, you pick up the line at some point between the ends, and let go of the line. The taut line will snap back against the material and leave a straight line, marked by chalk dust, on the material. The problem is that the line often leaves a heavy layer of chalk dust, and the chalk is messy. It gets on your clothes, hands, and materials where you don't want the chalk dust. If you leave excess chalk on wallboard, for example, it may be picked up in your latex or other paint, and be carried all over the wallboard surface by the paint roller. Or, if you use the chalk line to mark the walls for installing a suspended ceiling, you will invariably get the chalk on your hands and spread it over the acoustic ceiling panels. TIP: Pull the chalk line out of the box and, holding the line in the air and away from any object you don't want marked, snap the line so the excess chalk flies off into midair. There will still be enough chalk left on the line to leave a mark, but not enough to make a mess on everything. CHISELS -- Accidents happen when you try to force a dull tool to cut. Keep a fine grinding wheel handy and keep chisels sharp. Don't use the wood chisel for any purpose but cutting wood. Use a wood or plastic mallet to drive wood chisels. Don't drive a cold chisel (or any driven tool) with a carpenter's hammer: use a ball-peen or machinist's hammer. CIRCULAR SAW-- Buy a circular saw that can take a 6-1/2 in. blade. This size is large enough to cut through nominal 2 in. stock (2x4s, etc.) when the saw is set at a 45 degree miter. Check the saw for weight and ease of handling before you buy it. Keep a sharp blade in the saw. Circular saw blades are made with teeth designed for ripping (cutting with the wood grain), or for crosscutting (cutting across the wood grain) or you can buy a combination blade that is a compromise for all-around use. A combination blade will do for most homeowners because they are not doing that much ripping, and they don't like to be changing blades that often. For paneling, however, buy and use the multi-tooth paneling blades. The fine-tooth blades eliminate splintering of the face ply on paneling. Never force a circular saw (or any power tool). The side pressure when you force a saw puts pressure on the motor shaft and bearings. You can buy circular saw blades for cutting almost any material, from steel to stone. TIP: Invest apout $30 in a top-of-the-line, carbide-tipped saw blade. These offer long blade life and can be used for 90 percent of home projects. CLAMPS -- A variety of clamps are available for holding wood or other materials together while waiting until glue sets, or while drilling holes, for example. Common spring clamps that work like spring clothespins are useful for most clamping jobs. If you are into making picture frames, corner clamps are available that help you clamp two perpendicular work pieces together. DRILL -- Probably the most versatile tool you can have in the toolbox is the electric drill. In addition to drilling holes in almost any material, the drill can be fitted with dozens of accessories to do a wide array of repair tasks. By buying the right accessories, you can drill, countersink, mix paint, sand, grind, polish, drive nuts, drive screws, and pump water or other fluids with this versatile tool. A good all-purpose drill choice for the homeowner is the 3/8 in. reversible, variable-speed drill. For heavy-duty boring rent or buy a 1/2 in. drill. The modern variable-speed drills are a great improvement over the older, 1700 rpm models. High drill speeds are a drawback when using drills for anything but drilling. For example, for mixing paint, or with polishing or buffing wheels, or for drilling in hard materials such as steel, low rpm speeds are needed. High drill speeds also will dull drill bits instantly when you are drilling in hard materials such as steel or masonry. TIP: When drilling steel or concrete, use the variable-speed feature on your drill to keep the bit barely turning. Your impulse, when drilling in difficult material, is to open the drill speed to maximum. If the bit is not cutting, just spinning on the surface, it will overheat from the friction and dull quickly. This is why you see variable-speed pulleys on a drill press: drilling materials of different hardness will require different drill speeds. Use carbide masonry bits when drilling in masonry. It also helps to lubricate the tips of the drill bits: use a drop of oil on the bit tip when drilling metal; use water to cool and lubricate the bit when drilling in masonry. FILES-- A file is a tool that is used to remove or smooth metal. Files can be used to sharpen tools such as axes, shovels, or chisels. You can also use a file to "dress" or shape the edge of a damaged tool, such as reshaping the tip of a screwdriver. GLUE GUN -- Sometimes called a "hot melt" glue gun, these guns use sticks of glue that are melted by electrical power. The glues are fast-setting and can be used for a wide variety of repair jobs. Tip: Hot glue is often useful when used in place of a clamp. Just put a drop of the glue on a workpiece and temporarily glue two objects together for shaping, sanding, drilling, or nailing. GRINDER -- A benchtop grinder is a useful tool for sharpening cutting tools such as chisels and hatchets, or for grinding and smoothing metal or other materials. Fit the grinder with wheels of varying abrasive quality: a rough wheel can remove stock quickly, a smooth or fine abrasive wheel can be used for sharpening. HAMMER, CARPENTERS -- Carpenter's hammers are made for driving and pulling nails. Do not use a carpenter's hammer as an all-purpose hammer. You can ruin a hammer by using it as a crowbar, or by driving chisels, star drills, or other hardened driving tools. Likewise, a carpenter's hammer is not heavy enough to drive hardened masonry nails; you may chip the head of your hammer, and the flying steel chip can injure an eye. Use a ball-peen or small sledge for driving hardened concrete nails and with driven tools. Keep the face of the hammer head clean: grease, wax, or the coating from nails can coat the hammer face, causing the head to slip and bend nails. Always wear eye goggles when using any hammer, to avoid injury from flying nails or other objects. Tip: Use a scrap of sandpaper to clean the hammer face frequently when you are working with adhesives, glues, coated nails, or any material that might coat the hammer face and cause it to slip when striking a nail. HAMMER, BALL-PEEN-- A ball-peen hammer head has a hardened hammer face on one side and a ball on the other. Before modern fasteners such as Pop rivets were available, the ball side of the hammer was used to flatten or "peen" soft metal rivets (usually copper rivets). The hammer is a useful addition to the homeowner's tool box and can be used to drive steel chisels, masonry chisels, nail pullers, or concrete nails. HAMMER, SLEDGE -- This large hammer is used for heavy driving, or for breaking concrete. The sledge hammer usually has two hammer faces, but may have a splitting wedge on one side of the head and a flat face on the other. A sledge hammer usually has a head weight of 2 to 12 pounds, or more. HAMMER, WALLBOARD-- I always advise anyone who is installing wallboard to use a wallboard screw gun and screws, not a hammer, for driving wallboard fasteners. The next-best advice would be: If you insist on nailing wallboard on, don't do so with a carpenter's hammer. The wallboard hammer is designed especially for that purpose and its advantages make it well worth the price. First, the wallboard hammer has a larger face than a carpenter's hammer, and the hammer's face is crowned or convex. This larger, crowned face lets you set the wallboard nail below the surface of the board, or dimple it, without crushing the plaster core around the nail, and without cutting the face paper around the perimeter of the hammer mark. These two factors -- crushing the plaster core and cutting or fracturing the face paper -- account for a large percentage of the fastener failure problems in wallboard. The wallboard hammer handle is longer than an ordinary carpenter's hammer handle, so a person of average height can reach the top corner of the 8-ft-high wall while standing on the floor. Because you are working continually in contact with large panels, you also will be forever bumping your knuckles if you use a carpenter's hammer. Tip: Wallboard hammers have offset handles to protect knuckles. File or grind a crosshatch pattern on the face of the wallboard hammer. These slight face grooves help grip the nail head and help you avoid slipping off the nail heads and bending the nails. HEAT GUN -- The electric heat gun is a useful tool for removing paint, thawing pipes, or for loosening rusty nuts from bolts. Written by Gary Branson Copyright HouseNet, Inc. |