What are some things for a new home owner to consider getting early on?
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Small pet peeve of mine, wd40 is NOT a lubricating oil, it’s a penetrating oil, and a cheap one at that.
Penetrating oil is what you use when things are stuck. It will dissolve whatever old oil or grease was in a joint, and flush it away, and it can be useful for rust removal as well, but it is NOT protective. Get some kind of protective oil like silicone, lithium grease, or balistol for lubrication and protection.
Absolutely agree, 3in1 oil usually raises eyebrows which is why I mention wd40.
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Know what needs filters or other consumables now - get and read the manuals. No one does all the 'required' maintenance but you should be making an informed choice to ignore them. Example, my water heater recommends a full flush every 6 months to prevent scale buildup - lol yeah right. Add up all these kinds of tasks and say goodbye to any free time you have. BUT now I know and if I am doing some other maintenance or have the water/power off for some other reason then maybe I'll tack on a flush of my water heater while I'm at it.
Also check the anode rod (might have a different name) in the water heater from time to time. It will save your ass a huge failure down the line.
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Makita gang rise up
Hell yeah brother.
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A homeowner handyperson help and discussion space would be great.
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It depends what sort of person you are but if you ask me, battery powered impact screwdriver and basic hand tools like socket set, pliers, hex keys, plane, chisels, mallet and hammer, shovel, crowbar.
If you're out in the sticks maybe keep some emergency rations and water, blankets, stove, firewood, lamps.
When getting tools, I always say people should start with the cheap shit. Go to Harbor Freight and get the biggest, cheapest “this has everything you’ll ever need” kit available. Chances are very good that you’ll never actually use most of the kit, but you’ll have it for emergencies.
Then when things break, replace them with the nice stuff. You don’t need to break the bank by getting the nice stuff right away. If shit breaks, it’s because you actually used it. So you know you’ll probably use it again in the future, and should get the nicer stuff to replace it.
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For example, I think I'll need a ladder. I'm looking for any suggestions from tools to security cameras, or whatever else you can think of. What should every new home owner consider getting?
Edit: in Canada btw, somewhere that gets a lot of snow in the winter
Toilet plunger, basic cold medicine, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and fire blanket
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Good advice, except a quarter inch 18 volt impact is way more useful. I use mine almost daily. Impact drivers drive and remove screws much better. In fact get a complete set of decent 18 volt tools. You will use the shit out of them.
except a quarter inch 18 volt impact is way more useful. I use mine almost daily. Impact drivers drive and remove screws much better.
If I only had to pick an impact or a drill, I’d actually choose the drill… Purely because impact drivers aren’t great for drilling. They’re better for driving screws, sure. But sometimes you just need to put a hole in something. And an impact driver will give you hell if you try to use it as a drill. A regular drill will be more versatile in that regard, because it can do both. So if I only had money for one, I’d choose the drill.
In fact get a complete set of decent 18 volt tools. You will use the shit out of them.
Yup, I agree completely. Even the cheap Ryobi stuff is fine for casual users. You only need the nice power tools if you’re in construction and plan on using them for 8 hours a day. Their One+ series of tools will be fine for 99% of homeowners. Ryobi had a really awful reputation for a long time, and they deserved it. But the brand got bought out, and now they’re manufactured in the same facilities that produce the (much more expensive) Milwaukee tools. Teardowns have shown that they use basically the same internals now (which makes sense, because no company wants to spend twice as much on two different types of components), just with a different plastic housing around them. The brand is still haunted by that old reputation, but these days their tools are actually fairly solid.
Get the big multipack of power tools, and maybe an extra battery if you plan on using them a lot. It’ll have 99% of what you’ll need, and the rest of your purchases will be focused on getting things to use with those tools; Bits, blades, sockets, etc…
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For example, I think I'll need a ladder. I'm looking for any suggestions from tools to security cameras, or whatever else you can think of. What should every new home owner consider getting?
Edit: in Canada btw, somewhere that gets a lot of snow in the winter
A smart water monitor/shutoff valve.
Some part of your plumbing breaking can cause your house to flood, ruining your possessions and costing you tens of thousands in repairs. Plus a huge headache to deal with even if insurance covers it all.
Smart water monitors will notice when water is pouring into your house and automatically shut the water off.
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Absolutely agree, 3in1 oil usually raises eyebrows which is why I mention wd40.
You’re doing the gods’ work
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For example, I think I'll need a ladder. I'm looking for any suggestions from tools to security cameras, or whatever else you can think of. What should every new home owner consider getting?
Edit: in Canada btw, somewhere that gets a lot of snow in the winter
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When getting tools, I always say people should start with the cheap shit. Go to Harbor Freight and get the biggest, cheapest “this has everything you’ll ever need” kit available. Chances are very good that you’ll never actually use most of the kit, but you’ll have it for emergencies.
Then when things break, replace them with the nice stuff. You don’t need to break the bank by getting the nice stuff right away. If shit breaks, it’s because you actually used it. So you know you’ll probably use it again in the future, and should get the nicer stuff to replace it.
When they start getting battery powered tools, pick a brand and stick with it so that after a few batteries, you can buy the tool only and save some $.
That said, I went with Hercules (harbor freight) for everything I keep in my van since it's cheaper than big box brands and is good enough.
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Graphite lock lube. Just hit every doorknob in the house. Trust me, once you get used to properly lubricated doorknobs lock dials you'll notice when they aren't.
Reminds me of an old lock at my job, which was notorious for eating keys. I had the magic touch and could get keys unstuck without any issues. But apparently nobody else in the building could figure it out. I was getting calls to come get random people’s keys out of the lock, like it was a fucking sword in a stone. So a maintenance request was put in to fix the lock.
The very first thing the maintenance guy did was blow some graphite into the lock, stick a key in it to wiggle it around and spread the graphite… And promptly get the key stuck in the lock. I had to walk all the way across the building, to pull the maintenance guy’s damned key out of the lock.
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A quality hand truck and a couple furniture dollies come in handy much more often than you might think.
If you're the DIY type, make sure you buy a non-contact voltage tester pen ('beepstick'). It beeps when it is in proximity to electricity.
Edit: see the mic_check_one_two comment below. Apparently I'm lucky to not be a crispy critter.
If you're the DIY type, make sure you buy a non-contact voltage tester pen ('beepstick'). It beeps when it is in proximity to electricity.
Electricians call these widowmakers, because apprentices trust them and then grab live wires. Get a real multimeter if you plan on doing electrical work. Or hell, plug a lamp in and see if it turns on.
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If you're the DIY type, make sure you buy a non-contact voltage tester pen ('beepstick'). It beeps when it is in proximity to electricity.
Electricians call these widowmakers, because apprentices trust them and then grab live wires. Get a real multimeter if you plan on doing electrical work. Or hell, plug a lamp in and see if it turns on.
I usually test with a multimeter after carefully exposing the endpoint or whatever I'm working on. I had no idea that NCVTs were that untrustworthy, thanks.
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I usually test with a multimeter after carefully exposing the endpoint or whatever I'm working on. I had no idea that NCVTs were that untrustworthy, thanks.
They got a bad reputation pretty early on, because the early models didn’t have any kind of obvious power indicator. You just had to trust that they were turned on when you went to use it. Plenty of people got shocked because the battery in their NCVT had died, and the user didn’t realize that it wasn’t working.
The issue is that there isn’t any way to make them fail safely. The word “failsafe” exists for a reason. What if the power light is on, but it has a cracked solder and isn’t actually working? On a multimeter, you’d be able to see that it is obviously busted/not giving good readings. But with a NCVT, the first “this thing is busted” indicator you get is usually when you touch a hot line that the NCVT failed to alert.
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For example, I think I'll need a ladder. I'm looking for any suggestions from tools to security cameras, or whatever else you can think of. What should every new home owner consider getting?
Edit: in Canada btw, somewhere that gets a lot of snow in the winter
Water softener.
If your climate is dry in the winter, a whole home humidifier.
LUXE Bidet NEO 185 Plus:
https://www.amazon.com/LUXE-Bidet-Plus-Next-Generation-Self-Cleaning/dp/B0B1H9W4D2 -
Toilet plunger, basic cold medicine, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and fire blanket
This guy knows how to party!
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A smart water monitor/shutoff valve.
Some part of your plumbing breaking can cause your house to flood, ruining your possessions and costing you tens of thousands in repairs. Plus a huge headache to deal with even if insurance covers it all.
Smart water monitors will notice when water is pouring into your house and automatically shut the water off.
The water softener & filter in our house has built in monitoring & alerted me when one of our toilets wouldn’t stop running. Very helpful feature.
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I think there’s a lot of great ideas in here, but I’d start with the stuff that, when you need it, you need it now.
Something I didn’t see mentioned yet was a wrench to turn your water off at the line that goes into your house. If you’re on a well, then whatever tools you’d need to turn that valve off. If you spring a bad leak you want to shut that off asap
A few other things that seem like good things to have BEFORE you need them
- Plunger and drain snake (Good to have both, sometime the plunger won’t cut it, but it’s much easier to use a plunger if that’s all you need)
- First aid kit
- Fire extinguisher
- Carbon monoxide/smoke detectors
- Spare keys, give them to people you trust or hide them really well so you don’t have to break in if you get locked out
- A big bucket for leaks, mopping, etc
- ladder
- Generator if you can afford it
- Emergency bag with food, water, flashlight, spare batteries, cheap phone, list of numbers, map, first aid kit, etc
Those are the kinds of things I’d look to buying first since anything else you can just go get when you need it.
Also, a small wet/dry vac!
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Disagree, drill drivers are cheap these days. Don't lock yourself into an expensive battery platform yet.
Don't get anything more than a Ryobi drill and see if you need a good one, once it breaks, then you can decide what color you will use for the next 20 years.
I have Rigid stuff I inherited from my dad. Some of the lipo batteries are from 2011 and still kicking. And I fabricate and restore cars semi-professionally, before that my dad was a handyman and not gentle on them for the first 5-6 years he used them. We built a 30 foot porch, and installed a metal roof with those drivers for instance.
It’s mid grade between Ryobi and Milwaukee which I have a couple of. Besides some specialty tools, I think the red tools are just status, I don’t see a real difference in quality. And I think they all have flashlights in them now too. Some even have ring lights that are super handy.
Buy the kit when it’s on sale (Father’s Day, or Black Friday are good ones, but pretty much any holiday sale). It’ll usually get you a free battery or charger and having a separate drill and impact driver is pretty handy when installing shit around the house.
