The Homeowner's Starter Toolkit: What You Actually Need

Big-box stores love selling 200-piece toolkits where you use about twelve pieces. Here is the honest list of what a homeowner actually reaches for, built up over a lifetime of helping people fix things.

The Core Eight

1. A 16-ounce claw hammer. Not too heavy, good for the vast majority of jobs.

2. A tape measure, 25 feet. Long enough for rooms, short enough to handle.

3. A set of screwdrivers, or better, a good driver with interchangeable bits.

4. An adjustable wrench and a pair of pliers, including needle-nose.

5. A cordless drill/driver. The one power tool that earns its keep immediately.

6. A utility knife with replaceable blades.

7. A level. A torpedo level handles most hanging and leveling tasks.

8. A stud finder, which saves you from putting holes where they do not belong.

Where to Spend a Little More

Buy the best you can on the cordless drill, the tape measure, and the utility knife, because you will use them constantly and cheap versions fail fast. On the rest, mid-grade is fine for home use.

The Consumables to Keep Stocked

• An assortment of screws and nails in common sizes

• Wall anchors for hanging things on drywall

• Painter's tape and sandpaper

• Duct tape and a roll of electrical tape

You do not need to buy it all at once. Start with the core eight and add as projects come up. We will help you pick tools that last instead of tools that get replaced. Whitten Hardware, 2909 Park Ave, Memphis, since 1929, open 8 to 5 Monday through Saturday.