It can get old, making a run to the hardware store every time you just want to hang a photo frame or assemble a bookcase. Instructions on "how" to construct things can be found through manuals and YouTube videos, but there are certain tools you'll inevitably need, whether you live in an apartment or a single-family home.
We've rounded up everything you should keep together on a shelf or cabinet, so you can handle all but the biggest DIY jobs.
Be sure to check out our many other buying guides, including our Best Portable Grills, Best Camping Gear, and Best Bluetooth Speaker guides.
You don't need a metal toolbox at home. It's going to live a relatively easy life in closet shelves and cabinets, not on a job site. Fabric makes it lighter, and having an open top makes it easy to pop in and grab something for a quick job on a whim, which is common with a home tool kit. This tote has 10 pockets on the outside, perfect for those tools you want to keep easily accessible. You can fit the bigger stuff, like the power drill or hammer, in the wide main compartment.
- Stanley Fatmax 25' Tape Measure
Stanley's Fatmax has a wider-than-typical tape that is less prone to bending and collapsing when extended across a room. You can supposedly extend it straight through the air, without anyone or anything propping up the other end, for 14 feet before it falls down. Twenty-five feet is about as small a tape measure as I'd get for home use. This one is marked in standard units, but Stanley also makes metric ones.
- Milwaukee Fastback Utility Knife
In my experience, utility knives don't vary that much in effectiveness. It's the replaceable blade that matters much more. The Fastback is the best I've used (I have used a bunch!), and you can replace the blade without having to find a screwdriver to take the knife apart. It also folds—you can flick it open and shut it with one hand—it locks securely, and the coating is tough enough to last for years.
A nice plus is the built-in notch for cutting string and plastic ties without opening the knife. It came in handy more than I thought it would.
- Channellock 6-in-1 Screwdriver
It's easier to spot the difference in quality when using screwdrivers. I've started plenty of jobs with a junk one, only to have it cam out of the screw's head or start to strip a stubborn screw. A better screwdriver makes the job go as smoothly as butter, and the Channellock's is real quality.
Made in the US, it has Phillips #1 and #2 and slotted 3/16-inch and 1/4-inch heads, plus the shaft can be used as a 1/4-inch and 5/16-inch nut driver. This combination screwdriver will cover your bases for regular home repairs and maintenance, and it takes up a lot less space than a set of full-size screwdrivers.
- Wiha 7-Piece Precision Screwdriver Kit
Every so often, to repair things such as eyeglasses and electronics, you're going to need a set of very small screwdrivers. For whatever reason, manufacturers tend to use soft tiny screws that deform easily, so good precision screwdrivers are especially important. None of the combination precision screwdrivers I've ever used have impressed me, so buy a full set. They won't take up much room since, you know, they're tiny. Use six of the seven you get in this kit. You can stick the Phillips #1 in a drawer somewhere since you already have the Channellock.
- Crescent 8-Inch Adjustable Wrench
Home tool kits are all about saving space, which is why I recommend an adjustable wrench as a stand-in for an entire wrench set. Eight inches is a good size that'll give you enough torque for big jobs without being too unwieldy to handle the small stuff. You adjust the width of the jaws by spinning the knurl, all the way up to fit a 1 1/8-inch nut.
- Channellock 4-Piece Plier Set
Pliers will be some of your most-used tools, and here it pays to fork out the money for a good set that'll last forever. As the saying goes, buy once, cry once. The large tongue-and-groove pliers are needed for large pipes, such as in plumbing. The cutting pliers will go through anything, and if you have kids who get toys packaged with those little plastic ties, they'll save your sanity. The slip joint and needle nose pliers are catch-all tools to save the day in the midst of many frustrations.
This hammer ticks the necessary features for general, around-the-home use, such as a smooth head. It's at the top end of that 16- to 20-ounce range perfect to handle most jobs, and it's got a curved claw to pull out nails, which you want, rather than a straight rip claw. The rip claw is more versatile but unnecessary for most people.
- Bondhus L-Wrench Standard and Metric Set
Yeah, you can use the cheap stuff furniture manufacturers include for free whenever you buy something that uses Allen bolts (excuse me, hex bolts). But like with screwdrivers, you'll feel the difference with a good set of hex keys. I've bent cheap hex keys while torquing something down and then taken out the Bondhus to finish the job with no problems. The keys in this set, in metric and standard measurements, have a rust-resistant finish and fit snugly in any hex bolt you'll come across. And believe me, apartment dweller or homeowner, there are many hex bolts in your future.
- Titan 4 1/4" Magnetic Parts Dish
It's easy to lose screws, nails, and bolts in the carpet when you need them, and then when you find them it's usually by accident with your feet … in the middle of the night. You don't need anything fancy for a parts dish—it's just a bowl of magnetized steel—but it'll keep all your little metal bits in one place when you're working. If you tip it over, they won't be going anywhere.
- Newborn Smooth Hex Rod 10:1 Ratio Caulking Gun
Caulking guns got fancy in the past decade or two. Who saw that coming? The predominant type were ratchet designs that'd ooze caulk everywhere when you stopped squeezing, and you had to hurriedly unscrew the rod to make it stop. But this smooth-action gun lets you release the trigger and caulk won't dribble. In the handle, there's a hole that cuts the tip off a new tube of caulk as well as a puncture tool that unfolds from the barrel to break the seal. The 10:1 ratio and padded trigger make squeezing out caulk easier on the hand muscles. For general-use caulk, I recommend DAP Kwik Seal.
- Stanley 48" Box Beam Level
A good level is an absolute necessity for work around the home. This one is accurate to plus or minus 0.001 inch when used to measure vertical straightness, and plus or minus 0.0005 inch with horizontal straightness. It's made of aluminum, for toughness, and the ends are capped in plastic so you don't end up scraping the hell out of your walls when you're using it. Get a 48-inch level. It's one of the typical sizes, and longer levels are more accurate than the short ones.
- Swanson Tools Metal Yardstick
Levels are your go-to when you need to make something absolutely parallel or perpendicular to the ground, and tape measures are great and necessary, but a good yardstick should be in your tool kit. It's handy when a tape measure won't sit quite flat enough against a wall to trace a line. This one from Swanson has standard and metric unit markings. It won't fit in your tool tote, but it's thin enough to stick in the closet (or almost anywhere).
- Zircon 1.5-Inch Scan-Depth Metal and Wood Stud Finder
If you want to mount anything heavy to a wall, you should always mount it to the vertical structural pieces of wood (studs) behind the wall. Which means you need to be able to find them without being able to see them. A stud finder, held and rubbed against a wall, will light up when it passes over a stud, so you know where to drill.
Builders sometimes run wires along with these studs, and to keep people from drilling into a wire and getting fried like Daffy Duck, they place metal guards over them. Any decent stud finder, like this Zircon, will warn you if it detects one. Plus, you can hold it up to yourself and go "Beep, beep, beep. Stud detected." It'll never get old.
- DeWalt 20V Max 1/2" Cordless Drill
Twelve volts will do for most home jobs, but if you ever end up having to drill 1/2-inch holes into wall studs to mount a heavy shelving unit or a beefy sound system, you're going to want the extra torque of an 18V or 20V. This 1/2-inch chuck will accept bits as large as you'll need, and at this price (which includes two batteries and a charger), it's too good a deal to pass up. The batteries work with more than 200 other DeWalt power tools, too.
- DeWalt Black and Gold 14-Piece Drill Bit Set
For all but the smallest of jobs, it's going to go easier if you drill out a hole before driving screws and bolts into a wall. The black oxide coating on these drill bits reduces friction, which speeds up drilling and resists rust. These are good for general use and will handle wood, metal, plastics, wallboard, and fiberglass.
- DeWalt Maxfit 30-Piece Driving Bit Set
You'll get a variety of bits in this kit of 15 1-inch bits and 11 2-inch bits. Not just the usual Phillips and slotted, but hex and Torx bits too. The two nut drivers are 1/4-inch and 5/16-inch, popular sizes in case you need to drive bolts instead of screws. For you butterfingers out there, the screw lock sleeve is magnetic, so they're less likely to tumble out of your drill and disappear. DeWalt counts the sleeve and the case as parts 29 and 30, in case you were coming up short.
Duct tape will fix everything that can be fixed with tape, and super glue will fix everything else. Duck, Gorilla, and 3M are good brands. Scotch tape is good to have in your tool kit too. An old trick is to put a square on the wall before hammering a nail into it, as it'll keep the plaster from cracking.
Have an eraser and a carpenter's pencil handy—those are the 20-cent flat pencils that won't roll away if you put them down. You don't need to buy spackle until you've got a hole in the wall that needs filling, like when you're moving out or rearranging wall decor, but DAP is a solid brand. For a putty knife to apply it, anything with a little flex in the blade will do, like this one from The Home Depot.
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