Starter tool set for someone starting out
Basic Household Tool List
(Edited to add suggestions from the comments and the general philosophy of this list)
- Tool bag (at least 15 inches long)
- Hammer (12 or 16 oz)
- Rubber mallet (white head preferred, non-marking)
- 6 inch Needlenose Pliers
- 8 inch Slip Joint Pliers
- 8 inch Crescent/adjustable wrench
- 10 inch Slip groove (large jaw) pliers
- Box cutter (optionally folding) + set of replacement blades
- Hacksaw + spare blades
- Scissors
- 25' Tape Measure
- Set of precision (small) screwdrivers
- #1 and #2 Phillips head screwdrivers
- Small and large straight blade screwdrivers
- Multi screwdriver with torx/phillips/straight blade heads
- half-round file (h/t @patience_limited)
- a metal putty knife or a 5-in-1 combination paint scraper (h/t @patience_limited)
- roll of twine
- roll of blue masking tape
- roll of Gorilla tape
- roll of black electrical tape
- super glue
- small bottle of wood glue
- 2" paint brush
- torpedo level
- small flashlight
- a strong neodynium magnet - to use as a stud finder and for many other things (h/t @the_man)
- 9v batteries
- AA batteries
- AAA batteries
- 50 1" #6 wood screws (zinc/steel, not brass)
- 50 2" #8 wood screws (zinc/steel, not brass)
- small box of 1.5" finishing nails
- light and heavy duty drywall anchors
- course and fine foam sanding blocks (h/t @patience_limited)
- 5 gallon bucket
- safety glasses
- N95 masks
- leather work gloves
- foam ear plus (h/t @the_man)
Bonus list (things that are more expensive or nice-to-have upgrades):
- a stud finder - the cheap ones are worthless, buy a good one or not at all (h/t @DeaconBlue)
- a battery powered drill + bit set (h/t @patience_limited)
- a set of metric and imperial allen keys (h/t @sublime_aenima)
- a basic socket set with a mix of metric and imperial sockets (h/t @auk)
The philosophy of this list:
A good starter set should include tools and supplies someone will be glad they had that they didn't know they needed. Even if they aren't "handy", a handier friend might use them (and they learn something in the process). It doesn't include very specialized things like demolition, electrical, or plumbing tools. If you're going to undertake projects in those areas, you should know a little about what you're doing, and you'll be able to buy the right tools for the specific project. As as electrical engineer, I particularly don't include a multimeter because I don't want to encourage someone to mess around with electricity if they don't understand how it might hurt them.
This list specifically does not suggest brands (except where the brand is the thing, like Gorilla tape). Opinions on what brand is best vary widely, but my general suggestion is this. Don't break the bank buying high end tools for someone who may never use them. A $2 hammer is going to be fine for someone who uses it once a year. If they are using them often enough to want something better, they can buy something better (or you can buy it for them).
More and more is held together with Allen screws. I would suggest a set of metric and imperial to cover both options.
Also agree with @the_man, ear protection is crucial. I have a pair of Bluetooth ear muffs that I use anytime I’m using power tools, moving the lawn, ignoring extended family, etc. I also have a bin full of foam ear plugs for when I’m working with others. I make sure to bring some to concerts as well.
A pencil and sharpie are also critical tools in my tool box, especially in this digital age when I rarely use them outside projects.
I also get more use out of my flexible grabber claw than I ever thought I would.
Oh my goodness we just got a set of Allen wrenches that has T handles. They're so great, no more clearance problems.
Good list, I would also add a stud finder to this.
I was gifted a stud finder and aside from using it to make my wife roll her eyes, I have rarely used it. It can be a bit inaccurate and aside from mounting a TV, I typically don’t need to find studs.
haha good one.
I have to disagree though. I've found a stud finder incredibly useful. mounting heavy pictures or cabinets come to mind immediately (along with your TV mount example). Id say i use it one or twice a year. not much. but totally worth it because the alternative, guessing where the stud is, is painful.
I used to help field technicians install IT equipment on walls. Most things won't fall off if badly installed, but they WILL get wobbly, crooked & look bad fast if you touch/adjust them at all. If they do actually fall, they will ruin a lot of shit in the process.
I've quite literally looked at thousands of mounted tv installations. Its worth it to just hit studs or use backer board unless it's flat on the wall and out of reach.
I have been doing a ton of small projects around the house I purchased a year ago and I have used it on about half a dozen projects in that time.
Not a daily use object, sure, but a small magnetic one only costs a few dollars and can be nice to have.
I have tried to avoid studs as many times as I have tried to find them.
Do you anchor your furniture?
Yes, but either with a wall anchor or I use my fish tape with a small hole in the drywall to find the stud.
I find the usual cheaper stud finders aren't all that repeatable. A strong magnet on the other hand finds the drywall screws in the middle of the studs pretty well, is easier, and also has other uses.
I avoid the cheap single-sensor stud finders, but the multi-sensor ones tend to be extremely useful since they can show you the width of the stud so you can estimate where center is even if there's not a screw around.
I also really like having AC detection built-in so that it goes crazy if you're within a foot or two of a live wire. Ideally these should have metal plates hammered into the stud in front of them, but you can rarely count on that.
These still don't stop you from drilling into water and drainage pipes, but they can be super useful to always be centered and never drill into a powered wire. This isn't the exact model I have, but something like this is an invaluable tool if you're routinely hanging mirrors, cabinets, shelving, etc.
Strike plates/Nail Plates Are only required when a bored hole through a stud is closer than 1 1/4" from the face. With 1/2" sheetrock as typical wall covering this gives 1 3/4" as the largest screw length you should be driving into a wall. In the case of hanging cabinets you can add the thickness of the backer material and generally use 2 1/4" screws without risk or hitting electrical, gas or plumbing.
You should be able to find studs by knocking on the wall and listening for the changes in sound from 1 cavity space to another and when you have an idea you can drive a finish nail in to confirm location has wood backing. As someone who is regularly cutting into walls and ceilings and hanging fixtures on to them I have rarely touched/used a stud finder. They can be handy but can also lead you astray if you don't know other methods for confirming your findings.
Yes, the cheaper ones can be as good as guesswork. It pays to read reviews and buy one that is highly recommended, even if it costs a bit more.
I was introduced to magnetic stud finders a few years ago and have had nothing but success with them. The one I have even has a small bubble level on it to assist with pinpointing the stud further away from the magnet.
Note: studfinders only work with drywall and steel nails or screws. If you have plaster and lath or other fasteners, they are in fact completely useless.
In that case the way to find stids is with a tiny drill bit.
Great post. Got me some ideas. I would add hearing protection ( I paid the consequences...) and a magnet to pick nails and alike after working.
Long years of both home ownership and having to carry a tool bag for network/server work encourage me to add some items to your list:
A basic digital multimeter/continuity tester - there are a few things even the rankest amateur can do safely, like testing batteries.
A couple of foam sanding blocks, coarse and fine - good for getting rid of rough or splintery spots quickly, sanding down a plaster patch, etc.
A 5-in-1 spackling/paint scraper like this - handy for all kinds of home maintenance tasks like opening windows that are painted shut, quick patching, opening paint cans, etc.
One basic half-round (like this) file - essential for cleaning up sharp sheet metal edges and rough screw holes, or anything you've used a hacksaw to cut. You can also sharpen or reshape the heads of other tools with a file.
If you've got a bit more to spend, a basic lithium-battery power drill/screw bit kit. It's much easier to do extended flat-pack furniture assembly, hang curtain rods, and perform light carpentry tasks with a motor. [The power drill scrubber head kits for household cleaning are great as well.]
I might add or substitute a cheap backpacker's headlamp for the flashlight - it's more convenient to have both hands free for some tasks.
If you really want to start getting serious about home owner's tools, a soldering iron, wire strippers, pipe wrench, pry bar, plumber's snake, clear silicone caulk, and a propane torch kit.
As someone who just moved in with their partner for the first time, I'm definitely saving this list! Thank you for sharing it. :)
I do have a good number of things on this list already, but there are a few that I hadn't considered / have questions about. Sorry if this is a lot to ask!
I'm not a professional but let me give you some answers I feel fairly qualified on.
You're basically right with the rubber mallet. Say you've got to adjust something wooden that's a tight fit, a hammer will dent and damage the finish on it for sure. You'll avoid that problem easily with a mallet. It's great for plastic as well.
The pliers listed are pretty standard, needle nose are very thin on the end so you can grab things that are hardly accessible. The smaller pliers will be adjustable to allow you to grab larger items (like, say, a nut). The larger pliers will be for even larger items, and I tend to use them kind of like a clamp in most circumstances, or I'll use them to help me bend some metal in a very unprofessional but effective manner. Good pliers are probably some of the tools I use most.
You want different screwdrivers for a number of reasons - but in my experience, largely it's about durability. Interchangeable bits are going to be less durable so they can sacrifice themselves instead of the driver and save you the expense. They're very useful for light duty (and usually fine for most jobs anyway) but when you've got something really stuck, or when you want to drive it into something and you don't have a drill - you'll want a strong and rigid tool that can handle it (or at least be cheap to replace). The precision ones are really just for small things like electronics.
Take my advice with a grain of salt of course, but I've definitely got to agree with the majority of this list even though I'd probably pare it down some for people trying to save a buck or two.
additionally, you definitly want an oversized flathead screwdriver to serve as a crowbar.
I think you mean that you would want a pry-bar. They are pretty cheap at a big box, less than $15 and work wonders over a flathead screwdriver. I didn't pick one up until relatively recently and I am amazed how often I use my little 7-inch pry bar.
Not OP but here’s my reasoning:
Aha! We were definitely both thinking of the same thing. Growing up in Canada, I've only ever seen green painter's tape? But, it seems like "Scotch Blue" is a big thing, too.
Apparently, though, some Google results are saying that blue tape is medium-tack and green tape is high-tack. I don't know if that's true, but it would be interesting if they were actually functionally different!
The green is also generally used for rough surfaces such as stucco or cinder blocks.
Aside from normal usage of a rubber mallet, I use mine a lot for driving things like tent and gardening stakes into the ground. The big head means I can focus on the angle instead of on hitting that little target. I dinged up a set of cheap tent stakes pretty badly with a hammer.
You've gotten a lot of other good answers, but since I posted the list, I'll give you my rationale:
Exactly right. That's why the white rubber ones are preferable, they won't leave black marks on what you're hitting.
This gives you good coverage of different things you'd want to grab. The slip joint pliers give you a good grip on smaller things. The groove joint pliers give you a good grip on bigger things. The needle nose are for getting things in tight spaces.
I have a couple of reasons: 1) sometimes you need more than one screwdriver, and it's a pain to swap bits on the multi. 2) for prying at things, I find a real flat head screwdriver works better than the multi. 3) sometimes the additional thickness of the multi's shaft (it has to be able to go around the bits) means it is too big to get into tight places.
It may be regional too, but where I live (northeastern US), the blue tape has the lightest level of tack, so it's least likely to damage a surface. It's great for labeling, you can put it on a wall to draw a level line on, and it will still hold pretty well for light tasks, like taping up glued parts while the wood glue sets.
The theory here is that you might need a screw or nail "in a pinch" and having the listed ones on hand might work and save you a trip to the hardware store. A 1" screw is good for holding something thin (like a bracket) to a board. A 2" screw is long enough to attach a piece of 1-by-X lumber (which is 3/4 of an inch thick) to another board. A finish nail is good for repairing the cardboard backing on flat pack furniture.
The reality of the screws is that they get you out of a bind, but once I found myself doing the kind of projects that require a specific screw, i ended up getting an organizer and keeping a whole range of sizes and lengths on hand. But I think that is overkill for starting out.
In place of a rubber/plastic mallet you can use wood blocks or similar soft material to distribute the force of a blow across the surface of whatever you are hitting without making marks. It requires an extra hand to hold a block in place. Mallets are handy but not necessary.
The different pliers are helpful for different projects. Needle-nose will help you to reach into tight holes to grab something like fishing cable around some corner studs. The adjustable jaws type are good for multi sized pipes and fittings as well as other larger gripping tasks. Vise grip pliers and larger pipe wrenches can also be handy for general homeowner needs.
A large durable flat head and a multi tip screw driver should be enough to get by on basic maintenance. The tiny screw driver set can also be handy for new T-stats or battery compartment screws, otherwise won't get much use.
Blue and Green are both different brands of painters tape, meant for being peeled off easier without leaving residue or ruining a finished surface. Both are better than standard masking tape in almost all applications.
Wood screws I believe are mostly being referred as sheetrock or general construction screws. They are good for hanging all sorts of things from TP and towel holders to cabinets or mounting things. It's generally better to use quality screws instead of the cheap ones that come with the products you buy that way they are less likely to strip and leave you with a terrible end result. Finish nails get used for smaller pictures to hang on, locating studs accurately or fixing some loose trim or baseboard.
As a suggestion, I would say to skip including batteries (except maybe the 9 volts) in your tool bag and go for rechargable batteries instead. At this point I've got north of twenty rechargable AA and probably another ten or so AAAs with battery adapters for the AAs to convert them to D and C sizes as well.
Anything that needs batteries? They're in the coffee table. Any size. Take the drained batteries out, put them on the wall to charge, and throw them back in after. Game controller? Cat feeder? Kids toys? Mag light? All sizes, in the coffee table.
My tool box is certainly full of screwdrivers and 10mm sockets but it's in the utility room. The batteries have to be close by though.
A few years ago I bought one of those battery organizer things. Mine came with a tester. I had just bought a pack of 9 volts for smoke detectors, later I came across the pack I'd bought the year before.
Batteries have a home now, and that makes all the difference. Charged batteries are positive side up, dead or questionable ones are negative side up. We do still keep non rechargables for smoke detectors and of course button batteries. I can see when I'm getting low on anything or when I have an overflow that doesn't fit in the box.
I guess loose batteries can start fires. My family had always kept them rolling around in drawers when I was a kid, apparently we were lucky.
I mean, different types of batteries have different risks. I keep my lipos in a fire safe bag inside an ammo can. I keep my regular AAs in a glass jar. I'm more worried about corrosion than fire with regular bats, ya know? I've dealt with enough leaky AAs to last a lifetime.
I'd add a socket set. Having one will reduce the amount of cursing due to rounded heads and lack of access in tight spaces - only having pliers and a shifting spanner will eventually lead to such problems.
Tap washers, a tap reseating tool, and some thread tape can also be a quite useful set of things to have, dripping taps are annoying and it's expensive to call a plumber in just to fix one. I'll add the qualifier that this is less applicable in newer homes due to the rise of flick mixers for the kitchen/bathroom/laundry taps (but still potentially handy for garden taps etc).
Found the brit. “Taps”…
Thanks for all the discussion and great suggestions. I've updated some omissions from the list based on the comments and credited the first mention I saw of each one so that the post can serve as a good reference.
I've also added a note about the philosophy of the list, which is why it doesn't include some things. Feel free to discuss if you think I've missed the mark.
I am so glad you added twine to this list. I've known a lot of people who over look this, but it's a small thing that can help fix problems in unique ways.
This is all my opinion, and rooted in the motive of buying it once and having it for life (save for loss or misplacement). For my part, please where possible buy Klein.
I know there are other brands that may be serviceable and a decent replacement, but for home improvement hand tools, Klein is the first brand I think of. I've had Klein screwdrivers and side-cutting pliers for so long that I am amazed at how well they've held up. For durability and reliability, I trust that brand above any other for a household/home improvement tool. The lone exception being hammers, where nothing beats an Estwing. Automotive tools are another story I wont bother to delve into.
For power tools, Dewalt and Black and Decker are fine brands, and in many instances a less reputable power tool, such as Bosch or Ryobi, will often suffice, but my fave for power-tool brand is Milwaukee.
As for what you need, The list is great, but the brands are omitted. Hence, my answer.
Interesting you put black and decker as here in the UK that is basically the wallmart version. Cheap and basic.
Dewalt and Bosch are seen as good
Milwakee and ryobi are seen as okay and bit cheaper.
Interesting you put DeWalt as good, when they were acquired by Black and Decker in 1960.
In my own experience, they're great tools.
They've all put out dud products throughout their history. Currently Dewalt and Milwaukee are the better sets to get just because they offer more versatility of products so you aren't buying different types of battery sets. Both have higher and lower quality products of the same basic tools, for example Milwaukee has the FUEL series that is higher quality and Dewalt has MAX XR series that has higher quality. The sets they have on the lower quality end I've found to last 1/4 the life span of their higher end products.
I've used Bosch corded tools like routers, circular saws and hammer drills and can agree they are good quality. Can't attest to their battery powered tools. Ryobi I would consider bottom tier cheap crap like black and decker about as good or worse than the low quality versions of milwaukee and dewalt.
I'm only speaking to my experience. I have both a Milwaukee sawzall and a B&D corded 3/8 drill that I've had for 30+ years. YMMV.
For the cash-strapped in the U.S., one of the best sources for basic household tools (and inexpensive salvaged lumber, closet doors, fasteners, light fixtures, and other homebuilding supplies) is Habitat for Humanity Re-Store.
If you're persistent, you can get beautiful, well-made and well-loved old hammers, screwdrivers, saws, files, pry bars, tool boxes and so on for a few dollars. A quick rub with steel wool, a little oil, and they'll look and function like brand new.
Agreed. Re-Store is a great place to drop by frequently, where a sharp eye and industrious attitude will spot the diamond in the rough.
The biggest issue with committing to any particular brand of rechargeable power tool is battery pack compatibility. There are third-party adapters and chargers which will let you mix-and-match. As a general rule though, you'll probably want to stick with DeWalt, Ryobi, Bosch, or Milwaukee through the whole product line if possible.
[And it's not necessarily possible when you start getting into battery-operated outdoor equipment like weed whackers, chainsaws, leaf blowers...]
Someone said socket set and ratchet. This is a super good thing to have, as important as power drill or impact screw gun. Which should really be a priority I think. And don't forget to check out places like Harbor Freight, cheap stuff... But like anything, if you take care of it, it'll generally take care of you. Consider also a miter saw (I think the one I got from there was $100 or less and it's incredibly useful.
Don't forget a couple of saw horses and a good piece of plywood for a work surface.
And I'd throw in a voltage checker, even if you're not messing with electricity, it's good to know when something is hot or not.:) And the 5 in 1 painters tool is maybe the most used tool in my kit. Seriously! They are awesome.
A battery tester. I was surprised when I got mine how many times only one of the batteries in a device was dead and the others were still good. I was throwing them all out and now I only need to toss the one that's dead. I agree with the other comments to go for rechargeable most of the time. But with their lower voltage there are some mechanical devices that don't work well with them. And with pricier lithium AA's you can get a longer life out of them for cases where you want to avoid recharging regularly.
EDIT: oh, also a two or three step ladder. Great for reaching things that are just out of reach.
Don't get just any random flashlight. The cheap ones you usually find in stores run on AA/AAA batteries and have the most awful LEDs, producing harsh, almost blue light for not very long at all.
Look for something with a decent LED that takes rechargeable batteries in a standard size (e.g., 14500, 18650, 21700*), better if with an integrated charging circuit: they will put out much more light, of better quality†, for far longer than any number of AAs.
The usual suggestion would be to get a Wurkkos FC11 @ 5000K, which should cost around $20 with an 18650 battery. It isn't the best - a headlamp/right-angle light might be better here - but it'll certainly do the job.
* LiIon cylindrical cells usually are identified by a string of five digits: the first two refer to the diameter of the cell, in mm, while the last three refer to its length in tenths of mm. A 14500 will thus be 14 mm wide by 50 mm long, and be as big as a normal AA battery.
† The main thing here is CRI, the Color Rendering Index, which measures how accurately colours will be rendered relative to a black body source at the same color temperature. Incandescent lights have a CRI of 100; fluorescent lights sit in the 50-85 range, and LEDs start about at 85. Anything with a 90+ CRI at 5000K - the color temperature of sunlight in the afternoon - is OK for most uses.