52 replies to this topic

[Sweeney]

Obviously, having just moved into a new house, in a new country, with my new family... I don't really have any tools. My birthday is coming up soon, and that is what I have asked for.

I really need a toolbox, too. I currently have a cardboard box. Heh.

I have a hammer, a flat and phillips screwdriver, one hand saw (crosscut, I think), a set of pliers and a set of vicegrips. We also own a corded drill for hardcore work, and a small cordless for pansy work. We have a couple of drill and screwdriver bits to go with them.

We need more things! I want to be prepared for whatever this ramshackle old house throws at us next!

[Dan]

Sounds like you already covered a few of these, but here goes:

 

Must haves

• WD-40 & Duct tape
• Large (preferably cordless) drill with drill bit set
• Standard screwdriver set
• Wood saw and a hack saw
• Super glue & wood glue
• Magnolia / Neutral paint (to cover up any imperfections)
• Flat pencils (they won't roll away while you're trying to line something up to mark, example)
• Measuring tape
• RUBBING ALCOHOL (99% is fine, this will come in handy for everything)
• Allan keys
• BLACK or WHITE electrical tape

Optional extras

• Smaller cordless powered screwdriver (I use this)
• If you have room to place it, a work table secured vice would be a huge help
• Socket set (especially handy if you're doing any auto care)
• Compressed air
• Soldering iron (v. handy for fixing electronics)

[Sweeney]

Every screwdriver ever.
I honestly can't tell you how many times we've needed a certain screwdriver head that we just didn't have. It's absolute insanity.

I bought a pretty good kit when I got the cordless the other day. I made sure we had everything from phillips to torque heads, in a good few sizes. Before that, I got a small kit of screwdrivers for fine-detail work, like in spectacles or computers. Came in handy when we were cleaning out Cristen's heat sinks at the weekend.

[Sweeney]

Must haves

• WD-40 & Duct tape
• Wood saw and a hack saw
• Super glue & wood glue
• Magnolia / Neutral paint (to cover up any imperfections)
• Flat pencils (they won't roll away while you're trying to line something up to mark, example)
• RUBBING ALCOHOL (99% is fine, this will come in handy for everything)
• Allan keys

Optional extras

• If you have room to place it, a work table secured vice would be a huge help
• Socket set (especially handy if you're doing any auto care)
• Compressed air
• Soldering iron (v. handy for fixing electronics)

Yes, to all these things. I've needed duct tape a bunch of times, recently. I thought about a hacksaw when I got the cordless, too, and a rubber mallet. Mallets are useful when your whole house is supported by shifting pieces of wood

Allan keys, we definitely need. I had a set in England, but I think my Mum kept them. I had a soldering iron, too, but I have no idea what happened to that

[Speedracer]

Level, table saw, measuring tape (25ft), WD-40, Framing Square, Multiple size screwdrivers, Allen wrench, hammer, paint brushes, wire cutters, pipe snake, adjustable wrenches

That is all I can think of atm

[Sweeney]

You know, it occurs to me that this is a very "boring adult" topic xD

[Waser Lave]

I can't be bothered to see if anybody else has mentioned it already but I'll go with a Stanley Knife.

 

I still find it odd to imagine you doing any actual real man's work.

[luvsmyncis]

I still find it odd to imagine you doing any actual real man's work.

He's actually just digging for ideas for what to get Nymh for HER birthday.

[Waser Lave]

He's actually just digging for ideas for what to get Nymh for HER birthday.

 

I find that much easier to imagine.

[Sweeney]

I can't be bothered to see if anybody else has mentioned it already but I'll go with a Stanley Knife.
 
I still find it odd to imagine you doing any actual real man's work.

I think you're the first to say it. And I think we have one. If we do, it definitely needs new blades.

And yes, I do manlyman work. Sometimes. When I get really bored

He's actually just digging for ideas for what to get Nymh for HER birthday.

Well, well in advance

[Dan]

Also, get a safe.

[Sweeney]

Also, get a safe.

A safe of any use would fall through our floor The oven and the fridge are pushing it as it is!

[Dan]

A safe of any use would fall through our floor The oven and the fridge are pushing it as it is!

 

What kind of tissue paper house are you living in?

[Waser Lave]

A safe of any use would fall through our floor The oven and the fridge are pushing it as it is!

 

Another reason to get to work on those foundations?

[Sweeney]

Another reason to get to work on those foundations?

... yup -_-

What kind of tissue paper house are you living in?

A hand-built wood cabin

[Boggart]

And yet all my mind went to stuff like "stove, pots, pans". whoops.

 

Otherwise I agree with others and make sure you have every (or almost all) types of screw drivers and allen keys. Freaking times when I need an Allen Key.

 

Also a car jack if you have a car.

[NapisaurusRex]

And yet all my mind went to stuff like "stove, pots, pans". whoops.

yeah, me too

We've gone through a lot of plastic. Our house has more cracks than a cheese grater. We use clear for the windows during the winter (to create an insulating air pocket, black in the basement (moisture protection, it's a half-basement+crawlspace), and black all year round in the gardens.
It's not really a tool, but I also think people in houses should have at least one water catcher.


(rambling about windows in the spoiler)

Spoiler

Obviously, I'm hoping eventually we'll get a more permanent solution for the windows. Right now, about three quarters of them are the energy efficient kind, but about a quarter of them are the original antique kind that are going to cost a billion dollars to fix, in the living room where we spend all of our time, of course. The back porch, where we do canning and laundry and keep the seedlings, is almost all plastic and cardboard on the windows.

[Tubbz]

Chainsaw.

Practical use around the house - very little.
General posing and bedroom use - limitless

[Seren]

Eyeglass tool repair kit for fixing tiny things

[Sweeney]

Chainsaw.

Practical use around the house - very little.
General posing and bedroom use - limitless

A chainsaw would have a lot of practical use for us... we cut our own firewood. We go out with Cristen's parents to do it currently - they have two saws.

[Frizzle]

Stud finder!

Seriously? Not one joke about this?

[Sweeney]

Seriously? Not one joke about this?

Oh, sorry.
Uh... We don't need one. Cristen has already found all the stud she could ever want.

How was that?