Tools every home must have
A leaf rake will come in handy if you have a compound with trees. Photo by Kelvin Atuhaire
What you need to know:
- You can use it to measure furniture and room sizes before placing an order to avoid having wrong measures.
- Ivan Kasaga, who sells carpets in Nakasero, says he normally gets clients who do not know the size of the carpets they want.
- Are you the kind who rushes to your neighbour every time you want to fix something in your house or end up calling an expert for something you could have fixed yourself because you do not have the equipment? We share some of the handy tools you need in your home.
As long as you stay in a home, there is always something that needs to be fixed, it could be fixing the nut of your bed, putting up a wall frame, cleaning your compound and many other things.
Here are some of the DIY ( do it yourself) tools you should have in your home to help you out and also save you from always borrowing from your neighbours or hiring someone to fix for you something that you could have done yourself if you had the tools.
Screwdriver
Mathew Odong, an engineer, says a screwdriver is mostly used for screwing loose ends. “I normally use it to tie and untie different screws from any object that uses screws like radios, televisions, bicycles and cars.”
Hammer
This tool has got several functions, which include nailing, fixing and removing nails from an object such as wood. If you are a person that loves to have wooden frames on your house wall, a hammer is your tool for this, you do not need to go and look for stones to pond the nails into the wall.
Pliers
Be sure to have a pair of pliers in your toolbox, if you want to hold objects firmly, to cut and bend wires, grip nails and other small things such as nuts which cannot be handled by fingers.
Happy Ishimwe, a casual worker, says he normally uses pliers when there is a loose nut on his bed.
Ladder
A ladder is used for various purposes, if you want to get something that is high, it can be of great help, or when you are replacing an old bulb with a new one.
Ritah Kirabo, a dealer in hardware materials, says one can use ladders to get to higher places where they can not reach.
“For instance if you want to change your bulb, you want to hang something up. A ladder would be of much help than using a stool which might not enable you reach higher places,” she says.
Utility knife
This can be used for opening boxes, scoring drywall or even trimming the edges of carpet. With utility knives, they are portable and safer to use to open boxes other than using a razor blade.
Sarah Tumukunde says she used to use razor blades to open boxes, adjust carpets not until they cut her. But when she bought a utility knife, it was safer and simplified her work.
“I used to cut boxes at homes with razor blades but when I got a utility knife, it was much better.”
Flashlight
This can be used when electricity goes off, you would not want to be in the dark and knock things in your house trying to find a candle or match box. There are various flash lights you can buy, small, big, depending on which one you prefer, but at least have one.
Rinah Najjuma, a home owner says, says she has a small torch in her home situations when power goes off or she needs lighting for dark areas in the home.
Power drill
Drills can handle a wide variety of tasks, including drilling holes and driving screws in and out, tighten or loosen large screws or bolts.
However, this tool needs caution, you cannot leave it in a place easily accessible to children or allow someone who does not know how to operate it to use it becauseit might be harmful.
Leaf rake
If you have a compound with grass, and trees then a leaf rake will be of much help to you. It is used for collecting grass together after it has been cut down and collecting leaves that fall off the trees.
So it is of much help, you need to get one for yourself.
Irene Muyinda, says at her home, they normally use it to collect grass after the compound grass has been cut, as well as collect leaves.
“We normally use it to collect the grass in the compound after they have cut it and even collect leaves that fall off from the tree,” says Muyinda.
Broom
There are various types of brooms one can have in their home, from an indoor broom to an outdoor broom which all help in cleaning.
Wire cutters
Happy Ishimwe, a casual worker, says wire cutters simplify someone’s work if they want to put up a wire fence around their home.
Electrical tester
This is critical when you have open electricity wires in your house. You don’t want to be electrocuted. Conrad Kakuru, an electrician, says an electrical tester will help you to check if there is electricity in those exposed wires in the house. “With an electric tester, you can be able to test those open wires whether there is electricity transmission in them. So it will basically help you avoid electric shocks.”
He adds that an electric tester can also be used to help plug in cables with two pots in the socket.
Tape measure
You can use a tape measure to determine, for instance, the size of your room if you want to buy a carpet, to replace furniture.
You can use it to measure furniture and room sizes before placing an order to avoid having wrong measures.
Ivan Kasaga, who sells carpets in Nakasero, says he normally gets clients who do not know the size of the carpets they want.
“A customer comes to me, wants a carpet, you ask for the size and they are not sure and they end up buying wrong sizes, which they later on bring back saying it is small or cannot fit in the house,” says Kasaga.
Estimated costs of different tools
Screw driver (star and minus) - Shs3,000 to Shs6,000
Hammer- Shs5,000 and above ranging from the size and quality.
Flashlight - Shs3,000 and above
Ladder (aluminum) - Shs200,000 and above
Utility knife ranges between Shs3,000 and Shs4,000
Leaf rake - Shs10,000 to Shs15,000
Electric tester ranges from Shs5,000 and above
Tape measure (3, 5, and 7.5metres) 3,00and above.
