You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Looking at a list of essential tools for a beginner. And also a drill.
The only sort of diy I've done is wire a plug for a snake vivarium and attach the light fitting, fixed a leaking tap, and built a brick wall.
Moving to a new house in the next few weeks, so lots of flat pack Ikea furniture to build and blinds to put up. Even my missus who is slightly more competent gas never used a drill before.
But I'd like to learn and be more manly
Have bought a diy books!
A dead blow hammer. Essential for any job that you need a hammer for that isn't driving in a nail.
20v stuff from both Aldi and Lidl are great quality for the price and more than up to occasional use. You need to buy tools and stuff for each job you come across; expensive at first but you soon gain the experience and tools to attempt most stuff.
I am on my forth full refurb of a house / flat and have never had a deadblow hammer!
Rechargeable drill driver - decent quality one with hammer drill and a clutch for screwdriving. Don't buy a cheapo one - but midrange will do
Jigsaw
Decent set of screwdrivers including an electrical testing screwdriver. Nice claw hammer 16 - 20 ounce, 2 lb lump hammer, spirit level, centre punch, decent tape measure basic woodworking chisel and a cold chisel or two for manly smashing of bricks
Measure twice cut once!
A decent set of screwdrivers, Philips, flat, pozidrive. They are probably the most used so worth getting good ones. Get an electrician's one as well.
As @v8ninety says, no point in buying expensive tradesman level power tools for occasional home use, the consumer lines from B&Q, Aldi, Homebase, Screwfix are more than good enough. I've a £30 circular saw from B&Q and a £40 table tile cutter from Screwfix for example - I doubt I'll use them enough to break them.
Until you move in you won't really know what you'll need. Once you've figured things out then it's worth having a box of "spares": light bulbs for each type of fitting in the house, fuses if you've any fused plugs, etc.
Don't buy nails or screws from B&Q - they are really expensive, go to a builder's merchant if you need a lot or find a local hardware store for smaller quantities.
Eventually you get to the "five minute jobs". I had one: replace the bulb in the light over the stairs. The step ladder wouldn't reach and my wife wouldn't let me stand with one leg on the newell post and one on the bookshelf to get to it so down to B&Q to get a three section ladder (!) - £90, then get the fancy globe shade off to find that it's the one light fitting of that type in the house and I don't have a spare bulb for it so down to the local hardware store for a couple of replacements (£5) and finally I can complete the job. Only took me two hours!
Don't buy an electrical testing screwdriver, you are part of the test circuit
Battery drill is good, on occasions the mains-powered variety is necessary
Depends on the blinds, a 12" hacksaw, a 10" tenon saw and a 20-22" panel woodsaw could be handy
Spirit level, buy the best you can afford
Smoothing plane
Etc
I have 18v Makita drill, driver (and hedge trimmer) and would consider circular saw, router etc. Batteries charge very quickly and the drill and driver are just so good compared with previous economy stuff I’ve used.
However, away from power tools, essentials ( for me) are adjustable combination square, spirit level, tape measure, wall plugs, masonry and twist bits.
Unless you've got an older, brick-built house a decent li-po rechargeable drill / screwdriver will suffice - I only ever need a mains drill if drilling into hard (Edwardian) bricks. A decent set of drill bits - both wood.metal and masonry.
Preparation is key for painting i.e. sanding blocks / masking tape and a good set of paint brushes. Blue / green masking tape is far superior to the cheaper stuff.
Learn to use a tape measure, spirit level and a square - most DIY disasters look that way cos they're on the piss.
If you're drilling holes in walls, stud / cable detector will help prevents your walls looking like they've been machine-gunned - particularly useful for finding the stud/batten if fixing curtains as screwing things into plasterboard rarely ends well.
A tenon saw and a decent mitre block and learning to cut square. Jigsaws good for cutting wood flooring where accuracy / clean cuts are less important.
Something like a Workmate bench that allows you to hold things firmly at a good working height for sawing / drilling etc.
I'm 18 months into my refurb. I invested Makita lxt stuff when I got a rude shock at how expensive and mostly trying to rip you off tradespeople without personal recommendation are. So far I've found a decent roofer and window cleaner.
Power tools I use the most:
Drill (it would be nice to have 2 for when you need to drill pilots or counter sinks)
Small power screwdriver
Big sds drill
Multi tool (you need one of these )
Impact driver
Sliding bezel mitre saw
Plane
Decent quality foam / caulk dispenser
Angle grinder
Tools I bought thinking I would use loads (still plenty of work)
Circular saw, jigsaw, router
Other things that are really useful
Proper stepladders with platforms
Decent quality paint and brushes
Portable led lights and head torch
Pull saw (brilliant)
PortAble workbench and saw horses
Multimeter
Good luck and have fun:)
Oh and a decent detector and several sizes of spirit level
Damp meter is also useful
Measure twice cut once!
Can't...you didn't include a tape measure...
I did!
electrical testing screwdrivers are fine to use - what do you think sparkies use?
Multimeter
a set of trestles and an old flush door to act as a worktop, https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p80711 ideal for building flat packs on no kneeling on the floor,
a set of step ladders 5 step should be ok for height.
a toolkit and bag https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p67333 keeps everything in one place.
some wall plugs suitable for plasterboard walls usually grey and brown wall plugs for masonry or brick walls and a few 6.5 masonary drill bits
Luckily the house is a newbuild so the main jobs will be flat pack furniture, putting up Venetian blinds and curtain poles.
Extending the patio
Laying turf to the back garden
Putting up coat hangers under the stairs.
Will something like this be ok for a drill?
https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-2ah-li-ion-drill-driver-twin-pack-2-batteries/1572372_BQ.prd
And I think my step dad has a tool box in the garage which was full of essentials. All probably 30 years old, he was going to give it me anyway before he passed away 18 years ago.
Tj - not an electrician but I use one of these: http://www.fluke.com/fluke/uken/electrical-testers/electrical-testers/fluke-1ac-ii.htm?pid=56048
That and a socket tester are worth having if you’re touching any sockets (even just undoing them to paint/paper behind).
I also got started with Makita cordless stuff with a present from my wife when we bought our house. Now have half a dozen different tools including hedge trimmer and strimmer - as you can buy the tools “bare” (without battery or charger) it can work out well if there’s a few things you need.
Screwfix sell a decent tool kit for £30 that covers a lot of basics - screwdrivers, knife, pliers, tape measure, level, hacksaw, etc. I got one just to keep in the house for the odd little job that I find to do. That plus a cordless drill/driver will get most things done and buy any more specialist things as and when you need them.
for a drill i use a https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Hammer-Drill-230-240V---1050W/p/141130 Nobody localy had a makita or dewalt in stiock with a keyed chuck bought this as a stop gap, and still using it every day for 3 months its so powerful, litle vibration and less than 50 quids.
also for a cordless drill set look at Erauber from Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-eri741kit-18v-2-0ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill-drill-driver-twin-pack/7230t
both drills ahva a long guarantee and do the job well, avoid the dewalt stuff over priced and batteries die quickly got 5 dead batteries from dewlt
A decent set of screwdrivers, Philips, flat, pozidrive. They are probably the most used so worth getting good ones. Get an electrician’s one as well.
with screwdrivers (and drill driver bits).... take 5 minutes to find out what the difference between a Phillips and a Pozidrive screw is and know what the corresponding screwdriver looks like. They look very similar but the difference is important (the screws and driver tips get mashed if you mix them uo) and everything goes much better once you used the right drivers in the right screws.
And..... regardless what drills and screwdrivers you get..... plan to throw away the screws that come in the packet with any shelf, curtain rail etc so buy a selection box of screws from B&Q/Screwfix or where ever so you've got suitable alternatives to hand
The drill/driver set you posted would be ok for the type of jobs you've mentioned, basically most things that didn't involve drilling into concrete but for a couple of pound less I would go for this.
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/bosch-gsb-10-8-2-li-combi-gdr-10-8v-li-driver-twinpack-06019b697f
Bosch blue range is in theory a higher quality product and comes with a case which is more worthwhile for the longevity of your tools than you might imagine. If you can wait a bit these are often discounted. I paid around £100 for the set linked to above in a sale.
Somewhere like FFX is good for tools and if you sign up for their email alerts they'll send you discounts and offers.
Decent combi-drill with various bits, eg Makita
Decent SDS, eg Bosch
Jigsaw
Various saws, eg general, tenon, hack
G-clamps
Set of molgrips, adjustable wrenches, pliers etc
Set of chisels inc bolster (and mallet)
Workmate or similar (2 better than 1)
Hammers
Black and Decker mouse sander and 3rd party pads
Heavy duty sander
Decent tape measures
Balco square edge
Mitre block
Dedent spirit levels
Excellent, plenty of choices out there. Probably buy the tool kit from screwfix and add bits as and when I need them for certain jobs.
I'm assuming a drill driver is for putting screws in flatpack furniture for example?
Looking in my toolbox I have loads of bits I have bought over the years to do jobs as and when the need arose. But the tools I use most around the house are my....
cordless drill, Phillips screw driver (small and larger), flat bladed screw driver (small and larger), pliers, molegrips, snips, hammer, rubber hammer, saw, measuring tape, awl, spirit level, pencil and a few screws and raw plugs.
As others have said you don't need to spend a fortune but I find mid range rather that cheapest are often best value for quality/comfort.
I think for somebody just starting off, I would advise them to buy good basic tools, and save money on the things that they will only use occaisionally.
Eg: worth buying a good cordless drill/driver, but I'd probably only buy a entry-level (and corded) circular saw, router, SDS drill etc.
One thing that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned is quick-clamps. Very very useful for loads of stuff!
Also: on day 1 go and buy a couple of those screwfix multipacks of screws/rawlplugs and things. Often the difference between a five mute job, and a 2 hour job is hunting about for the right size screen/bolt etc, and then having to go and queue up at B&Q on a Sunday.
Jigsaw
I've never in my entire life needed a jigsaw. If i want a ragged wobbly line I'm more than capable of cutting one by hand!
On the drill front a few people have mentioned this. Bit if you have hard bricks or stone a cordless is going to get you through the plaster then skite all over the joint.
If you're going to strip wallpaper you're going to learn plastering 😂
Toolbox.
Mine is a fairly traditional carrybox with removable tray that can be used as an extra step and cutting bench.
Stanley knife, work gloves, set square, good measuring tapes.
Agree with getting half decent kit for jobs, nicer to use and lasts well.
I’m assuming a drill driver is for putting screws in flatpack furniture for example?
you'd probably not need it for that as all the screw-holes are pre-drilled, and in the grand scheme of things theres not usually all that many fixings involved.
You'd use it more for drilling (obvs) and driving screws into more resistant substrates
Anyway the most important advice is 'Preparation is key!'
So before any of the above buy a box set of 'Some mothers do 'ave 'em' so that you can get in character.
I have to say I’ve not used my jigsaw for a while. I’ve been renovating a whole house (new electrics/plaster/plumbing/building work/kitchen/bathroom) and the only time a jigsaw was used was when I got a chippy to come and install my oak worktops and he used his own!
I have a small circular saw which I’ve used a lot and use small handsaws for intricate jobs.
In regard to the deadblow hammer in post #2 - actually for the OP needs - flatpacking this is a really useful tool
My cheap silverline black deadblow was really useful for persuading a couple of IKEA joints - non marking and effective - incredibly cheap maybe £6 or so.
I Agree the following:
tapemeasure X2
Decent level
clamps - one had ratchet x 2
+
250ml PVA wood glue for fixing flatpack oops
a platform is very useful as a low bench and stand for doing jobs like curtain rails
For drills - really avoid expensive battery drills that you will not get the use out of before the batteries die.
corded SDS drill for not wasting your time drilling into things that are not wood - more or less a lifetime tool
something like https://www.screwfix.com/p/hitachi-dh24px-j1-3-2kg-corded-sds-plus-drill-230v/86484
A cheap battery drill that is not too heavy - plan for it to last 3 years - so do not invest too much.
Massive tea cup. Biscuits. You won't need a belt.
Seriously though, I (now) always drill a pilot hole before the plasterboard wall plugs go in. The messes Ive made not doing so when I was starting out were horrendous.
Great lists by all the above and more than enough for the OP's projects ... but if someone else is looking at this with a bigger project .... Defo get an SDS drill and also a cheap (about 30 quid) "henry" style hoover... don't kill your dyson.
Back to the OP.
What you need, as well as the tools listed is .... Time, patience, a quiet house and a decent brew. Also make sure you got enough space to work in and keep the space tidy as you go.
Good Luck.
Massive tea cup - yep or coffee - more time thinking will prevent cockups
you tube for tips
never do anything in front of your partner......ever
tool chest
everything else see above
sds drill? I have never owned one. Really needed for a beginner?
yeah , small SDS , not much bigger than a traditional corded drill - but the ability to make holes without fuss , the mess and frustration of not succeeding with a normal hammer drill makes it worth it.
I have an old Makita 12v SDS that is tiny but will drill a hole in almost anything likely to be found in a house, and a mains corded Makita SDS from a Wickes sale , both cheap end of line things.
A very expensive 18v brushless hammer drill would just burn up bits.
Bradawl
PTFE tape
Oscillating multi tool. I only have a cheap Aldi one but it's really useful.
Never even heard of a deadblow hammer before, that's something I'll have to get now!
Never even heard of a deadblow hammer before, that’s something I’ll have to get now!
Yeah me too, plus a pull saw ordered today.
sds drill? I have never owned one. Really needed for a beginner?
I think it wholly depends on your house and what its made of. As someone who works in a lot of different environments (domestic and commercial) I almost never need to get the SDS from the van - and by that I mean years go by without using it. In most situations I find a decent masonry bit works fine in a normal drill driver - not even set to hammer sometimes. But - in one or two houses they've turned out to be invaluable. Older brick houses (1930s ex-council houses in particular round here) seem to be made of a brick impervious to anything other than an SDS. Modern houses with concrete lintels too.
So.. as a DIYer who's going to do all their drilling in one house.... don't buy an SDS unless you're finding that your efforts with a regular drill driver are being frustrated - breeze block and most bricks are a doddle to drill. You can drill holes in Glasgow and Edinburgh tenements with a hard stare.
Every job will take a lot longer than you think it will and you will never have all the correct tools. But do not be put off by this. Plan and research well before jumping in at the deep end. Unfortunately there are a lot of ' experts' who will give you the wrong advise. I would ignore a lot of the previous posts and wait till your first job and get the tools for that .I hope it goes well for you as it is very rewarding.
I have been doing this for a living for most of my working life ( 35 years) - Love it.
If you're doing lots of masonry work a SDS drill is a life changer. Screwfix have one for £60 quid (mains, not battery).