Some friends of mine are about to buy their first house, in London. He's coming up to 30 and hasn't much DIY experience. She wants to get him some DIY stuff for his birthday and has asked for my advice.
Her provisional list, which I gather came from a (male!) colleague:
'm not sure this is a good buy. I use a good drill usually, but borrowed a friends 18v Dewalt yesterday, and found it to be pretty horrible compared to my Festool. It felt heavy, and was very coarse in its action, the button was rough/stiff, and the vibration was far more than I'd expect. Also, it has Nicd batteries - they are being phased out, hence the price reduction. The Festool is way over-priced for your friend however, but I think there are better drills available at that price. I used to have a 14.4v blue Bosch, and that was far better than the 18v Dewalt I used yesterday. Screwfix have a blue Bosch at £89, I'd personally prefer that over the Dewalt.
99% of jobs. 3 and 5mm wood bits. 6 and 8mm masonry bits. Add a couple of pilot hole bits of 1 or 2mm, a set of assorted driver bits for £5ish, and a couple of flat spade wood bits of any of 10/12/16/18mm and you could get all you need for £15. With that set you will be buying drill bits and screwdriver heads that will never come out of the box.
Google search for each task that you need info on. There is a page describing everything out there, usually from someone who has done it, made the mstakes, and listed them so that you do not make the same mistakes.
I'd add an expensive book here, "The Construction of Houses" which is a serious (achitecture degree) textbook on UK domestic housebuilding, from the Victorians onward.
If you're ever likely to run into an issue that needs serious money spending, reading this book beforehand is likely to save you a packet and avoid you being conned by builders or roofers.
Mostly for tools though, have all the tool catalogues you can and just buy what you need, as you need it, of the best quality you can afford. A cheap starter kit and snapping up whatever is cheap in Aldi that week doesn't hurt either. It's too easy to go mad on buying expensive tools though, especially powered ones. Apart from a really good cordless drill (>=A3100, Makita or similar) a cheap & cheerful SDS and a cheap angle grinder (both of these are too cheap to ignore and cheap ones work well, they just don't last as long), I'd lay off power tools until they know what they need. Certainly cordless drivers are a waste and you don't need a circular saw or router until you know you need one. If you must have a jigsaw, make it a good Bosch or Makita (=A3150).
For small tools, some other starters would be a Stanley Fat Max tape measure, Bosch multi-construction drillbits, cheap sets of drillbits in masonry & basic twist, mixed angle grinder blades, a Screwfix mixed tin case of screws, a bag of Uno wallplugs, set of good Wera or Wiha screwdrivers, a really good 12" hacksaw and a few bi-metal blades with different teeth (two frames isn't a waste if there's already one in the starter set), a roll of every grit grade of Hiomant sandpaper from Screwfix and a cork block to put it on, a rubber dish for plaster retouching and nice paintscrapers or trowels to work it with (Tesco pale grey handles, oddly) . Grab bargain paintbrush sets when you see them, it's cheaper than buying ones & twos. Synthetic nylon bristle for water-based, bristle bristle for oil-based, and a Brushmate box to keep them in.
Cheap halogen lamp on a stand, esp. for decorating, a good long extension lead, good torch (LED Lenser), good Workmate (not a cheap Workmate, not a clone), decent wallpaper pasting table.
Box of disposable vinyl gloves, few pairs of orange gripper gloves, box of P2 dustmasks with exhale valves, earmuffs (with the first noisy power tool) and either goggles or a face shield.
> A cordless drill is a waste of money for occasional DIY. The battery will
If buying a cheap tool with one battery and a 16hr charger, I would agree. Buying something better with a couple of batts and 20min charger however fixes that. Even after a period of no use, there will usually be enough juice left in a batt to get you started while another charges.
Hence why NiCd stuff is cheaper, however its not a reason not to buy as long as replacement NiMh batts are also available that fit and will work with the same charger.
(there is usually a Makita set about for similar money though. DeWalt stuff seems more variable in quality IME, some of it very nice, some nothing special)
I don't give a damn what he gets, so long as he avoids the ever-so- popular route of going into B&Q and walking out with a chop saw. A tool he doesn't need, can't use to do what he does need, he's paid far too much for, and is likely to lose a finger to.
The main point is to avoid blowing hundreds on pointless power tools. If he avoids that, he can buy an awful lot of nice screwdrivers for a few quid each, without worrying too much about the bottom line.
A set of bosch multimaterial bits would probably be preferable. 5, 6, 7, & 8 mm, couple of each. That covers most plug sizes etc. A box of SF Pozi number 2 bits.
Maybe he would prefer she wears some crotchless knickers and a peephole bra for his 30th birthday instead of receiving a load of DIY tools. It's the ONLY way he will ever be persuaded to do any DIY stuff around the house:-)
Yeah, the contents are unlikely to match what you really need. For the bits that are useful, the price is unnecessarily high imho. I'd sooner buy bits separately and pack them together. Some stuff is ok cheap, eg tape measures, rulers, spirit levels, pry bars, some stuff is better if you go up a notch, eg screwdriver bits, pliers, cutters, plastering tools, drill bits, and some kit one should stick to good quality, eg mitre saw, circular saw, jigsaw, cordless tools, and so on. The drill bit set is oerpriced imho, Titan drill bit kits are good, and very cheap. Do include wood/dowel bits, no just masonry and twist.
You didnt really give us much clue on price or jobs to do.
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