When you own your own home, you need the right tools in order to maintain it. There are some power tools you’ll use all the time as a homeowner, whether you’re repairing something or making a home improvement. These days you simply can’t keep up a home without some power tools. Here are the ones you need the most.
Cordless Drill
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Out of all the power tools on this list, you’ll likely end up using your cordless drill the most. You can use it to drive screws and drill holes, so it’s useful for assembling furniture, hanging shelves, installing door and cabinet hardware, or putting up baby gates. You can use a cordless drill to build a deck or finish a basement. A cordless drill should be one of the first power tools you buy, if not the first power tool you buy.
Make sure it’s a cordless model, so you can drive screws and drill holes anywhere – you won’t be tied down by a cord. You don’t need to feel constrained by your battery life, either. You can buy cordless tool battery packs for all kinds of cordless tools, so it’s easy to get extra batteries if you need more battery life.
Circular Saw
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If you’re ever planning to work with lumber or particle board, you’re going to need a saw, and you don’t want to wear out your arm sawing with a hand saw. With a circular saw, you can handle most heavy-duty cutting jobs with ease. You can use one to rip pieces of lumber along their lengths, or you can use it to cut planks into shorter pieces. You can adjust the height of the blade in order to just score a piece of wood, or you can cut clean through. You can use your circular saw to build a deck, an addition, a porch, or smaller projects like furniture.
Nail Gun with Air Compressor
Okay, yes, technically these are two tools. But you need an air compressor to operate your nail gun, and you can also use one to inflate your tires and other inflatables, power a paint gun, or even clean up messes in your workshop. If you do any kind of carpentry, a nail gun can make things considerably easier. Whether you want to install crown molding or build nice furniture, driving your nails with an air nail gun can make the process so much faster and easier. Nail guns can even be safer than pounding in nails by hand, if you use them properly. A pneumatic nail gun is essential if you’re doing a lot of nailing, but there are some good battery-operated nail guns on the market these days that are perfect for small jobs or occasional use.
Orbital Sander
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Plenty of home improvement jobs require the use of a power sander. Let’s say you want to refurbish your old wooden kitchen cabinets by giving them a fresh coat of paint. You’re going to need to sand down the cabinet exteriors so that the wood will take the paint. Let’s say you want to restore an old piece of furniture – you might need to sand off scratches. If you’re building or repairing furniture, you’re going to need to sand the finished product.
Sanding by hand is agonizingly slow and laborious, so it’s worth it to buy an electric orbital sander to get the job done faster. Orbital sanders rotate in a random pattern designed to avoid leaving scratches on the surface of the wood.
Sawzall
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As the name suggests, a sawzall can saw through just about anything. Also called a reciprocating saw, these robust tools are perfect for tackling large home improvement projects, especially those involving a lot of demolition. You can use one to prune a tree and cut up the severed limbs for removal. You can use one to cut through drywall, metal, wood, and other building materials. You can cut down fence posts that have been embedded in concrete. You can buy different kinds of blades for your sawzall to tackle different cutting jobs – for example, you can get fine-toothed blades for cutting through pipes, coarse blades for cutting through wood or plaster, or toothless, carbide grit blades for cutting ceramic tiles, stone, and cast iron.
As a homeowner, there are some power tools you simply can’t do without. Make sure you’re equipped with the right tools for any job that might come up, so you can keep your home in the best possible shape.
