The right tool for the right job

The basement drywall has been a huge project to start the summer with but in drips and drabs…during the week not much is getting done. So while I have some down time I’ve been thinking about everything that goes into the DIY approach. It’s easy to think of DIY as a shortcut but it’s weird to call it that when DIY usually takes more resources, more work, and more thought than just buying something or hiring someone to do something for you. It’s that work part of it that I’ve really been enjoying though, as long as I have the right tools to do the job.  

When we were just mere condo owners, a simple cordless drill was enough to get us by on most projects around the house. Add a sanding attachment and I was in good shape. That hasn’t quite been the case as home owners. 

It comes and goes in waves: I thought a staple gun would come in handy, ended up needing one two days after I bought one for the insulation. A few projects have required a whole mess of new tools; the table meant a kreg jig and circular saw, the kreg is so good that should warrant a post entirely its own. My list of what we’ve needed to put new drywall up is insanely long but I can’t imagine doing the same job without something like the t-square to make quick, accurate cuts. The trick is to buy quality tools that aren’t too specialized and have re-use potential. Borrowing helps too; the in-laws had a new miter saw they had used once to hang a door, I use that sucker constantly. 

I felt bad about all the purchasing at first, but then the wife pointed out how much we were saving by building a table vs buying one, and even with the new jig and saw it was way cheaper. That’s the beauty of DIY I guess. The drywall quotes we got were all in the $5K range, and now that I’ve the insides of all the walls I have a feeling that number would have been significantly higher. Saving money isn’t always my primary DIY concern but it factored pretty large into this project. Even if the state of the insulation was an unpleasant surprise we’re still right at a grand for all of our purchases so far. With the right tools I feel like I could handle just about any job right now, which is good b/c we’ll see how taping goes this week.