You guys often ask about our must have tools for DIY projects, and the truth is that it still catches me off guard that I’m The Guy People Ask About Tools. Growing up I remember taking trips to Hechinger (anyone remember those?) thinking “who would ever willingly go to a home improvement store?!?” And when my dad gifted me a set of screwdrivers in high school I wondered what the heck I’d use them for. But here I am today – 32 and the proud owner of more tools than I can count (and still fewer than I’d like) – including some of those same screwdrivers from my dad so many years ago.
Home ownership is what flipped the switch for me. I quickly witnessed how the right tools could make a project go smoother, faster , or just plain better overall. But even still, I’ve been a slow adopter tool-wise. Well, mostly power-tool-wise. Tim Taylor’s mantra was more power *grunt grunt grunt* but mine is probably closer to sufficient power *pretty please*. I still have a healthy fear of tools that could shock me, slice me open, blow me to bits, or poke me full of holes, so in many cases I play it safe and opt for more elbow grease. But my confidence with and reliance on power tools has grown bit by bit over recent years as I’ve tried new ones and realized I can use them successfully… and without maiming myself! And Sherry’s right there next to me grinning and firing them up.
In fact, certain must have power tools have been game changers for us. Some were particularly confidence boosting. Some were the gateway drug (or saw). And most are now things that we can’t do without. So without further ado, I present to you: 5 Power Tools That Changed How We DIY.
#1 – Power drill / driver – I’ll start slow here, because a $40 cordless drill barely registers on the power tool spectrum. But my little 12v battery-operated drill/driver that I bought nearly a decade ago is still one of my best tool purchases. Just putting a little power behind the otherwise tedious task of screwing things together or drilling simple holes (like for picture hanging anchors) has made small DIY tasks much easier and faster. Seriously, just buy yourself a hex screwdriver bit set and see how much faster your next Ikea assembly goes. The 12V Black & Decker model we used to use is no longer available, and we’re currently using this 18V Ryobi ONE+ version because its battery matches some of our other cordless tools.
#2 – Miter saw – Power saws were the most intimidating power tool to me. I mean, c’mon, there’s a whole gory movie franchise bearing their name. But borrowing my dad’s miter saw to install trim in our first bathroom remodel was eye-opening to me. Just making simple 45° cuts turned out to be super easy, fast, and even kinda fun. I got that little rush that you get when you conquer a fear and it triggered a complete 180° in me. I love saws. I own six of them (not counting the manual ones). And becoming confident with them has opened up a whole world of projects we can tackle – whether it’s cutting big sheets of plywood with a circular saw or ripping floorboards on our table saw. Here’s the exact miter saw that we have.
#3 – Kreg jig – Now this one isn’t technically a power tool (although it does involve using a power drill/driver), but it was too significant in my “tool journey” to leave off the list. This was the device that got me interested in building stuff. It took some of the mystery out of joining two pieces of wood together (not that there’s a whole lot of mystery there to begin with). I started small with some shelves for Clara’s nursery and before long we were using it to constructing giant console tables, play kitchens and even real kitchen cabinets (okay, all of those should probably be singular). Although I’ll admit ol’ Kreg and I don’t spend as much time together as we used to thanks to the next item on my list. Here’s the Kreg Jig that we have.
#4 – Nail gun – After “saw”, “gun” is the scariest word in the tool dictionary to me. I was a slow adapter in purchasing a nail gun (we bought ours less than a year ago) and our model is far from heavy duty. But after hours of numb arms thanks to manually hand-nailing some crown molding in our last kitchen, I knew we had to up our game if we wanted projects like adding board and batten to take days instead of weeks to complete. And just like with the miter saw, within one use we were both full converts. Not only has it made projects like adding crown molding and installing our sunroom ceiling possible, but for the most part it (plus wood glue) has replaced a lot of tasks we had previously used the Kreg Jig for (mainly for speed reasons, since glue + nails is much faster than drilling pilot holes and screwing things together – although that’s still the best way to go for certain tasks). Our nail gun is no longer sold, so this is what we use these days instead (it doesn’t require an air compressor either!)
#5 – Paint sprayer – This is the latest power tool to join the Petersik ranks (it’s even newer than the nail gun) and it almost didn’t make the list. Just like numbers one through four, it has been invaluable for speeding up tasks that otherwise would’ve taken us days – namely spraying all of the blue/cream/mauve trim & doors on our house’s second floor before moving in. But it wasn’t a shoe-in for this list because I still have a love/hate relationship with it. While I love its painting speed, there’s a lot that I don’t love – from prepping and protecting against over-spray, to the time it takes to clean it after use – which means using it isn’t a no-brainer for us every time. I’m still glad we have it, and we definitely like to use it strategically (like for painting the kitchen cabinet doors that we could remove and spray in the garage while hand-painting the frames that were still in the kitchen to avoid an over-spray snowstorm), but it hasn’t caused us to ditch our old school brush and roller completely. We’ve since fallen out of love with our old Graeco model, so here’s the one we’ve been using more recently.
So those are our 5 must have tools for DIY projects. What are yours? Are there any others you think I should add to our repertoire?
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Allison says
Thanks so much for this list! I’ve been hemming and hawing on a miter saw for forever. It’s nice to know how much you like it.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, MVP tool status for that guy! We use it all the time!
xo
s
Mari Jo says
My husband swears by his Skil iXO 4V Max Palm-sized Screwdriver. It is compact, will fit in your pocket and the battery seems to last forever. It even has a site light on it.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds awesome Mari Jo!
xo
s
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Steph!
xo
s
Drew says
A small pickup truck…..makes hauling sooooo much easier.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, that’s what dreams are made of.
xo
s
Stephanie @ Whole Health Dork says
Thank you SO much for sharing! I always wonder what is worth the “upgrade” and what isn’t. I think the power drill and saw would bring our DIYs up a notch and allow us to do more. This is very helpful!
YoungHouseLove says
So glad!
xo
s
Steve says
Great post, power tools definitely make certain projects easier.
Haley says
This is a very useful list. Thank you!
Shelby says
This is more my husband’s department but I think I can speak for him on this one. We have the same nailer and miter saw and I’m sure they would be on his list. Two more things I think he would definitely have on his list and uses all the time are a reciprocating saw (saws-all) and this little Craftsman multi-tool thing my dad gave him. At the time he got it, he thought he would never use it but it has been a lifesaver so many times. It doesn’t look like they carry it anymore but I did see some refurbished ones online when I googled it- it is called a “Craftsman Nextec 12-Volt Cordless Multi-Tool w/ Accessories” which is a lot of words for not really saying anything ;-) Anyhow, we do tons of projects around here (my husband is re-tiling our shower as I am typing) and those for sure would be on his list!
My Crappy House says
My most favorite tool is my impact driver. I LOVE that thing. I do still use a regular drill for some stuff, but for driving screws, nothing beats the impact driver. I put a whole plywood subfloor down all by myself (I’m a girl and I rocked it, tyvm!) and that tool kicked butt. Mine is by Makita (as is my drill.)
YoungHouseLove says
Love the recs guys! We have a hammer drill, which we hear is pretty similar but not identical to an impact driver. It’s awesome for heavier duty things like hanging window boxes into a brick exterior.
xo
s
ART Murphy says
Ha! I own everyone on the above list except the Jig-joiner thingy….and feel the same way about them all. I paint furniture and just purchased the same Graco sprayer…I also have the same feelings on each piece of equipment :)…I would add the black & decker mouse sander to my “go-to” list…
Lisa says
My husband loves the Kreg jig. We recently added a 2-story garage to our house, and he even used it on the spacers between the trusses. It’s been great for window and door mouldings too.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Kyle says
I would amend the drill thing to say go for an impact driver–infinitely more torque available, and even a 12 volt can handle virtually any DIY job. Mine has completely replaced my wimpy electric drill.
YoungHouseLove says
We have a hammer drill (which we hear is similar but not identical) and love it! Will have to check out an impact driver. Thanks for the tip!
xo
s
My Crappy House says
Both the impact driver and hammer drill use short, quick bursts of power to drive screws. The difference is the direction. Hammer drills are like their name. They hammer in. An impact driver has bursts that spin in the same direction as the bit. It’s like the effect you get when you’re driving a screw with a drill and you pump the trigger in short bursts to get the screw in. You don’t need to pump the trigger with an impact driver. Like you said, hammer drills are great for concrete and brick, but impact drivers are great for everything else. Like Kyle above me said, you’ll probably hardly ever use your drill again…
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much! Sounds like something we need to get our hands on!
xo
s
JG says
Yep, those are great! The other two power tools that were a game-changer for me were the oscillating multi-tool with flush cut blade (like a large dremel), and a grinder with cut-off wheel. The small portable size of the oscillator- and being able to do flushcuts is great. And it has replaced a jigsaw for doing the leftover corners when using the circ saw or tablesaw. The grinder allowed us to finally be able to cut metal which is *awesome*!
YoungHouseLove says
So awesome!
xo
s
Lee Ann says
Thank you! Love the list. Now if I just had a garage and workbench to store all the awesome toys … I mean “tools” …
Teresa @ wherelovemeetslife says
Love this post. I have been pushing my limits recently with some DIY and having the right tools makes all the difference. I finally used a circular saw last weekend. I have no idea what was holding me back, it’s crazy simple. It is good to know that a plain old Black &Decker drill has held up for you though. I am in need of most things on your list (sans paint sprayer – that just won’t be used in my house since I am the only one who does all the DIY) Anyway, thanks for the info.
Dawn says
I’m looking at the Kreg jig to build a couple pieces of furniture (leaning shelves, a la Ana White). Out of all of these, this one scares me the most because without having ever used one, I honestly don’t understand how to use it!!
YoungHouseLove says
Check out the post John linked to about using it to build shelves for Clara! There’s a nice detailed tutorial for how it works. It’s really simple!
xo
s
Kristin J (soon to be T!) says
Oooh we JUST bought that compressor/nailgun combo! We went to Sears just to start looking at them and researching…and they had that one that someone had returned (they had opened the box but hadn’t unpackaged anything inside)for $35 off..so we snatched it up! Now I’m so excited to do our crown molding and get to tacking in the balusters we have had cut and ready for a month!!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
xo
s
Paula W says
Palm sander.
Joanna Banana says
We definitely use the dremel multi max and rotary tools a lot. Besides that 20v cordless drill driver and chop saw get the most use. Oh and not a power tool but the mini blue paint brush you recommend for cutting in is the BEST time saver and so precise. It’s probably my favorite tool.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, that’s a good one!
xo
s
Joseph says
I don’t think my dad was ever a Hechinger’s guy (though I do remember those) but I still remember him dragging me along with him on long boring trips to the hardware store. Now I can’t figure out what was wrong with me and how I couldn’t see the wonder of aisles and aisles of awesome tools and tons of just… cool stuff.
I’m enjoying building up my own tool inventory now. Working on outside tools since we’re working on the yard (clearance Husky tools at Home Depot, yes please) I’ll have to get a nail gun though for when we put up crown. I got a mini Kreg jig for Christmas but I haven’t gotten a chance to try it out yet.
Sarah says
About the Graco paint sprayer. Have you ever done a work shop sort of post about your techniques and methods for using it? I am thinking of getting one to spray the exterior of the handicap accessible cottage I had built in my back yard for my sister. I H-A-T-E painting. So I am hoping that a lot of research on this sprayer will help me get started on this and get it over with. XOXO
YoungHouseLove says
Let’s see, we shared a video of it in use (so you can see how fast we go, etc) and it only has one speed and you don’t water down the paint, so it’s pretty much just about getting the hang of it like a spray paint can!
xo
s
Koen @ TownHouseHome says
There’s two power tools I’d never want to miss again, and that’s my trusty set of Makita portable screw driver (LCT303X for those interested) and my trusty cross line laser. They both make it so much easier to get work done!
Next on the list will be an oscillating multi tool, but I still have to buy that one…
Sarah says
This post made it to Bloglovin’s weekly top picks list! Maybe it’s just me but I think it’s funny that of all your amazing quirky cool posts, the one about power tools makes the top list ;)
YoungHouseLove says
That’s so funny!
xo
s
Charlie says
Great list John! There are not many projects that a DIY’er can’t tackle with a cordless drill, miter saw, and a nail gun. And Kreg jigs open up a world of possibilities. All that’s needed is a good circular saw and you can even start to build some basic boxes and cabinets.
Home Renovation Tools says
We are still in the midst of our every growing home renovations project and recently went from a mitre box hand saw for cutting trim, to a mitre saw power tool. At first my father in law said, “no way” it will just eat the MDF trim and wreck the boards, but after one cut he was like, “WOW, this is going to save us TONS of time.” I smiled and got everything done in half the time.
Lynn says
I am trying to decide if I should get a Kreg Jig. If I have a nail gun (or access to one), do you think it’s useful? Would you get one if you already had a nail gun?
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, they’re both great for different things (nail gun = hanging crown, kreg jig = building stuff).
xo,
s