Diy Beginner

marcg868

marcg868

marcg868

Associate
Joined
16 Oct 2016
Posts
431
Location
East Lancashire
Looking at a list of essential tools for a beginner. And also a drill.
The only sort of diy I've done is wire a plug for a snake vivarium and attach the light fitting, fixed a leaking tap, and built a brick wall.

Moving to a new house in the next few weeks, so lots of flat pack Ikea furniture to build and blinds to put up. Even my missus who is slightly more competent gas never used a drill before.

But I'd like to learn and be more manly
Have bought a diy books!
 
I guess the best way to learn is to find a specific job that needs doing and then read up on it, maybe watch videos of people doing it and then give it a go.

Even for people who have done DIY a fair bit that would still apply since there's so many very specific things you can run into... and do worse than necessary if you're not a professional.
 
A half decent drill/driver is a must and will save hours of time, a good set of screwdrivers is also essential but it really depends on the job, I have just recently changed a tap in the bathroom and had to buy a couple of tools to do the job.
 
Halfords tools are pretty good for the price. My socket set was ~£60 and has lasted years and I believe had a lifetime warranty, although this was over 10years ago.
I would deffo get a screwdriver set like the one above too - Much better to use than the ones where you can change the bit.
I also found having a hacksaw quite handy as they will go through most household things pretty well in a pinch.
 
I'm not sure whether I read this on here or elsewhere but one suggestion I read for things like screwdrivers, spanners etc was to start with a cheap set and replace/upgrade individual bits with high quality replacements when you snap them or they don't do what you need. Chances are you'll only use some things once in its lifetime so no need to spend a fortune on them.

For battery tools you're pretty much buying into the battery so check out what other tools the manufacturer makes that you may want to use the same battery in. I love Screwfix but don't buy drills from there, they always seem to be double the price you'd pay online.

For a drill I'd go for a Makita DHP458Z with a 4A battery and charger. If you want to drive screws I have a Makita DTD152Z impact driver which is brilliant and better suited than a normal drill (which are better for drilling holes, so if it's either or grab the normal drill first) as they provide more twisty torque. You can pick-up adapters to connect sockets (they're the ones I bought) to the impact driver to allow you to use it as a powered wrench too - it made tightening up all the bolts on my exhaust extremely painless; by hand it was crazily hard work.

Ryobi are generally well recommended and have a larger selection of battery tools I believe and are probably half the price of the Makita, but I figured the Makita stuff would last .

I've never read a DIY book but YouTube is an amazing source of information for DIY.



* If you buy Makita gear you need to register it on their website for the extended warranty.
 
Impact drivers don't make much sense for household screws and make much more noise with their impact rattle. I wouldn't jump in and buy one unless big fasteners are going to be important.

Currently using a middling bosch drill driver to construct a shed from 25mm planks, 50mm square posts, 100mm square posts and 50x100mm lengths. 70mm x 5mm screws and 100mm x 6.3mm screws x hundreds, probably less than 1000 in the end.

100mm isn't wonderful but I pre-drill some of these anyway because I don't want splitting (which is still a thing however you put the screws in) so its much easier.

This is what I'm using, quite a bit less powerful than that makita: https://www.bosch-do-it.com/gb/en/diy/tools/psb-18-li-2-3165140668293-199876.jsp#tab_technical

Here's a random video comparing a combi drill and a driver:
 
Inherit stuff if you can. I inherited my dad's SDS hammer drill. It's an absolute beast and he had it for a long time and now I've had it 7 years and no sign of wear.

Sounds silly but I feel much more accomplished using his old tools than those I've bought.

[Edit: I'm not suggesting you jump off any family members... Just keep an eye out for people suggesting they don't use certain tools any more for whatever reason]
 
Only buy what you need for each job , otherwise you’ll end up buying stuff that doesn’t get used and waste space storing it
 
Watch Youtube. The amount of usual info on every project under the sun is staggering. Watch several videos to pick up tips & tricks from a variety of people.

My personal best investments:
  • Impact driver and drill. Both cordless and with interchangeable batteries.
  • An SDS drill for heavy duty stuff. Both this and the above were Titan brand models from Screwfix and have done me proud.
  • A paint mixing attachment for the drill. Saves so much time on paint, floor leveling compound, grout, etc.
  • JG Speedfit for plumbing. It really is amazing. Like Lego for plumbers.
 
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