Being a homeowner means that things are going to eventually break. So unless you want to spend your hard earned money paying someone else to fix things for you, you’re going to need to fix them yourself. Luckily, you don’t need a ton of tools to handle most home maintenance issues. These are 10 must have tools will cover most of your basic projects.
1 Hammer – This may seem like common sense, but some people don’t have one on hand. They are cheap to add to your collection and you never know when you might need one.
2 Screwdrivers – Again this may seem obvious, but many will not have one, let alone the two you need. You will want to have a flat head and a phillips head to be sure that you can be ready for any type of screw you come in contact with.
3 Cordless drill – A cordless drill is a must-have for installing cabinets, drawer pulls, hinges, picture frames, shelves and hooks, and more. If you don’t have a cordless drill you will need to use good old elbow grease and sometimes that is just not enough.
4 Stud finder – If you want to hang anything you will need to know where the studs are. If you don’t put it through the stud you may find that it just won’t hold.
5 Drain cleaners – All sink drains are susceptible to clogs because of the daily buildup of hair and debris. You can use chemical clog removers like Drano, but they are not always the best option. Sometimes they just don’t work. A better option may be to buy some plastic drain cleaners. They can reach into the drain to pull out the clog of hair and gunk. They are fairly cheap and easy to get.
6 Adjustable crescent wrench – You may need to turn a nut and without a wrench to do it, you likely won’t get it done. If you are needing to deal with a water leak you don’t want to get caught without one.
7 Loppers – This is likely something you have never heard of, but if you have trees in your yard you will want to have one. Even the minimum amount of care for your landscaping will require some loppers to remove damaged branches, vines, thick weeds, and any other unruly plants in your yard. Also if your tree hangs over into a neighbor’s yard you will want to be sure that nothing happens to allow it to cause damage to their yard. Insurance will most likely cover ir, but it could create a bad relationship.
8 Flashlight – Yes, you can use your phone’s flashlight, but it may not be powerful enough in a crawl space or an attic. Plus you may need more than one light, so you can use your phone as a backup.
9 Ladder – You will need this to change light bulbs, batteries in smoke detectors, hanging things on the wall and some work outside. You may even want to get one for inside and a longer one to be used outside so you can get on the roof if needed.
10 Plunger – If your toilet backups you will want a plunger. There is just no way around it. Have it handy.