Tools¶

Tags: house

Moving into a new house means doing a lot of DIY (Do It Yourself). At least, it means that to me. It also means that it is the right time to invest in some extra tools as tools can be an effective way to speed up the process.

Some electrical tools that I already owned:

• An electric drill. Not too elaborate, but with some basic hammer-drilling so that I can put a small hole into almost any wall.

Some tools that I bought before moving into the new house as I figured they’d be very effective:

• A cheap (20 Euro) power jigsaw (Dutch: decoupeerzaag, van de Hema). I have to do quite some wood cutting, so this was a no-brainer.

• An industrial “can” vacuum cleaner (“shop vac”, “drum vac”). Not a regular vacuum cleaner, but one of those round ones. Basically a drum with a vacuum motor on it. It’ll swallow a whole lot more than your regular house vacuum cleaner will be happy with. Moss from the roof, bits of masonry, torn-off small wall carpeting remains, etcetera. And they’ve got more power than a regular one. Happy with this one! I just bought the cheapest one at a local DIY shop (some 70 Euro).

• A cheap electrical sander (Dutch: schuurapparaat van de hema). Just a rectangular one. 20 Euro. Priceless! I don’t ever ever ever ever ever want to sand anything manually anymore. Even handy after you’ve plastered-over holes in a wall: for equalizing the bits where you’ve put on too much plaster. Just take the sander over the whole wall and you’re fine.

• A reasonably cheap electrical drill specifically for screwing. 50 Euro or so. Note: I used a corded one instead of a cordless one! It was cheaper, had more power for the money, it doesn’t ever run out of electricity (i.e. recharging a battery) and it lasts longer. The cord attached to it is long enough that I’ve never yet had a problem with it. To me, a corded tool like this is an advantage.

Two tools that I bought while working on the house:

• A hand-held circular saw. I borrowed one from a friend (thanks, Arjan) after he suggested it to me when he saw me busy with the power jigsaw. Wow! A circular saw sure is speedy! It flows through the wood much quicker than the power jigsaw. And it can be used in other angles. And it is more suited to straight lines. I’ll still retain the power jigsaw for some jobs, but the hand-held circular saw is my new favourite for sawing, that’s for sure. Today I bought one for my own. Just the cheapest one I could find (40 Euro, hornbach) as I’m not going to task its capabilities in any way. Highly recommended!

• An angle grinder (Dutch: haakse slijper). The cheapest at the local DIY shop. 35 Euro, 115mm disks. I need it for grinding a bit off the top of some roof tiles to make the bottom water barrier of the roof window fit better. And I figured it could help me remove two protruding iron pins from my son’s room’s wall. Wow! It sure made light work of those two iron pins. Gone within half a minute. And I used the angle grinder for sawing off some plumbing pipe at the level of the floor: a hard task for a regular electrical jigsaw!. I’m pretty impressed. (I got a bit of a scare when I first read “anKle grinder” instead of “anGle grinder” on the box, though… :-)