The good thing about tools is that they are of various qualities (and prices) and a lot of the time if you're just doing a single project you don't have to buy top of the line stuff. And like a lot of things paying top dollar does not necessarily mean you're buying the best. I no longer believe the expression "you get what you pay for".
So to remodel a house from top to bottom you're going to need a garage full of tools, there's no way around it. Starting from the beginning and working through the end here's a list of what you'll need. Some of the items are used in multiple trades and for the sake of brevity I won't repeat them:
Demolition
- A sledgehammer - I prefer the smaller type, not the big ones you see the DIY'ers on TV trying to swing. They look so stupid swinging a 10 lb sledge and missing awkwardly, a single-handed 3-5 lbs one would do the job.- A hammer - preferably a 21 - 24 oz framing hammer. The little ones that come in household toolkits are worthless.
- A Sawzall for cutting nails and old plumbing.
- A prybar, nail puller and flat bar - the nail puller you'll need to salvage any lumber you take out. I reuse every stick of lumber I possibly can.
- A sturdy workboot - I see people tearing out drywall with a hammer, what a waste of time. Trust me, it's way faster just to kick through the wall with the bottom of your foot. Pretend you're Bruce Lee, just don't hit a stud though (and be careful if you suspect there may be plumbing in the wall).
- A sturdy jobsite broom, a powerful shop vac, contractor garbage bags and a utility knife.
- A floor scraper
Framing
I find that the vast majority of my framing when remodeling is done with screws rather than nails. Due to the ceiling generally already being in place, building walls on the floor and then tilting them up is a pain; I generally install the bottom plate and top plate and then fill in the studs and fasten them with screws; just my preference. Because of this I don't really use a framing nailer or even a hammer much.
- An accurate 4' level and 2' level.
- framing pencils, chalk line and a speed square for laying out plates.
- tool belt (a nice side benefit is that you'll look pretty manly wearing one and a girl wearing one is downright irresistible, they're even available in pink.
- a 25' tape measure that will extend 10' to 12' without collapsing.
- Cordless impact driver and/or a cordless drill - Impact drivers are relatively new on jobsites (the last 10 years or so) and are terrific at driving screws. Get a good cordless one and you'll be well ahead of the game. For this remodel I bought a new 18 volt kit that consisted of an impact driver and a hammer drill (great for regular drilling and drilling into concrete.
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| My new babies - impact driver on the left and hammer drill on the right |
- A circular saw or Skilsaw - I have a few of these but you can get by with one. There are nice cordless models out there but I'd get a corded one as it's got more power and it's batteries will never run out.
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| My new cordless circular saw |
Plumbing
The needs for a plumbing kit are surprisingly small. Mainly it comes down to a torch (I use MAPP gas which burns hotter than propane) and a bunch of small hand tools. It's probably easier just to show you my kit rather than try to list it all, it's surprisingly small but does everything I've needed:
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| A couple bottles of MAPP gas, tubing cutters (small and large), reamer, teflon tape, pipe dope, pipe cleaners, flux, solder, tub drain removal tool and a whole lot of 3/4" and 1/2" fittings. |
A bimetal hole saw kit and spade bit kit for drilling large holes for drain pipes and running copper
Electrical
Not much to running romex - a multi-tool electrical plier, cable ripper and the aforementioned cordless drill and bit kits for boring holes.
If you need to run wire in conduit you'll need a conduit bender.
Sometimes you need to run wires in existing walls and for that you'll need a fish tape.
Low Voltage Wiring
-For running cable TV wire you'll need an F-connector compression tool
-For running phone and network wiring you'll need a punchdown tool kit
Drywall
Drywall can also be done with some very low tech tools. You'll need:
- Taping knives (I believe I have 6" and 10" sizes)
- a drywall mud pan or two
- finally, you can get by w/o one but I prefer to tape with a banjo taper
Painting
Painting is another trade where you can get a good finish with surprisingly low tech tools but I prefer to expand the arsenal a bit to get a better finish in less time.
For painting interior walls you'll need tarps, a roller with an extension pole, an angled 2" cut-in brush with synthetic bristles and a 5 in 1 tool. If you've got a lot of walls to paint in a gutted house I'd recommend renting an airless sprayer and spraying the walls. The finish is better if you have someone backroll it while you spray.
For painting trim you'll need lots of sandpaper and sanding sponges, a caulk gun, and the aforementioned 2" cut-in brush. If you want to get a better finish and save time you'll need a hand masker and a way to spray the paint. I would recommend either a self-contained HVLP sprayer (high volume, low pressure) or using a sprayer and large air compressor combo. Because air compressors are so helpful for a variety of uses I like to use the latter setup. Painting this way requires a very large amount of sustained air pressure and a smaller compressor just isn't able to keep up. Here's the compressor I just bought for my upcoming remodel (I'd be lying if I didn't admit it gives me wood):
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| This is a big, high volume compressor. It's damn heavy so it will live in the garage permanently and I'll just run a long air hose when I'm painting inside the house. |
If you go the way of the compressor/gun combo you'll also need a water separator so water doesn't contaminate any oil-based paint or polyurethane.
Doors and Trim
Finish carpentry is another task that can be done well with very low tech (hammer, hand saw/miter box and a nail set) but to do the job right and in a reasonable amount of time you need some real tools. For cutting trim you get by with a chop saw but I would really recommend spending some money on a sliding compound miter saw. It's expensive but you can do so much more with this tool than just finish carpentry.
Another tool that's somewhat expensive but incredibly useful is a portable table saw which again can be used for so many things other than finish carpentry. Since I typically live in the homes I remodel my setup is a little less mobile but incredibly diverse and efficient. My rig started life as a simple contractor's saw but is now a table saw, router table and horizontal router table all built into one unit with a lot of onboard storage. It also doubles as a workbench and is on wheels so I can roll it out of the way when I need the space.
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| My tablesaw - I have a variety of homemade jigs that allow me to do just about anything with this setup - ripping and crosscutting, building cabinet doors and making custom moulding are just a few of the uses. At less than $1000 in parts and materials (when I initially put it together) it will pay for itself during the first job. |
Fastening trim is best done with pneumatic nailers and for this I have a small compressor that's easily portable. For a nailer I like to use a brad nailer rather than a finish nailer as the holes the 18 gauge brads leave are much smaller and easier to fill than the 15-16 gauge finish nails, particularly in stained wood.
If you want to run your trim correctly you'll want to cope your inside corners and for that you'll need a coping saw. Most people simply miter these joints and they usually open up and look terrible.
I use a biscuit joiner and pocket hole jig for a variety of joinery. Both are fast and strong.
A random orbital sander is useful for pre-sanding panels that might be inaccessible after they're installed. The random orbit feature reduces scratch marks.
You can never have enough clamps of all shapes and sizes - I use bar clamps and spring clamps quite a bit and have a large assortment.
While it's a bit of a luxury I have a surface planer that gets some use in special circumstances.
Well that's mainly the list. I'm certain I've forgotten a thing or two and I there's a bunch of small stuff that I haven't mentioned or items needed for specialty work but with the things I've listed you can end up doing most of the work at a very high quality for your remodel. Having the right tools allows you to do the work and not have to call in expensive subcontractors.
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