Slightly Above Average Podcast

5 Tools Every New Homeowner Needs

John Malecki, Sam Poola, and Joe Meinert Episode 22

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Buying your first house is expensive enough—the last thing you need is to get robbed at the hardware store. In this week's episode, we’re breaking down the five essential tools every first-time homeowner actually needs on day one. We discuss exactly where you should spend your money, where you’re completely getting ripped off, and rank everything in the ultimate homeowner tool tier list. 

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Safety Gear And Hard Truths

SPEAKER_04

Jokes aside, get some safety gear. When you're first buying a house, you will destroy shit. Or the learning curve you have to do. No way.

SPEAKER_00

Here's the thing. It's crazy how delusional you both are.

SPEAKER_04

Alright, so you just bought your first house or first apartment, first project, whatever that might be. Congratulations, you roll. Also, congratulations, Home Depot is about to own every other dollar you're gonna make here for the foreseeable future. Mostly because we know you have big ambitious plans. If you're like myself or Sam, the first house you buy is 100% going to be a project. Certainly. And you need tools to work on that project. So Joe's in the hunt for his first home, and Sam and I thought it'd be great to advise him on what to or not to buy when buying a house. But

Candied Pine Cones Taste Test

SPEAKER_04

before we get into it, Mr. Pula, do you have something to satiate my never-ending hunger?

SPEAKER_05

This may or may not satiate your never-ending uh hunger, but we have ourselves some candied young pine cones. Hold on, give me the story on this. I to be honest with you, this was I bought these months ago when we uh we needed snacks for the podcast, and I was like, I should probably have some queued up, and I I forgot I actually bought these until uh this morning. It's like a real pine cone.

SPEAKER_04

Can you just suck that back in and lie to the camera and give us something good, right? Like I was expecting him. He's like, I was on a road trip with my best friend I haven't seen in 13 years. We stopped at this mom and pa gas station. Her name was Cheryl. She smelled like cinnamon.

SPEAKER_03

Come on.

SPEAKER_04

All right, give me your give me your half-ass. Oh, I forgot I bought these. Now I'm gonna make you and Joe eat them.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I I mean I'll take the reason I don't eat them at all.

SPEAKER_05

The reason I initially bought them, I was I was thinking about bamboo. Because I you ever have a bamboo shoot and like some ramen? Probably. Oh, I was thinking about it. I was like, bamboo's kind of weird because I've never had that actually. It's it's not bad. It kind of tastes like bok choy. And I was like, bamboo's weird because you could build with it. What's bok choy? It's a vegetable, yeah. But like it's weird because you could build with it or eat it. I'm like, you can't really do that with like oak or walnut, but we could do it with these pine tails.

SPEAKER_04

Uh like, I guess like clip on the internet this week, last week. You know, I'm supposed to eat this? That I think that was a guy that was he was like explaining to it. Might have been like a clip from like Burt Chrysler's podcast or something. I can't maybe we could find it. I don't know, see if the guys can find it behind the scenes. But he was saying that you know, pandas eat bamboo. You're talking about bamboo, right? And that's all they eat. Yeah. And then they were like in Chinese history, pandas didn't exist. Up until the 1800s. Up until the 1800s. So they think that pandas were created to eat bamboo. To eat bamboo, right? And they were like, they're like not at naturally occurring, and they're also just like dumb as shit, and they're completely useless. And we did it. Remember, we did like the a couple weeks ago, we did this like the animal threat.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know about that because the conspiracy theory. Let's create an animal just to eat bamboo.

SPEAKER_05

I mean, ladybugs, they oh ladybugs were invented to take out what? They were they were to take out something. Dude, this happens all the time. Stink bugs were invented to take out ladybugs. At least.

SPEAKER_01

But here's the problem. That's such a boring conspiracy theory. I like I can't I actually believe that is a problem. It's not like one of those pyramid conspiracy theories that kind of gets you, oh wow, maybe you know, it gets your gears going a little bit more.

SPEAKER_04

So if they could like engineer a panda, because like now I'm thinking like maybe we should get a pet panda, you know what I mean? Like, just like we could plant dude, bamboo is super invasive, by the way. If we would plant it here, it'd be like we need to get a red panda. We're not we'd we go to jail. But but but here's the thing. Oh, we'll eat these. By the way, thank you for this. This is so stupid. They're pretty hard.

SPEAKER_05

Mm-mm. Oh, maybe not.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04

You know what? No. I mean, all right, so I'm an asshole. That reminds me of my childhood because Jeffrey and I played in the woods probably more than we should have. Yeah. And like, you dare your buddy to eat a pine can. Like, like I'm I've eaten pine needles, pine stuff all the time. It tastes like a pine candle.

SPEAKER_01

That smell, it's just that all the days. You know what it tastes like?

SPEAKER_03

No, I was gonna say gin. Oh, no, I'm not getting gin out of this at all.

SPEAKER_05

No, actually.

SPEAKER_04

Your gin tastes like pine.

SPEAKER_05

Maybe the aftertaste a little bit.

SPEAKER_04

The aftertaste. Shitty gin. Some seagrams. Some like bomb bay. Bombay. So anyway, where I was going with the panda thing. Well, I guess we should comment on it. Those are weird, those are weird. Don't eat pine guns. Ruined my damn fast for that.

Lone Star Tick Meat Allergy Talk

SPEAKER_04

Um have you seen this lone star tick all over the internet? No, it's a lone star tick. Oh god. Joe. Joe's gonna be pissed I brought this up. What?

SPEAKER_01

I can't even be mad about anything. I have just pine in my mouth.

SPEAKER_04

All right, sorry. You're gonna survive. Pull up the lone star tick. So this is all over the internet right now. Is he a Texan? No. There is a tick that's invading the United States right now that if you get bit by it, you can no longer eat red meat. It makes you sick and convulsing. It has some sort of um enzyme or whatever in it that when it gets into your body, your body looks at whatever's in red meat as a negative, like an and has an adverse reaction to it, and it is spreading like wildfire, right? So I heard a theory this morning while I was like, I was drinking my coffee, that because there's people in the world that believe that human beings are eating too much red meat, that the Lone Star Tick was also a plant. It's a shame one of these cards. And to get humans to eat less red meat. Or eat less meat. Just like the panda.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I do eat a lot of red meat. I wouldn't be surprised. I feel like I eat a lot of steak.

SPEAKER_04

The panda was engineered to eat all the eat the bamboo, just like the Lone Star Tick was engineered to get us to eat less red meat. And then on top of it, you get even like the you know, the the the conspiracy theorists who'd like to add political aspects to it. They're like, well, look at all these companies coming up with like fake fake meat companies there. They probably planted that shit out there. I'll do you one better. So we're eating f goo coming out of a robot.

Conspiracy Episode Like Goal Pitch

SPEAKER_01

What can we all agree on for a like count of this episode to do a whole episode dedicated to us reviewing conspiracy theories?

SPEAKER_04

It's gotta be our biggest episode of all time.

SPEAKER_01

5,000 likes? That's pretty.

SPEAKER_04

We have an episode with 100,000 views yet. We don't.

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_04

So go share this with your mom, your aunt, your cousin, your sister, your your ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, your your your your co-workers. Like literally, find anyone, share it. Views are way less hard to get, Joe. I'm making this easier on the people. I feel like if we could get 5,000 likes, I feel like we could get 100,000 views, too.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like we're just gonna do this anyway.

SPEAKER_04

Joe's been asking me to do a conspiracy theory episode. I just want to see Sam.

SPEAKER_01

I just so bad. I want Sam to dive into these conspiracy theories. We're having showing up here.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, we'll be prepped. Staff.

SPEAKER_02

You didn't even give us a story for the pine cones. Everybody said, You just want me to lie? I want you to have everyone.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, my granddaddy used to feed us these pine cones every Monday. Come on. When you brought in them, he brought in raw raw fermented dried fish once.

SPEAKER_05

Those were blind robins, blind robins.

SPEAKER_04

He gave us five historical moments in his life where he ate these and remembered it, and then I ate them with him because I felt like I wanted to be part of that journey. Today he's like Amazon said these are weird.

SPEAKER_05

But the buy goes for something fresh for us all to try. They were worried. Uh, today I had a cream-filled uh fruity pebble covered donut over there. There, I guess that for the podcast. I was like, God, no, I don't think I don't think I can hit you on with this again.

SPEAKER_04

Thank you for not making it. Anyway, so yeah, all right. I think a hundred I think a hundred thousand views isn't isn't hard to get to. We're also almost at 25,000 subscribers. See that?

SPEAKER_01

We are quarter of a hundred. Quarter of a hundred.

SPEAKER_04

Sam said he'll do an episode completely nude if we get to a hundred.

SPEAKER_01

Please subscribe. We want to see that episode.

SPEAKER_05

We're gonna flip the camera too. It's gonna be from the waist down instead of the waist up on that episode.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Just change the show, waist down, the waist down show.

SPEAKER_01

Raise a standing table, just the cameras down low.

SPEAKER_04

It's just below, and then we talk, and then all you

Why We Are Actually Here

SPEAKER_04

know. Anyway, so getting back to the whole purpose of why we're here is not to talk about panda's bamboo, lone star ticks, and Sam's pants. It's because our boy here, that our young developing adult man, Joe, is on the hunt for a house. And we got to thinking we should probably talk about what you should and shouldn't buy when you're getting your first house. Or we can throw it out there, your first project house.

SPEAKER_01

We feel like we've done the budget videos, but yeah, you guys never really dive too deep into it's always been your experience. Yeah. Rather than like uh you could run into this, this could be something you want to get or or not have, or don't waste your money here. There's some stuff you guys said not to waste your money on, but yeah, dive. Cue us up, you got some questions for us.

Five Must Have Homeowner Tools

SPEAKER_01

I I guess opening it up, like what are five things you guys can't live without as like first-time homeowners? I got a few. You want to give them you want to go first? You want me to go first?

SPEAKER_05

Sure, I'll go first. Uh so just individual tools count as one?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. Like if you were buying a home and you're moving into a home, what are the first five essentials you'd do like starting fresh? You'd go to the store and purchase.

SPEAKER_05

Gotta have them. If you like drill, impact driver. That's two. Circular. Whoa, whoa. Sam. Hold on, hold on. Give him one. One purchase.

SPEAKER_03

There's two of us here. Oh, I thought we were running through all your head today.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna go through all five. You thought we were going five in the pine cone brain going on.

SPEAKER_05

I thought I'll hopped up on pine cones today and played by your phone. You know what it is, Joe?

SPEAKER_04

You know what it is? You're gonna hate me for this. Oh boy. Stand your ass up. He's distracted.

SPEAKER_01

Why?

SPEAKER_04

Stand up. Why?

SPEAKER_01

Get out of your chair and stand up. Is it the shirt?

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah. Oh, we can't bring shirt.

SPEAKER_01

Don't stand up because I don't want to have to reframe this.

SPEAKER_04

No, you're good. Stand up. They can see you. He's all distracted over here because we're launching a new shirt and he's wearing the first prototype to ever exist, and he also was an integral part of the design. Wow. So, you know, he's just riding highs. He can't he can't participate in conversation with Joe and I because he's got his new shirt on. That's what it is.

SPEAKER_01

That's what they say. There wasn't a lot of talking at the old Calker's Union.

SPEAKER_04

It was just kind of very fun, very stoic group. One purchase at the depot or or or Lowe's or Ace or your local store. One purchase. First thing. Go. Drill. Drill. Yeah, I feel like it's a good thing. I gotta agree with that because the drill is more diverse than the impact driver. Even though I'm big team impact driver.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like they've retrofit impact drivers like every bit nowadays. You can get drilled.

SPEAKER_04

It's not gonna hit the same. Yes, he's 100% right. So like if you got you can get a cheap hammer drill, and like my first uh my first house had um cement, like it wasn't block, it was like old stone in the basement. And so if you wanted to like drill anything into it, you had to have a hammer drill, right? But then you also you're like want to do some stuff on the walls, you just want to build some of that shitty IKEA furniture you're probably buying, whatever it is. Like the drill comes in handy a lot there. You can't get that with an impact driver. Um, but I would honestly I would have said a combo kit, but you know I feel like that doesn't count as one there. It's one purchase.

SPEAKER_05

It's like it's one purchase, but Rule Master Joe may combo kits be allotted in this uh Yeah. I mean it's like it depend I guess your input is no longer needed.

SPEAKER_01

Well, if like you're trying to shop on a budget, I feel like the combo kits you're waiting till holidays maybe sometimes. Yeah. You're putting work off until a deal pops up, or at least that's how I'm thinking about it, before I buy anything new.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and you hopefully can get a couple batteries. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_01

It gotta be cordless. Yeah, gotta be cordless.

SPEAKER_05

Cordless drill. Yeah, I don't even I think it's harder to get a corded drill nowadays. I don't even we've bought them and they're shit. You can get them, man. It's just you gotta look a little harder.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, they they're not great. Go on eBay. Joe's bought a lot of them. I've bought a lot of cord drills over the years here. Too many, one might ask.

SPEAKER_04

All right, so that was also on my list. Um so from a tool standpoint, you've gotta have a socket set as a first-time home buyer, in my opinion. And it's not because you're doing like automotive shit, but because if you get a good combo, like one of those like blow-molded kits with like all the sockets, you get a quarter inch, three eighths or whatever, and then you also get like a couple wrenches, an adjustable wrench, a crescent, maybe a couple like um nut drivers in there. You know, one of those things, like we've tested some of them, buy them for like our one of those, just get one of those because you're gonna find like you're gonna be trying to build something or take something apart or fix something, or or like it. I feel like I'm you I'm grabbing mine literally all the time. Yeah, like I had to uh you have to pull the panel off the wall, right? Yeah, and maybe check a couple wires.

SPEAKER_05

You're gonna use a you're gonna use a nut driver or a socket head. See, I don't know. I disagree with you on this one. I also don't like the big blow molded cases.

SPEAKER_04

I always I don't know, I feel like it's always like it's always like you get a nice condensed smaller one, but like the affordable blow molded case sets. Yeah. I do have like three of those sets. Hold on right now. You're telling me all the shit you do at your house. How are you getting like sockets and stuff to the job? I mean, I don't use fucking like finangle. That's the thing. I don't use sockets in the house.

SPEAKER_01

But I need to, Johnny has every icon tool. That is true. His whole shop is a little bit more.

SPEAKER_05

But to be honest, I don't use a socket in my house that often. Like I can't think of that many applications where I've ever need like a socket wrench. Really? You're not hanging a screen. I feel like I've used that. That's weird. Yeah, but if I'm ever sending a lag through something, it's usually like a star head or something that like really I feel like I'm not yeah. I mean, from time to time, don't get me wrong, I feel like the last time I used a lag in my house was maybe maybe for like a TV mount, but I can't even remember if I You built the custom mantle. Yeah, there was no why would I need it? I didn't use a socket for any of that. I framed it out.

SPEAKER_04

How'd you lag it into the wall?

SPEAKER_05

I uh with my impact driver, they're just like three-inch construction screws. I'm not putting giant lags through there. It's the smallest little layer.

SPEAKER_02

Is that the code?

SPEAKER_05

If they want to find out, hang on that thing.

SPEAKER_04

We damn, dude. I've I I'm I so I have remember that DeWalt one I bought at Tractor Supply? Yeah, that's a nice set. I mean, I guess I grabbed that thing literally all the time. My like my father-in-law came over the other day. Yeah, uh, had something going on with his truck bed, grabbed the whole thing, went over, then tightened some crap up on that. Hose clamp came loose on something in the basement, grabbed it, went down, tightened up the hose clamp.

SPEAKER_05

If we include cars, I 100% am on board with that. I thought you just meant like the general house. But if you're saying just on board with that. Okay, that's fair. I thought you meant like only for like a lot of it.

SPEAKER_04

But it gotta be the combo kit, like, because you gotta have a couple wrenches, a crescent, a nut driver. That's why I said all of it. Okay. Because I mean, like, uh when you get a uh like we just bought a bunk bed for Annie to put that thing together, yeah. I guess a lot of pre-made shit. Like headed nuts and screws, and you usually it comes with uh an Allen set in there.

SPEAKER_05

It's junk, but like it's it's good to have. That I feel like is an underrated thing. A uh an Allen set that could go on a ratchet. I feel like with the amount of things that require like Allen keys for assembly, that's such a game changer instead of having the little L wrench you have to spin.

SPEAKER_01

See, is it frowned upon that when I have to put stuff together that has nuts, I just uh I think it's a I have a channel lock set. Is that what Costco sells? What's that set we bought?

SPEAKER_04

We did get it at Costco, yes.

SPEAKER_01

My dad bought me one years ago. Yeah, and it has impact ready bits, and I'll throw that on and I'll just use an impact driver, put it in the streets. No, that's fine.

SPEAKER_04

You don't want to use the impact ready bits when you're when you are doing things on like a car, okay. You're like putting things together that are threaded. That's for like self-threading applications.

SPEAKER_01

I put together like gazebos and stuff.

SPEAKER_04

That's fine. Okay. You don't want to oh the impact will overtork, and that's where you like strip threads or snap it. That's where those are no no bueno. Unless it's just like your lugs or something like that. No, no. He's not he's talking the nut driver, not like not like the nut ready driver. The nut driver, like the one they build. Yeah, pre-made. Yeah, because you could snap those on like your lugs, and they also don't make them that big. No. Yeah. So I'm with you. So I think that that's number two. You know, you gotta have a drill, but then get yourself a good, and it can be cheap. I like I'm I'm like I said, I'm always in the if it's your first, go cheap, figure out what you're using the most of until you then you invest in the nicer things so you have the nicer ones for what you use most. Yeah, yeah. Get as many as you can, volume-wise. Hey,

Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_04

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SPEAKER_05

I wouldn't go

Miter Saw Versus Circular Saw

SPEAKER_05

bottom bottom of the barrel though, because some of those, like the cheapest of the cheap, like combo kits with that stuff. I feel like you're gonna use it once and say, why did I even buy this? It's just such a like I feel like you don't have to go like high tier or whatever, but you want to get something that's somewhat decent. Like even at Home Depot Husky gear wrench. Right.

SPEAKER_04

I got the channel lock. Yeah. Uh set. I got that DeWalt one now at my house, but I had the channel lock set for 10 years. Like they they sent me one forever ago.

SPEAKER_01

They make some good stuff, man. I I have that set and I have a Craftsman one, and the Craftsman ones, they have it's like really sticky, and it's been I've used it so much, but it's still sticky.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like the metal is so soft on some of the cheaper ones, too, that like if you over torque it at all, it kind of sticks and then shears. Yeah. I had this Craftsman set back in the day. This is like 13 years ago, 14 years ago, that we still have it's floating around here. It's it's like a red small box, and they were the the combo star style one where it was like metric and messy. Um that thing lasted. I got I did so much with that. I think it lasted me forever.

SPEAKER_01

What's four?

SPEAKER_04

Well, that was two.

SPEAKER_01

Uh wasn't that three?

SPEAKER_04

I don't know what number we I thought. One, two. Two's the drill.

SPEAKER_01

Drill. Oh, you only did, I think you didn't need to do a combo. No, that's it.

SPEAKER_04

Back to Sam for number three.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. Uh we already said it. Well, the combo. Well, what's in the combo?

SPEAKER_01

Because we're just doing a drill and driver.

SPEAKER_05

Okay. I I guess I'm it's hard to uh decide between circular saw or miter saw. You know what? I'm gonna say first-time homeowner, do the miter saw. Ooh, there's way more that you could do with it. It's I think it's it's safer too. I feel like I have a a friend of mine who works in the ER and he's like number one construction industry, uh, number one construction-related injuries we see are circular saws and ladders. They were like, I wouldn't they're like from all the things I've seen happen to people with a circular saw, they're like, I'd never even get one.

SPEAKER_01

But maybe with a kickback, maybe with biting wood and stuff.

SPEAKER_05

I think a lot of people get them with not like a ton of experience. Like I said, I think the biggest like misconception with saws is everyone views it like a laser beam where it's like you just push it through this thing and it cuts the wood. It's like, no, there's a blade rotating a certain direction in there, and you know, yeah, it could uh it could jump.

SPEAKER_04

The videos I see are a lot of people like don't hold their material, so they'll just be like, eink, and then it'll just smack them in the face with the two by four. Yeah, or like or they'll try to cut at an angle and the the blade gets pinched and it spins up on them or something. I I have to disagree though with you there. Oh, really? It's like I can't say a miter a miter saw is safer and more versatile, and you're gonna get square cuts, but I think your carpenter's heart is coming out there when you say miter saw. Because like I'm not I'm not lugging a miter saw to like every job thing that I need just to cut a single board. No, you know, I'm I'm grabbing the circle, I'm grabbing the circular saw. If I want to do, you know, like a little, I don't know, little backyard project where maybe I'm maybe I'm building a tiny fence around a garden or something. I don't think I'm dragging a power cord out there and a miter saw out there. Yeah, I'm gonna throw a saw horse.

SPEAKER_05

You get no angled cuts, you can't miter with it, you know. I feel like I have the uh circular side. Yeah, you can not as easily though.

SPEAKER_04

You can't everything's easier with the miter saw, it's all Also a couple hundred dollars versus like fifty bucks.

SPEAKER_05

Not fifty, but you're not getting a miter saw anyway.

SPEAKER_04

Especially a circular saw.

SPEAKER_05

Or a circular saw. Look up cordless circular saws.

SPEAKER_04

A seven and a quarter cordless circular cordless circular saw. Seven and a quarter. At least. Seventy-nine dollars with a jigsaw.

SPEAKER_05

That's not isn't a seven and a quarter then? With a jigsaw.

SPEAKER_03

That has two batteries. But is it the seven and a quarter? That's it's one you could also have corded.

SPEAKER_04

I make that corded one.

SPEAKER_01

That's not 90 bucks, seven and a half. This is corded, I think.

SPEAKER_05

It's got a laser. You could probably get a miter saw at the Harbor Freight, 150 bucks.

SPEAKER_01

The bad one. That Hercules one's nice. I've built two two little ramps with one with a circular saw, the other one with a miter saw.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_01

Significantly faster. I guess like significantly. I have a circular saw to the back. I think I will invest in like a Hercules miter saw.

SPEAKER_04

I don't use a circular saw for anything if I don't have to. Yeah. I'm just saying when you first buy a house.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, definitely. I think the circular saw got got all the work done. I just I didn't realize like the gap of knowledge to I don't have to really be thinking too much with a miter saw. Correct. Circular saw, I'm like trying to cut lines and do weird shit, and it's like sometimes I'm a little crooked, and I the circuit.

SPEAKER_04

But you've got to have real skill to use circular saw.

SPEAKER_01

I never realized it.

SPEAKER_04

I thought it was just uh like Sam said, you just you see these dudes like roofing and stuff, they're like crazy wizards with circular saws. They're cutting, they're cutting like gorgeously tight, perfect, straight lines on everything they do. It's amazing. And uh I was like I was like I said, I'm just equating you need to get a couple little things done. Yeah. The old circular saw. Bust out the old circular saw. I still have one in the bottom of my toolbox of my house. It's a it's a rigid battery powered, don't have a battery for it, but it's floating around. It's been in a third house now. I've had that thing for a minute. I think we're missing a huge one right now. I'm surprised John has got it. But so I got one that I've undervalued for a long time. I think I'm mostly because I'm tall. The shopsmith. Let's go. It's a shop now. It's uh I just ordered it, guys. Um is an adjustable ladder, but not like an a typical A-frame, like a fiber, not a fiberglass A-frame. I'm talking like one of those little giants or whatever, the gorilla ladder, or whatever we have. Like that thing comes in so much handy in a house inside, outside. You got a gutter problem, you can use it. You gotta hang something in your house, you can use it. It doesn't take up a ton of space in the garage or wherever you store your shit. It's a little bit more of an investment, but damn it, does it do way more than a step stool? And the reason I don't like the traditional A-frame is because you can't get that 25 or 30 foot run out with it that you can get on the like the little uh the little mighty saw there or mighty uh mighty ladder, whatever the hell they're called. Yeah, like the little giants or the I think Gorilla makes their end now. So if I was buying a house rate, like if I was building my first ever, I that would be on my list.

SPEAKER_01

I don't actually own a ladder. That's actually probably uh like so.

SPEAKER_04

Your wife's an interior designer. Yeah, she wants shit hung up all the time.

Hanging Pictures Without Losing It

SPEAKER_04

You know you're gonna be hanging like a machine minute you guys get there.

SPEAKER_01

Just as a side note, do you guys have any tips for hanging shit? I I've got all the tips. I have I took a Milwaukee laser level from my dad. I've I've done everything in my power. That's completely wrong. Oh, hold on, wait, just listen to me. I feel like I still suck at hanging multiple things in the same area, like completely level. Like I could do one or two images at perfect distance, but like we have six small photo frames I tried to hang, and it took me like too long to hang these all perfectly spaced, and it was just uh it was a shit show.

SPEAKER_04

All right, here's the math. Let's see how good our graphic guy is with audible teachings. So here's a tip. If you have, was it two rows of three? Yes. Okay, so you want to take the total width of the three. So say they're each 12 inches long, and you've got 36 inches, okay? And then the distance of your gap. So if you want a three-inch gap and you want two of those, times two. Okay. That's six, okay? So now you've got a 42-inch area. All right? You have to understand that the gap gets added to the map. Yep. Okay? Added. So from there, what you want to do is just hang your first photo at the furthest left apart. Take the measurement between if it's a single interior, like a single screw, or is it two, whatever that is, okay? Use the blue tape method.

unknown

Okay?

SPEAKER_04

Okay? Add the tape, you bought that thing.

SPEAKER_01

No, no, no, keep going.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so you put your screws up there, and then you have to take the distance from the screw to the next screw plus the gap. And then you can't miss.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. So why wouldn't I just hire someone just to come hang these pictures?

SPEAKER_04

Because I honestly, I've hung so much shit, it's it takes 10 minutes.

SPEAKER_01

I'm kidding, I wouldn't.

SPEAKER_04

I just literally, so we had a photographer come over to shoot the baby. Yeah. Right? And Sarah was like, Oh, we need to get these three things hung. While she was literally unpacking her stuff, I went upstairs and hung three photos above the baby's crib, and they're perfectly spaced apart. Usually exactly what I just told you. Because you're like, oh, do the math real quick. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

That's nonsense. You throw one up to the left, you eyeball it, go to the next one, eyeball it's a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01

With the laser.

SPEAKER_04

The laser when your guns say good enough for union work, you call it a day. Only time I use lasers is is on like actual construction work. Everything else, I'm I'm busting out. No, I yeah, like if I'm hanging cabinets, laser.

SPEAKER_05

If I'm hanging a photo, I'm pulling out an actual level. See, sometimes I'll I'll bust the laser out. Like we have like uh going into our dining room, we have like an archway and there's two sections, and we have these two paintings hung, and I wanted them like exactly the same level. So I'll bust the laser level out to give myself a line like spanning like 10 feet. Because you can't do that with the laser. They're so wide, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, certain certain applications, I guess.

SPEAKER_04

Also, another tip for hanging like just random shit around your house, get the first one up first. Like it's it's that having that reference point is gonna make it easier for everything coming down the line. Yeah. Instead of trying to map it and math it all out, you know, at the beginning. Yeah. But uh one one trick that I don't think most people realize, actually got two tricks here when you're hanging stuff, is just get the first screw in, okay, and then work off of it to level. So instead of trying to level them both before you do it, just put the first screw in where you think it's close, and then level. Yeah, pull the next one to level. So like you could literally put the level on top, pivot it up to level, and mark your line, drill the next one straight right in. Gotcha. The other tip that goes along with it, and this is a newer thing, is like I really like these um like self-threaded zinc wallers of 100 pounds.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, right?

SPEAKER_04

You don't have to get a drill and put a hole and tap it in. You don't have to go get like screw it in a lot, you don't have to get that like big ass thing and pull like the toggle on the back. Like those are great in applications, but you don't want to do that all the time. Yeah, you just screw it in and then you don't have to worry about hitting studs. If you hit a stud, you just pull it out and run the screw in, then you're good.

SPEAKER_05

Have you seen this thing's 3M makes? I've never tried them. They look like little like silver squares, and they claim that just by tapping it into the drywall, it has like 15 pounds of. Not a fan of that. Neither am I, but it's kind of it's kind of interesting. I have seen them. Yeah, yeah, there is the claw right down there. There's your hanging shit tips. Yeah, look at that thing. 25 pounds. We I think we have to test these at some point. That's pretty insane. Yeah, it wouldn't be bad. We've remember we tested. Look at it. And it's just going right into the drywall. That's an interesting one. We've got enough drywall around here. We can find out the drywall guys.

SPEAKER_04

Alright, so we're at last one for drill impact. Combo kit for sockets and shit. You went with we'll give you miter saw. I like circular. And then ladder. The own like a little giant folding ladder.

SPEAKER_05

So we have one more. One more. This one's a small one. I'm just surprised we didn't say it yet. I feel like you need a tape. I mean, th think about this now for a second. Let me make my case here. You know how many times something is about to be bought or something needs to be assembled or something needs to be moved. It's like, hold on, before we make any steps, let's get the tape out, verify sizes. If you have to build something, you know. I mean, it's like it's one of the most crucial tools you could have. I mean, every carpenter in the entire world has one on their tool belt.

SPEAKER_01

You know what? I actually might agree with that. First tape I ever bought was a cheater. It helped me learn how to read a tape measure.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, don't get me wrong, a tape measure is a hundred percent a necessity. I just I guess yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

It's hard not to include, and it's hard not to include it just feels like you're like, ah, I'm surprised you guys didn't say shopshades or something.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, it does.

SPEAKER_04

Now you don't lose your eyeballs on your first project. That's number six. Shop shades. Chef shades. Tape's really good. I was gonna say the combo screwdriver. Really? See, I don't I find myself using it. See, I just gotta like I have a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01

You can use a screwdriver for everything. Well, the combo one.

SPEAKER_04

So you get all the multiple bits. Yeah. Because like my kids are destroying shit. There's like loose handles on like your your cabinets or doors, right? Put some kids' thing together, something's gonna need the battery taken out. Like, you can't get it.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, but you can just use the drill too for most of most of that stuff.

SPEAKER_04

You can use it for freaking any of it, you lunatic.

SPEAKER_05

Phillips had that drill. You can fix your cabinet handles, you can assemble things, you could you do everything and anything that you could do with that hand screwdriver. And this is surprising coming from me. I'm usually one to advocate for the hand screwdriver, but to throw it on a list of five.

SPEAKER_04

That I don't know, dude. It's like the most, but I now tape measure is up there. Like it's probably the top three used thing in my house. I don't think there's ever been a project we've done without a tape. There hasn't, but that that hand in my house, I use that screwdriver all. Like, if you're if you're farting with electrical, you're not busting out a tape measure.

SPEAKER_05

I'm just getting this visual of you in my head just like patrolling your house with this screwdriver just checking shit. Let me see this. I don't have it on me right now.

SPEAKER_04

That that little that little like fastback screw, I find myself using it way more often than I thought. And it's just because like you don't you don't make time to go back and fix that little like loose thing. Yeah, you do it on the spot. Yeah. And and yeah, I don't know. I guess. Well, what do you guys think? Do you would you go with a tape measure? Obviously, you gotta have the tape. So tape has to be top five. Let's go. I feel like uh, you know, honorable mention is the combo screwdriver. I say it every time we buy one, though.

SPEAKER_01

So I mean, of these five, and I and I guess it could be outside this five, where are you spending and where are you saving?

Where To Spend And Where To Save

SPEAKER_01

Like, if I have five hundred dollars I want to spend on new items, where should a majority of my money go? Is it in that drill and impact driver that'll last me longer? Or like where I know you your your methods always get into a volume of stuff and then figure out what you're doing and break shit. But if I know kind of what I'm doing already based upon this kit and the stuff you guys know that I do in my free time, what should I be spending my money on?

SPEAKER_05

Battery platform. See, I I've always heard that argument and it makes a lot of sense. I've just never abided by it, and I feel like if you're really trying to like build a collection of tools on like somewhat of a budget, it's impossible to stick to a battery platform. No, it's not. It is. It was when you started. No, I've got like an amalgamation of tools, and it's strictly because oh I'm in Lowe's. Oh my god, you're gonna sell me an oscillating tool at that price? All right, let's do it. Oh, you're gonna sell me this reciprocating saw at that price? Let's do it like the deals, they vary brand to brand.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like I hate having different batteries, though. That's my thing. It's kind of cool. Oh, but then I have to buy multiple batteries because my brain, I'm just OCD in the if I have one battery and it dies, I have to stop using the tool.

SPEAKER_05

You would think that, but like, for example, like I only have one 12-volt Bosch product, and it's my actually I have two. It's my little power plane and that sander, and it came with a battery, and that power plane is such like a specific tool. It's like once that battery dies, it's like, okay, I'll just charge it up again. Like, I don't need like five of them on demand.

SPEAKER_04

I guess it's coming from this guy's no loyalty, Joe.

SPEAKER_03

Don't forget. Like he's loyal to nothing.

SPEAKER_05

I've got loyalty to some brands.

SPEAKER_03

I've got period. You have no loyalty to anything.

SPEAKER_05

What do you think? He's brought morals even as he has no loyalty. He's a liar and a fiend.

SPEAKER_02

Truck brands, food. No, I want to.

SPEAKER_05

I've only owned Ford trucks, but unfortunately, the Americans don't know how to make cars anymore, so you gotta go.

SPEAKER_03

You gotta go exactly! I mean, what American cars are even left? No one's making them, they're done. Buy another truck. I don't know why you need a car.

SPEAKER_05

Oh man, you haven't got to ride in the Gulf yet. I don't want to ride in your go-kart. Yeah, you uh why?

SPEAKER_04

So I can throw up, feel like a child? Yeah, I mean, if that's what I like feeling like a grown man in my giant trucks, okay? Anyway, I'm on the complete other end of the spectrum. I am I absolutely think that you need to be spending on getting on a battery platform you want to be on. Like, so I I like I said a big fan of Ryobi in regards to like that price point and what they offer, the quality of the tools. They've done a great job, I think, of making them accessible. The Hercules stuff is solid too. We have yet to see if that battery platform is gonna withhold.

SPEAKER_01

It's not looking good right now.

SPEAKER_04

It's not, but the tools hold. The tools are solid, the batteries are kind of junk, but you can go in there and get like three batteries for like 40 bucks. Yeah, like buy one, get two thrown at you on your way out the door, kind of the deal, you know. You missed a sale, take it. Like, um, and so because of that, you know, the money I think needs to be spent on the battery platform. I I do not like that I have multiple batteries at the house. I want every tool to be because I'm with Joe. If I've got a drill, an impact driver, a circular saw, an oscillating tool, and I'm working up in a room or something, I don't want to have to go back down to the garage to charge a battery. Yeah. So I'm like, I'm gonna pull the battery out of the drill, I'm gonna throw it in the other thing, I'm gonna pull the other one out. I'm gonna have like I'm I I hate that.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like that's like Ryo. I get it more so with like Ryobi, uh, especially if you're like a first-time homeowner getting into like a battery platform. But I will say this is where it's like I just can't do it. It's like I feel like there's certain tools where I want the nicer version, and there's others where it's not looking at this through the optics of buying your first thing, but think about it, like you're like you buy it.

SPEAKER_04

I sample up, I've got 27 years of experience.

SPEAKER_01

Well, before you even go any further, I'll give you one example because I I'm very polar opposite of the end of the experience here. All right. I was building a de uh one of the ramps I showed you guys one time. Before I went out and bought any tools, I thought I could use all my dad's old hand-me-down tools. Yes. He had one circular saw, it was an old porter cable, had one battery. I would make four cuts, it would die. I would sit there and let it charge. I would make four cuts, it would die. I then resorted to going up into his old tool attic he has of all of his old tools. I got an old black and decker corded circular saw that's had a blade on it since probably 1970. And I proceeded to make every single cut I needed to and told myself I was going and wasting money on Dewalt tools or something I could afford just because I was so over like the tools I had at my my use. And I sense I haven't had any problems building stuff.

SPEAKER_05

The only problem with that story is that it was an old porter cable battery-powered. So I didn't even know they made it that long. I thought they went out before they started putting batteries.

SPEAKER_04

My first combo kit was a porter cable.

SPEAKER_05

I oh man, porter cable was the best. It works fine. It just, you know. Who bought them out? Who did this to them? Stealing Black and Decker.

SPEAKER_04

Stealing Black and Decker. And then they put them out and they buried them.

SPEAKER_05

They ponticked them. Yeah. They said, they said, we're gonna remember you for all the good times in the past, but you're done and Buok's taken over.

SPEAKER_04

I uh I um yeah, and I going back to like when I was just getting started in the world that I live in now, battery power tools were meh, and I couldn't afford DeWalt or Milwaukee. But like I tried my hardest to buy, like, I had a Craftsman combo kit on a battery, and I just tried to get everything that I could on it. Like, I wasn't like, oh, I need the better one. It's like, no, I need the tool, period. Yeah, I don't need to go, you you have to have the tool to know you need the better one. But I think that's the problem. That's the thing you're not thinking of. No, the getting oscillating, just you didn't know a shit one was shit until you used the shit one.

SPEAKER_05

Just I know, but just jumping into a full combo kit battery platform, that's like commitment. That's what that's what the that's like, oh, like I just met this woman. She's got like five kids and two dogs. I'm getting married. It's like, whoa, you're just jumping right, like fully like you know, balls to the wall too.

SPEAKER_04

You're gonna look her up on the internet these days, you're gonna get a couple reviews, you're gonna list a couple jackasses like us right to call one of the ex-husbands.

SPEAKER_05

Hey, what went wrong here first? No, I I can't do it. I'm sorry, I just can't because if you're that homeowner, you get that craftsman kit, you're after like three to four months with it, you're gonna be like, you know what? I want some nicer stuff here and there, but you're never gonna be able to justify it in your head because you're like, I've got five Craftsman batteries. Why do I need to get the nicer drill? I'm locked to this. You're a slave to that brand forever. I feel like you should be a slave to no brand. Be a slave to no brand. And you know, once you become once you lock into one of those brands.

SPEAKER_02

These are homeowners, Sam.

SPEAKER_05

They're not talking about they may start as homeowners, but in a year or two, they may be a union carpenter. Upgrade.

SPEAKER_04

Well, yeah, but wouldn't you rather so that's another I think the it's the same problem. If you want to go upgrade, now you're like, I got 12 different batteries to choose from. Do I want to stick with one of those or do I want to go to this like brand new corner of the internet that's selling this stuff?

SPEAKER_05

I think I could make the I think I could make okay, this is the concession I guess I could make. I'm all for committing to a battery platform combo kit to start, but it has to be one of two brands, either Bauer or Ryobi. Because I feel like you just lock into one of the bigger big boys or one of the medium guys.

SPEAKER_02

Where is this Bauer loyalty coming from? Have you bought anything Bauer except the stupid challenge last week?

SPEAKER_05

I bought actually have a decent bit of Bauer, but oh yeah, yeah, I've got some Bauer. I never knew that. That's I've got a Bauer Sanders. I've got a Bauer uh concrete mixer. Uh yeah. Did you get a Bauer concrete mixer? I had it uh actually got it a few years ago. I needed I did a tile job.

SPEAKER_01

I didn't even know Bauer made concrete mixer.

SPEAKER_05

He's doing the Harbor Freight. You need a tool, you buy it from Harbor Freight, you don't care it was the cheese shelf. That's what he's doing. We're about to test every single Bauer tool. Is that next week?

SPEAKER_01

No, we're not. We're almost there. We haven't had the light goals, and we gotta do the backhoe and the sawmill from Harbor Freight before we do the Bauer. There's a backhoe? Yeah, they have a toe behind backhoe.

SPEAKER_05

And a sawmill. You didn't want to sell a little bit. You should have watched it.

SPEAKER_01

Did you watch the budget challenge the whole way through? We did a light count. 86,000 likes, and we would buy the backhoe and sawmill. Sorry. Just inform me you bought that now.

SPEAKER_05

It was during Sam's segment. It's a very small sawmill. It's a very small sawmill. I know the sawmill exists.

SPEAKER_01

But they have a toe behind backhoe they just came out with. It goes right on your toe hitch and it's a backhoe.

SPEAKER_04

Well, he drives a golf now, so what are we doing? I've got my ranger too. I brought it.

SPEAKER_01

My truck will tow it fine. Your lightning will get halfway on the turnpike. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

Anybody have any dura cells? Yeah, help a brother out, get some duracels. Locked into those batteries. Bought in. Yeah, you're fully committed to that. You're fully committed to that. You're fully committed to that battery platform.

SPEAKER_04

Oh man. I got three other guys. Get out of here, you young bucks, you assholes.

SPEAKER_05

See, this is like it's like your golf.

SPEAKER_01

It's like, okay, one tool.

Purchases We Regret Buying

SPEAKER_01

Both of you, I want you to name it. What is one thing that you've bought for your home that you completely regret and you would never suggest someone purchases as a homeowner? That's a tool? Tool, an item that you've used for work. Maybe you bought it thinking you'd use it more and you probably used it once and it's been sitting in a box. Has to be one. Hmm.

SPEAKER_05

What do people do? I don't want to openly say that any tool purchase I made was a mistake. They were all justified, necessary, and have saved our household money. Um you know what I think I have mine. That's tough on the spot. Actually, no, I don't regret it. Go ahead. I don't know. Okay, I guess the one I'll say no, I like that toll. Uh hold on. Give me one more second. Uh it's crazy how delusional you both are.

SPEAKER_04

What do you mean? Everything I've done has been fun. I don't buy shit that I've

SPEAKER_05

I was gonna say the Ryovi flooring saw, but that thing has come in clutch so many times I don't regret that. But it was you know what?

SPEAKER_04

I got one. It's very similar to that. What is it? Anything above a junk throwaway shitty tile saw. I bought a full stand DeWalt tile saw that was like real nice when I was remodeling my other house, and we used it and it was great for all of that. I I it was like I don't I don't like selling shit because I just don't like the time that it takes to sell it. But I sold it because I was like, this thing's never gonna get used again. Yeah, like I'm not gonna ever use it, right? And then I actually used Jason's on that thing we did a couple years ago, and I was like, ooh. You can rent them too, right? Yeah, so it's like I don't think buying a nice high-level like I'm talking like the thousand dollar DeWalt or something with like the all the good. It's they're really nice to use, but as a DI wired homeowner, you don't need it. You can get away with uh the little guy that sits there and you have to like actually get a nice someone to hold the hose on you, right? Yeah, I think Rigid makes a pretty big tabled one that's like okay, it's all plastic and you can it's relatively affordable. Yeah, but then yeah, I don't know, don't buy a tile saw. I think that's what I'm getting at. Rent one or borrow one. That's fair. As a homeowner.

SPEAKER_05

I think the one I would say the reason I'm I'm saying I'm gonna say the the Ryobi Weed Whacker I have only because I got like a just a standard like 18 volt one. And I feel like whenever like we were just there purchasing all the tools and they have like every level of it, and like in my mind. Oh yeah, and it'll be like, well, just give me the cheapest one. Like my yard's not that bad. But I was doing like a bunch of landscaping yesterday. I'm like, if I had a weed whacker with with like some more oomph, like I feel like like I feel like don't chip, don't cheap out on the weed whacker. The mower, 100%. I feel like you could get like whatever size mower, they're all gonna cut the side. Yes, yeah, 100%. You get away with the cheap gas, but yeah, don't unless you have like just the tiniest.

SPEAKER_04

You know what's another tool now that you're I didn't I didn't go outdoors, but another one is it's freaking hedge clippers.

SPEAKER_05

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

When you have them, you're like, great, but you're like, I use these once a year, max, if I remember. And the only reason it's in my head right now is because the crew that we use to do our stuff, I scot them. So like we have to do it myself when we're having like my people over for my birthday this weekend. And I was thinking about hedge clippers, but I'm like, thank god I have them. Yeah, like DeWalt sent me that nine years ago, so that just sits there though. I've I've moved it so many houses, and it I just can't ever there's not good storage for a hedge trimmer, right? It doesn't sit nice on a wall, it doesn't go in a drawer, it's like, oh, it's just there and ugly and sh.

SPEAKER_01

I only have one because you gave me manual ones from a return palette from Ace Hardware.

SPEAKER_04

Wait, manual?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, like the No, those are clippers. Isn't that what you're talking about the Oh the actual oh the trimmers? Yeah, oh yeah. You can find someone to sharp. I have an old-ass corded one.

SPEAKER_04

Clippers are fine. You got a yeah.

SPEAKER_01

On a tree. The corded one, I have an old corded one that's from I don't even know what brand it is. It's yeah, it's like 20 years ago. I feel like I never, I feel like you don't use it more than once a year.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, and if if you are, God bless you.

SPEAKER_04

I feel like a lot of stuff outside those. You could get like a rototiller, like buy one, you're like, why? Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I did just well, it was just a manual aerator, but I have been aerating my lawn quite a bit. Well, you're supposed to aerate two to three times a year, at least where we live.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you're supposed to aerate in the fall, I think, and then in the spring and then midway through the summer. Really? I think I look into that one more. I am very not versed there. Yeah, so don't buy a tile saw and don't buy uh shitty battery-powered weedbacker. I we can agree with that.

Tier List Ranking Homeowner Essentials

SPEAKER_01

Well, I I think that's great, but I think what we need to do in uh the podcast fashion, we need to put everything on a tier list and rank it from S tier to F tier.

SPEAKER_04

Kids love these tier lists just because it makes for great clips. I get it. I get it. We we make this podcast show solely to be clippable. Just for the clips. Just the clips. Just rage baiting Sam and clipping. Just the clips, way.

SPEAKER_01

We got an F tier this week. Wow. We're updating, we're innovating, we're changing, we listen to the comments. They wanted F's? Yeah. Not just D's? No, I actually don't know if anyone ever commented about that, but I just wanted to add it this week.

SPEAKER_04

I can't read, so I lost my ability to read.

SPEAKER_01

Should we add a segment to the show where we give people a phone number that we don't answer, but they can call and leave voicemails to and we review them on the podcast? 100%.

SPEAKER_05

Yes. I would love that.

SPEAKER_01

You should comment below if you want to see that because we'll start dropping a phone number for you to call. We do a live phone call.

SPEAKER_04

We can call in and leave messages for the show. That'd be cool. It's because we don't have enough people. We can vet the messages. Once the show gets bigger, like when we get to those hundred thousand subscribers, we might be able to hire someone that can filter the phone calls before they come to us.

SPEAKER_01

Phyllis, put the call through. Maybe more than just us three with four cameras and no one else in here. Everyone else in there. For context, there's no one else behind there.

SPEAKER_04

We make sure everyone leaves us alone because they can do real work and we get the f off.

SPEAKER_01

All right, you guys, you guys rank uh homeowner essentials if you're buying a house. First up, we have a circular saw.

SPEAKER_04

A it can get a lot done. Is that a circular saw? Like, what is that photo? These are the weirdest photos. Okay, yeah, there's a terrible photo. I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Blame Manis. I have a palm sander.

unknown

D.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, like sandpaper, I would rank higher than a palm sand than an actual electric sander. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05

I feel like these sanders, I feel like, get a lot of homeowners too, or you know, they don't know whether to get that the random orbital or the palm sander. Don't ever buy the palm sander. No, don't ever do it. Never buy the palm.

SPEAKER_04

Actually, put the palm on F. I got vice grips. Put the palm on F, Jeff.

SPEAKER_01

Oh wow, sorry.

SPEAKER_05

We've spoken. I'm gonna I'm saying S tier on the vice grips. Vice grips? No. S? Oh yeah, those things come in handy.

SPEAKER_04

They're not even close to S. I would say B plus tier personally.

SPEAKER_01

We don't have a B plus tier.

SPEAKER_04

So I he I'll give him A because he wanted S, but why are you how are you gonna fight for S on the B?

SPEAKER_05

Oh my god, those things will get you out of so much trouble.

SPEAKER_04

But you you you can't use if you see the problem is an S tier tool is great for what it's supposed to be used for. Yeah. And what it's not supposed to be used for. Oh. A vice script. If you're relying on that for things it's not supposed to be used for, you know you're shit up. Well, yeah, I'm not saying you get carried away with it. That's why I it can't be S. I'll give you A. It's a great tool to have. Like you want them for sure. But if you're like, I gotta loosen this thing and you bust off the bice grips, you're not. This works for everything. Like, oh, my house has all these brass fittings.

SPEAKER_01

This is beautiful. What about uh an impact driver?

SPEAKER_04

Unfortunately, as big as that's an impact wrench, first off.

SPEAKER_01

Um put impact driver. We're gonna call it an impact driver.

SPEAKER_04

Um no, it's a driver, yeah. We're talking driver. As much as I'm a huge fan of an impact driver, for for no, for general work, it's gotta be a C tier tool.

SPEAKER_01

Whoa, what are you talking about? That's nuts. I would have put it in A tier.

SPEAKER_05

It's wrong. Yeah, A at least. No way. Here's the thing. Every homeowner in America has that tool and uses it frequently.

SPEAKER_04

No, you're that's a thing. You Sam's not on the internet enough, dude. He's not. I use it. You only do though because you work here. I don't think so. And you and I am Team Impact. Don't so dude, I actually uh is anyone Nick! Make a shirt that says Team Impact. Thank you. Okay. I I won't get an impact driver tattooed on me. That's how much I love them. But what I'm saying is when you're first buying a house, you will destroy shit if you're using an impact improperly for a lot of things. It's just part of the learning curve. You have to do it.

SPEAKER_02

I can't put it up there.

SPEAKER_05

This is your first tools ever. Putting circular saw, you're telling me that you'd rather trust someone who has no experience with tools with a circular saw rather than an impact driver.

SPEAKER_01

So what to hire this up at? B, settle at B.

SPEAKER_04

If you both think it's S. I mean it's an S-tier tool in my life, but like I can't for the first timer. We'll put it at B, Pula. Bro, like, there's no way Ryan wouldn't know how to use that right now.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, you would.

SPEAKER_04

No. But you know, I'd be like, go build me a bunch of shit with this.

SPEAKER_05

And he'd be like, Easy peasy. Everybody, I'm everybody uses them. Everybody's got one. I'm more anti-impact, more of a drill guy, but I'm just saying that it's a versatile tool. Incredibly versatile. I just don't think it's a beginner.

SPEAKER_04

It's like your it's your 201 tool. You gotta go through your freshman year. It doesn't matter. Then you get into the impact.

SPEAKER_01

All right, we'll leave a B tier. Bullshit. We've a six and one screwdriver. You know I love it.

SPEAKER_05

You know I love it. Give me B. I want B. Don't you dare you.

SPEAKER_01

I'll go B. Screwdriver's so useful. Six and one. We have the good old Sawza. F.

unknown

No.

SPEAKER_04

C. D at least. Dude, you have such a convoluted concept in your brain for the bigger.

SPEAKER_03

You know they're gonna demo something. Could we tear this out? D's good. D's good. I it's it is only good for demo. Yeah, I don't recommend building any fine furniture.

SPEAKER_02

What if they're an A tier where you want to do that?

SPEAKER_04

I never said A. I never said A. Yeah, Sam wants a he wants to put it in the back window of the range or he wants to have the saws all up there. That would actually be great, like a gun rack just reciprocating saws.

SPEAKER_01

Uh we'll give a shop back.

SPEAKER_04

It's an A tier. I hate it because it takes up so much space and they're so all over the damn place.

SPEAKER_01

A pressure washer.

SPEAKER_04

B. C. Yeah, I think that's a good one. You can get walls, you can get a you can go years without having to use it.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, this is a simple one, a hammer. So B.

SPEAKER_04

I'll give you B. I feel like you need a hammer for everything almost. Dude, if we didn't do stupid hammer videos around here, we'd have no hammers in the shop. We don't use them for shit. I don't go, I'm not a hammer first builder. Our most viewed video ever is about a hammer. I know. I was actually at a tailgate this weekend and uh Sarah was like, Isn't that that stupid game? And I'm my buddy was like, What do you mean? He's not on the internet. I was like, Oh yeah, we have a video with 200 million views of us playing this game in my shop. He's like, What? And then I was watching a bunch of idiots like miss and like cut their knuckles off and like hit each other with hammering, approach them with your own hammer. I was like, I'm on crutches, dude. I'm not gonna go over there and whoop their ass while I'm on crutches. That'd be so much. John pulls a hammer out of his back pocket. They're also using uh it was like a it was like a shitty metal hammer. So it had like the probably like the 12-ounce barely curved head, and then that like completely round metal um handle stuck into it. You know what I mean? It's like it's not wood, it's not made of like an injection. Yeah, it was just awful.

SPEAKER_01

All right, this is a good one. Channel locks.

SPEAKER_04

I'll put those up there with with vice grips for me. Like I said, another one that's like great to have, super versatile. That's fair, but you don't want to be using them first. No, you're using them first, you're shut up. A good ladder. Now I'm going S. Yeah, I couldn't.

SPEAKER_05

I could I could agree with that.

SPEAKER_04

But I'm only would can we agree though? It's gotta be the little giant.

SPEAKER_05

Oh, if you could if you could swing it, yeah. I those are much better ladders.

SPEAKER_04

It can't be your just your old school eight foot straight single, no A, no adjustability. Need the adjustability for your wife to be able to get on that thing. Because you could use it like a step stool, also that's why it's that's why that little giant's amazing.

SPEAKER_01

Uh a laser level.

SPEAKER_04

B. Completely unnecessary for the beginner.

SPEAKER_03

I can live with that. D. I can live with that. D duh. D is in. No, no, B, come on. Just completely selfish. I think it's completely selfish.

SPEAKER_04

You just think they're cool because you're technically. Exactly. That's cool. You know what? I will say this. There's a lot more affordable options than there used to be. Yeah. So I'll go B.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, we'll go B. Uh we have a stud finder. Don't ask what that's why this looks like this, but a stud finder. That may be an S-tier tool.

SPEAKER_04

I hate to say it. I think I agree. Yeah. It's worth investing in, a decent one, so you're just not plugging holes through your house. Right? Like you don't want to learn how to patch drywall. Trust me, it sucks. Drywall sucks. You go down that rabbit hole, you're gonna hate yourself forever. Start smoking real bad.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. A tape measure. It's also an S.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, I think Yeah, I agree.

SPEAKER_01

And last but not least, a drill.

SPEAKER_04

Put it up there with the S's. It's an S. Cordless drill. Very specific.

SPEAKER_01

Well.

SPEAKER_04

Get that cord out of here. Get that cord out of here.

SPEAKER_01

That's a pretty solid list. You guys thought there wasn't gonna be many.

SPEAKER_04

I didn't think there were gonna be any S's. I didn't realize that. You know how he hides them in the back, right? He doesn't let us have any good wins early, just wants us to argue and yell at each other.

SPEAKER_01

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

SPEAKER_04

It's like he produces content for a living or something.

SPEAKER_01

They're not catered whatsoever. They're completely just randomized. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, they are. I will say one thing though.

PPE Respirators And Work Gloves

SPEAKER_04

Jokes aside, get some safety gear if you're getting if you're getting into like working on your house. And I'm not just saying that because Shopshades are the most comfortable safety glasses on the planet and they're awesome looking, and we have new frames and a bunch of new things available. Like, I'm not saying that too. I mean I I'm I'm I'm there's two other things that I think you need to get into. Get yourself some some sort of respirator if you are working in your house and you're doing any sort of demo or like construction work, it can even just be like the the white mask is better than zero. I've for so many years just was like anti-the respirator. And you look at it and you're like I'm punting away years of my late life because I'm not wearing one. So if you get in, like we're in Pittsburgh, you get into an old house, that thing is a hundred years old. Like, there is the worst things in the walls and in the ceilings. I remember taking a wall out in the old house, there was newspaper clippings from like the early 1900s and soot because the house had um fireplaces and that's how it was actually heated. So, like there's soot and like you're getting just like terrible stuff in your lungs. So get a respirator, and then I would also say like a decent pair and of like a leather glove, like a leather work glove. So you can work inside and outside with them. Because you're if you're doing any other demo work as well, you don't want to be sticking your hands on it. If you get into if you get into any like lath and plaster work, it's awful to to grab with your hands. Anything that has like what's that old plaster work with the mesh metal lath? Uh if you get in any metal lath, yeah, that you don't want to be grabbing that shit. Also, if like you go to work in your yard and you don't have a pair of gloves on, you're gonna regret it.

SPEAKER_05

I was just about to say, I've gone through like I've bought like two to three different pairs of like leather gloves from Home Depot before. I was like, let me just get like the Milwaukee ones that are nicer because my weeds are so prickly, even like leather ones, it was just piercing right through those.

SPEAKER_04

I think I'm a man every time I grab a shovel, and if I have to do like extensive work, like any like anything where you're moving gravel or dirt, and if you don't have gloves on, you're just like these blisters were so avoidable. Why do I have these? Oh, I'm so tough.

SPEAKER_01

I feel like people always just make it seem like gloves are for softies.

SPEAKER_04

They are softies.

SPEAKER_01

But I'm old now and wise. And I would say, get some PPE. Like some of the hardest men I've ever met in my life wear gloves.

SPEAKER_05

No, no glove, no love. Am I right, Joe? And on that note, you got anything else for us, Joe?

Subscribe Share And Voicemail Idea

SPEAKER_04

Speaking of note, no, I think I think that's it.

SPEAKER_01

I think they have a lot of comments to do. Uh they have to subscribe and they have to comment on the comments.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, you guys gotta do a lot of work this episode, right? You gotta share it with your entire family so we can get to this hundred thousand so Joe can get his conspiracy theory episode. One. Two, you gotta go subscribe to the Builder Bunker so you can see the extended cuts, the behind the scenes, the fun stuff that Sam does get to take his pants off for. Third, we need likes. Sure, we need likes. We just need them to comment about if they want the voicemail segment. Oh, yeah, we need to know if you want a voicemail segment. And then we also need you to check out our sponsor. All right, that's like nine. Appreciate it. Love you guys. See you on the next episode. Farewell.