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
Get cheap tools. Buy everything at harbor freight. Don’t splurge on anything that’s not a safety hazard (get a quality ladder, but buy cheap screwdrivers)
If the tool breaks, buy a quality one to replace it.
Project Farm is your friend to find the cheap option, and the quality option.
Edit: Substitute Princess Auto for Harbor Freight, as you’re in Canada.
Do not cheap out on a power drill. Get a nice one with a light and everything. Otherwise, you’re just pissing money away.
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.
Makita gang rise up
My Makita drill is honestly baller. Lightweight and easy to handle, but still powerful enough for almost anything. And it has a light! That said, I still have a big honking Dewalt 18v(?) with the heavy ass batteries that is still going strong after 20 years (even the heavy ass batteries!), that I break out for the really heavy duty stuff. (Or when I can’t find my little Makita. Which is now).
Hell yeah brother.
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.
The target here is home owners, not trades. The cheapo ozito drill I bought is half the price of a “good” one, and for the homeowner use case is plenty. Spending more on a drill would have been pissing money away.
Start collecting tools from yard sales.
Great option
get a quality ladder, but buy cheap screwdrivers
I disagree, don’t buy cheap tools, especially screwdrivers. You don’t need to break the bank, but the cheapest options are going to be problematic for a number of reasons. Not only are the cheap tools, themselves, prone to breaking, but they also have the potential to strip your screws. Depending on what you’re working on, that screw may be almost impossible to replace, if it’s not in a standard sizing.
Personally, I suggest Wiha tools, based on a recommendation I received here on Lemmy about a year ago. They’re made with high-quality materials so they’re a bit more expensive than your typical Craftsman garbage, but they’re not unreasonably priced, and far from being the most expensive in their category. I’ve got a few Wiha driver sets that I make use of pretty frequently, and they’re all still in excellent condition, and none of them have ever stripped a screw yet, despite my clumsy ass handling them.
My 2 cents, get a good drill and good screwdriver set, cheap out on everything else until you replace it.
Don’t bother buying stuff you “think” you’ll need except for a drill. Buy stuff beyond that as needed.
Depending on where you live get to know the deal spots around you: pawn shops, Craigslist, fb marketplace, ebay, etc. tools are frequently resold for fairly cheap especially if you ever desire stuff that’s a pain in the ass to ship/move like ladders/table saws/miter box/etc.
Brand doesn’t matter regardless of what internet dorks say for the most part but picking an ecosystem means you won’t have 90 different batteries hanging around. Keep in mind with some manufacturers there a sub lines with different batteries (eg ryobi has a battery whereas Makita has 3 different battery types).
Don’t buy Milwaukee. Dogshit tools that work okay until they don’t. Makita, ryobi, dewalt, Bosch, metabo, etc are generally repairable. Makita is my go to because you can generally buy parts (though sometimes cost prohibitive tbf), dewalt too but dewalt is pricier. Milwaukee though tends to have these proprietary pcbs with microcontrollers in everything for some reason that inevitably fail and cannot be purchased so once they fail the $350 tool you just got is junk. Whereas https://www.ereplacementparts.com/makita-parts-c-97.html? And https://www.toolservicenet.com/b2b/dewalt/en//Dewalt/OUTDOOR//p/DCCS623B sells actual oem parts
Harbor freight stuff is fine too especially if you’re not going to use it much (or even if you are, my palm sander is from there and I’ve used that for hundreds of hours. Had to change the brushes but otherwise fine).
Hope you know how to patch drywall.
If you want something like cameras that’s like a whole thing. IMO that’s where you should head over to selfhosted. Easy mode is get some WiFi cameras from whoever like eufy and slap them on your house but then you trade away privacy (uploads to their cloud servers and literally every company has had at least one “security whoopsie”) and connection stability (WiFi connection will inherently drop out several times a week/day/hour depending on your setup/congestion in your area. You go to check the camera and it’s always unavailable when you need it). You also have to either add solar panels to them or recharge them every few months. But this is generally what people do because it’s cheaper and easier
Alternatively you can get power over Ethernet cameras that have much more reliable connectivity and are more likely to run locally (eg record to hardware in your home, either an NVR or a server you make). Downsides here are more expensive (not subsidized by being able to sell your data + the cost of the nvr/server), needing to run Ethernet drops to wherever you want cameras, having to figure out something like tailscale if you want to view cameras remotely and truly don’t want any cloud involved
This is good stuff. For the cameras, Euphys generally have micro SD card slots, can store locally, and are Apple Home compatible and can store data in iCloud. (I realize Apple stuff is not every lemming’s cup of tea, but I daresay iCloud is more secure thatn Euphy’s servers.)
So I personally will forever be on the side of “fuck eufy and I hope they fail miserably” for several reasons:
they initial sold their cameras with the guarantee of no cloud integration. When users found that even if you had it set to be local only it still uploaded thumbnails of every persons face with a “name” attached to an aws server and that portions of camera streams could be viewed remotely without encryption, suggesting that all of this data was being transmitted without encryption. When called out on this eufy doubled down and said it was incorrect. When proven wrong they offered 0 recourse for pissed off customers who purchased it specifically because of their promises that it was “no cloud integration”, their only response was to silently remove references to “no cloud integration” and “military grade encryption” from their website and marketing materials.
This led to a 450,000 dollar settlement earlier this year based on an investigation from the NYAG that found “eufy’s Internet-connected security cameras, video doorbells and smart locks did not fully encrypt video data in transit, despite company assurances that consumer footage would remain private and secure.”
Scumbag company. Fuck eufy.
Well. I only have 1 camera so far, so I’m not exactly heavily invested. Is there a brand you like?
I am fairly militant about privacy and data security so I go POE and self hosted. My cameras are all wired and sync to a server in my basement. I trust no corporations.
That said the cameras I have are reolink. They do have options for WiFi cameras that use apps and such but I don’t use this. You can also use the app with the POE camera but I don’t do this.
I have the cameras on an isolated lan with no internet access. All of my smart home stuff is like this. If it doesn’t work on an isolated vlan then it is useless to me and I won’t buy it. I then forward the rtsp stream from the cameras to homeassistant which has tailscale so I can view the cameras remotely.
At one point I used homebridge in homeassistant so I could view everything in homekit but I finally convinced my partner to just use the homeassistant app and leave apple nonsense behind. That said if you’re less paranoid than me this works too and gives you remote access without the bother of tailscale (but the downside of funneling it all through apple).
Of course, if you research and trust reolinks app then using that is the easiest thing. I haven’t done that tho. I believe amcrest cameras are also good but these are also primarily POE
Ive had a set of eufy cameras for almost 7 years, I’ve never uograded the SD card the storage unit thingy came with and its been flawless!
I have no idea how decent any of their new stuff is but I’m very happy with the performance I’ve had so far! Especially given they are the wire-free cameras which you have to recharge every 4 months or so.
Shop Vac. Tool chest. Beer.
Definitely a shop vac. Specifically a wet/dry vac so if something good wrong and leaks all over, you have a quick solution.
Besides a typical big corded model, I also have a small cordless one which is super convenient. Depending what kind of stuff you plan to do, the small one might be enough. Be aware this can be another way to start the vendor-specific battery lock in. (Though you can get adapters.)
I don’t own many tools, let alone enough tools that would necessitate an entire chest. What in particular do you suggest I fill it with?
Inevitably you are going to need tools after you tire of paying contractors to fix or install things.
A set of screwdrivers, pliers, tape measure, hammer
That’s your starting set. As a homeowner trust me, you’ll find places to use them.
For now get something better than a cardboard box for your tools, something you can carry all the basics around with. A bucket works, a bucket with a handyman belt on it (they sell these for buckets) works well enough. When you run out of space just know that no matter what you upgrade to you will run out of space again. Start small and upgrade as needed.
I thought about all the things I’ve bought for this house and wondered what would I miss the most if I couldn’t replace it.
The bidet.
I literally just finished installing them in both of our bathrooms. So glad for them.
First thing I installed when I moved into my current rental!
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.
Really depends on your home, but a few that I had…
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If you have wood floors, a bulk pack of sticky felt pads for furniture you buy to not scratch them up
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Robot vacuum (or vac/mop)
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Basic power tools
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Electric lawn mower/weed whacker that uses the SAME BATTERIES as your power tools
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if you’re a nerd and wanna do “smart home” stuff, don’t buy smart lights, buy smart switches
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a touchless live-wire tester
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A label maker
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Big pack of furnace filters
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an accordion folder thingy for the billions of documents you’ll wanna keep (receipts/user manuals for appliances), property tax assessments, etc
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Bulk pack of lightbulbs with the same colour temperature (it looks idiotic if all your lights are different hues)
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nail-in picture frame hangers, wall anchors (they’re YOUR walls now!)
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keycode deadbolt
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most microwaves have a way to enable “silent mode”, do that
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water sensors (smart if possible), put under your hot water tank and dishwasher
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double check your laundry room drain actually has a slope to it, and isn’t the damn high point in the room
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if you’re not living with a romantic partner… I’d suggest not blowing your budget decorating… Let them have the space to feel like they can make the space thiers as well, and accept that means some of your decorations are going to be retired
most microwaves have a way to enable “silent mode”, do that
are you fucking kidding me. the thousands of times i have thought about why this didn’t exist, fantasizing what changes would be required in the world economy to get rid of those awful noises. you are telling me it does exists?!
Yeah! If you can find the manual for your microwave (can usually find a pdf one online) there should be instructions on how to do it. Usually a wacky sequence of buttons you gotta press and hold.
- a touchless live-wire tester
This right here. Everybody should have one of these - not just homeowners, everybody. They’re cheap and easy to use.
Circuit breakers can fail shorted. Miswiring happens. Just because the switch is off doesn’t mean the wire is dead.
You may avoid electrocuting yourself or someone else, or starting a fire. It could literally save your life.
Can you recommend one? I have a non-touchless volt meter that I can’t figure out for the life of me.
Klein tools are reliable: https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/electrical-testers/non-contact-voltage-tester-pen-50-1000v-ac
But really any similar pen-style non-contact voltage tester that you can find at your local hardware store should work just as well. They’re simple devices, and for this function probably the simpler the better. Should be in the US$10-20 range, don’t overspend for fancy features. Nothing wrong with a store-brand tool in this case. I’d be concerned if it were $5 or less, might be junk.
100% on the water sensors! Gas sensor and carbon monoxide sensor too! I have a gas stove and people are always leaning against it and turning the gas knobs on.
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Buy good quality air filters (highest particle rating). Just the dust control alone will make a huge difference, especially in an older home.
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One good power drill
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One good set of driving bits
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One good set of drill bits
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Duct tape
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Lubricating oil (wd40 or a 3in1 style oil)
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Hammer
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Drywall anchors for having heavier items
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Kit of random screws and nails
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Flashlight
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Fire extinguisher
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Old towels (for WHEN you spring a leak)
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Measuring tape
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Channel lock wrench (the kind that can be various sizes)
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Wrench/socket set
This will cover a LOT of issues. Outside the drill/bits feel free to cheap out on tools. When they break, then replace with better quality
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.
You’re doing the gods’ work
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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A good notebook. Yup good old paper and pencil. I mean I suppose it could be digital but sometimes I think it’s just easier going old school.
Anyway, the purpose is to write notes about your home ownership. In the front I put numbers of the tradesmen I use. Leave lots of room so you can note if they are good or if they suck so you don’t accidentally use a bad service again if you forget.
In this book you put when you got new carpet, new countertops, AC fixed, literally every notable thing. Color swatches so you can get the correct touch-up paint. And especially before and after pics.
Most homeowners move within about 5-8 years (may be different now). The purpose of this book is to be set on the kitchen counter when you are selling your home. This is one of the reasons I like paper, you may not want to leave an electronic device in the house. Also, if there’s just a pen sitting there you’re more likely to make notes right away rather than going to your computer to crop a photo or whatever.
Anyway, this book will show potential buyers that you really had a pride of ownership and of course it will help them and you know exactly when things were done. How old is the roof? How long did that POS water heater last? What model was it? You might want to avoid it in the future. Whatever. I usually only enter significant stuff but I also enter anything I think will be helpful. For instance I bought way too much Halloween candy (I love Halloween) so I record how much I gave out each year, so I know how many bags to buy next year. This is important because I will eat what they don’t and nobody wants to see that.
I think you get the idea.
I mentioned this elsewhere in the thread but I use a dedicated email for the house for this. It is worth doing - use the format that works but do it. I do like emailing this stuff to myself so that I can can access the paint color while I am at the hardware store when I inevitably forget to check that before I leave the house lol. And I just use it to communicate with contractors so I get all the notes and invoices saved at the same time. Anyway, not trying to debate the method as that matters WAY less than the idea of keeping track of this stuff.
OH, and one more thing I track - take photos anytime you have a wall open or a trench dug or whatever. Later if you need to come back to it you will know exactly what is behind the wall and where which will make it much easier to do whatever new things you are doing. This feels silly sometimes, surely I’ll remember where I ran that wire, but the next time you need to get behind the wall could be 10 or 20 years from now.
Yeah, excellent idea. No reason not to use BOTH methods.
This is all so thoughtful, thank you for sharing!
I was thrilled when I bought my first home just a few years back and they had a single page hand written note explaining a couple of minor issues, some unusual plumbing, and an apology for a small hole in the wall done by accident during move out day. It was a relief just for some insight, since I didn’t really know what to do with a house and was a bit scatterbrained already.
This would be above and beyond expectations in the best way possible. Thanks for the reminder for me to get this started.
I’m glad it helps. I originally got the idea when I renovated my first house. I had so many before and after pictures. I was single back then and completely transformed the whole house working every night and all weekend for the years. I was on the last room which just needed paint when I was layed off from work and had to sell it. Was a pretty big bummer because I never really got to just LIVE in it. How it goes better for you.
Fire extinguisher. One for the kitchen, one for the garage, both rated for oil & grease fires, and with metal not plastic valves (don’t buy the cheapest model). Do not store them next to the things mostly likely to catch fire (e.g. the stove). Read the directions, know how to use it before you need it.
Check all the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Push the test button. If they’re more than 10 years old replace them.
Get a big, high brightness flashlight and/or lantern that will be useful if/when the power goes out, preferably one that takes standard batteries. Rechargeables are great for regular use items to reduce waste, but you don’t want to realize that you forgot to charge your emergency light when you suddenly need it and there’s no power. Get spare batteries.
You should also learn what easements are on your property, and where your utilities connect to public services - electrical, communications, water, sewage, roads/access paths - where does your responsibility end and the utility company/government’s responsibility begin?
Congratulations!
Yes, you’ll definitely need a good quality ladder and:
– Set of screwdrivers. My Stanleys are over 20 years old
– Separate flathead for kitchen use only (instead of using your forks to open stuff)
– Fire extinguisher (leave one in kitchen)
– All-purpose or silicone caulk and caulk gun. (In case of emergency and if your house is old).
– Scissors
– First Aid Kit (you can make your own, I did)
– Multi-tool or Utility knife (I love my SOG)
– Flashlight (combination of battery-powered, rechargeable, heck even a tealight will do). Ideally, some form of light for each room in the house if you lose power (nothing expensive).
– Shovel and Salt before it snows (If you have pets, get the [blue] pet-friendly salt). Always buy it before it snows. Keep it in the house the night before it snows so you can dig yourself out.
– If your windows are old, read up on removable window film, magnetic window film (3M makes them also)
– 409 (they clean almost everything)
– phone number of a good electrician and plumber (my GC is awesome but she’s stateside only)
– Plunger. Don’t buy the orangey-plastic snake - they don’t work.
– I have DeWalt (and a bunch of batteries) but prefer my Makita. Black & Decker is a toy, don’t do it. Milwaukee sucks. If you’re not using power tools now, don’t buy them or wait until they go on sale.
– Surge protectors (the higher/more joules, the better). You definitely need those.
– WD-40
Canada has some very good quality wind turbines (for home use, not the gigantic ones) that you might want to consider; I hear your solar panels are pretty good, too.
Buy what you can afford; check out thrift shops, yard sales, flea markets for some tools.
Most of all, know your limitations. My house is old and I knew what I could do myself, what I would be willing to do and the rest I need for someone else to do.
Every year you’ll have more questions and we will be here for you… with answers you may or may not like.
Good luck and Enjoy!
A note about surge protectors: Make sure they are actually surge protectors and not just “power strips” that Amazon has mixed into the search results. Power strips are easy to find in many varieties, made by any number of fly-by-night companies; they’ll do nothing to help protect your stuff from power surges. Legitimate surge protectors from reputable companies are much less common. Also, they don’t last forever. An older surge protector may still work as a power strip, but over time they may become much less effective as surge protectors.
I found the ladders that can turn into scaffolds to be of immense use. Also start going to every yard, estate, and garage sale you can find as there are often tools and ladders and all sorts of stuff being sold cheap.
Also pawn shops are great for used tools
I am also a new home owner. Would anyone be interested in a community for swapping tips, answering each other’s questions, ranting about our favorite power tool brands, etc.?
A homeowner handyperson help and discussion space would be great.
Create an email address for the house and use it for everything house related. Contractors, mtg payments, instruction/owner’s manuals for appliances, etc, all get sent here and it’s very helpful. Also suggest doing a first look for manuals now. When you need to fix your water heater - even if you opt to pay a contractor - having read the manual first will put put you in a much better position to understand what needs to be done or what you are choosing to pay for.
Tool wise I’d include a couple pipe wrenches plus a 90° angle one for under sinks. The actual ones are probably less useful for plumbing inside the house but are just useful tools. A pickaxe is useful for small irrigation or electrical trenches. A pry bar for - you’ll find a use. Someone else mentioned a hand truck which is really handy. Basic electrical tools, lineman plyers, wire strippers, an electrical tester. Some basic chemicals, acetone, alcohol, bleach, etc will come in handy for cleaning/prepping (don’t store acids around tools/metal unless you put them in an airtight container as an acidic pH in the air causes rust). Other basic consumables are good too - a tube of caulk, electrical tape, couple boxes of screws and nails, plumbing tape, a small tube of epoxy, I tend to buy an extra of these kinds of things as I see them so that I have them when I need them. Once you have all this and other basic tools it’s awesome to have a project and be able to do it without needing to go to the hardware store.
Not something you can just go buy but I keep an eye out for jars and drawers of junk at yardsales and thrift stores. Have bought a couple of little Grey boxes with the 30 tiny drawers full of odds and ends someone else collected - super handy. All kinds of oddball stuff, hinges, springs, rubber gaskets, cotter pins, that have saved me many trips to the store.
Outdoor bug lights - yellow bulbs that don’t attract bugs. Not sure why I’d never heard of these but they make the patio more enjoyable. Not gonna keep bugs away but at least there isn’t a swarm of them.
Good luck!
Drain snake, plunger, bidet, Hammock and most importantly a cool fridge magnet.
Notably don’t put the sticker inside the fridge, it does make it cool but it’s apparently not what your supposed to do.
Toilet plunger, basic cold medicine, first aid kit, fire extinguisher and fire blanket
This guy knows how to party!
