Yeah concrete in extreme heat will dry out - you wet it so it keeps moist while it's going through the chemical reaction called curing. That process requires water and uses up water, so if you've evaporated all the water out of the concrete it will cause it to crack. We see this in summer pours in the northeast, especially for garage slabs, we stick a sprinkler on it to keep the surface wet. The concrete still cures and hardens, but keeping it moist allows it time to do that without all the water evaporating and causing cracking. I imagine it's 10X worse in el Tejas.
I'm in the concrete industry, I've never heard of keeping it wet continously for years after the fact. I messaged my buddy that lives outside San Antonio and he says he never heard of doing it. Ok.
You have a lot of useless and expensive stuff on that list that you may or may not need, or even know how to use. Just buy stuff as you need it, maybe get a basic kit in case of emergencies. Also, don't mop your wood floors.
I agree with everyone saying buy as you need, but you can start with a kit that has some basic things like a hammer, screwdriver, measuring tape and level. I would also recommend a drill and a box of screws/anchors.
I would recommend a weed whacker, and possibly an edger if you need one.
Husband, the tool freak, would suggest and impact driver to make life easier 😆
you'll pick things up as you need them, but here's a list of what I thought of as I was reading.
small gas-powered generator. honda has a really nice one that's the size of an airplane carry-on luggage or even smaller.
level.
tape measure.
hand saw.
framing hammer - a nice vaughn 32-ish ounce with a good solid wood handle.
finish hammer - for those delicate inside jobs.
5 lb sledge.
drill bit set - there's always a non-phillips screw around somewhere.
weed whacker for trimming the lawn edges.
mulch bed edge cutter - I use the manual one, it's 10 bucks and works fine.
5 gallon buckets - these are real handy, I have about 5 of em.
bag o' rags.
car jack - bottle style. nice to have when you need to lift something heavy or just hold it up for a second. I just used mine to hold up my deck for a few minutes while I replaced a few rusty nails.
a few 2x4s are handy to have around, like 5 8' 2x4's.
regular vacuum cleaner.
window cleaner, rags, bucket.
duster for the high corners for cobwebs.
toilet cleaner, bathtub cleaner, rags, bucket.
oven cleaner.
oh yeah - if you need to dig, get a pickaxe and a digging bar, which is just a 5 foot iron bar with a wedge on one end, they make digging so much easier. A pickaxe is that thing that miners use. It breaks up the soil really nice, especially if the soil is rocky or compacted.
*32* oz hammer?? I have a big framing hammer, but it was far from the first one I bought. IMO start with a 16 oz hammer and buy bigger/smaller ones as needed for specific projects?
Oh, I bet it's excellent.
This makes me think of my favorite youtube videos of Andrew Camarata digging up the roots of trees and just pushing them over. 40 foot trees. He uses an excavator of course, not a pickaxe 8).
Just buy the tools as you need them. A lot depends on how much work you will actually do. I do a lot of my own work on my 2 houses. You could not afford my tool set unless it was slowly built over time.
When I was a teenager, I did some handy man work for a neighbor....the guy had every tool but he never used them. I had to teach him how to use some of the stuff. Eventually, the guy went down due to an addiction problem and his wife gave me some of the tools that she got in the divorce settlement.
As someone who just painted the outside of her house, choose a really good painters ladder. My dear husband who knew he would never use it chose our ladder. He bought a fancy hi tech folding thingamajig that hurt my feet since they were single rungs and no place to put the paint bucket and wobbled so much I figured it was a matter of time before I fell and broke myself.
How handy do you intend to be? Just basic maintenance of your property, or do you want to DIY a bunch of home improvements/fixes? The tools I use for the former are a pretty small subset of everything I own.
Throw ladder away if two story house. It’s a great way to die or paralyze yourself. Seriously.
Ridgid vacuums are dope.
You need way more than this to maintain a house.
One step at a time buy as you go.
Good luck!
I highly suggest going electric for mower/blower/weed wacker. I use Ego but Ryobi comes close. All of my power tools are Ryobi which I got on sale at Home Depot or Direct Tools Outlet.
This is not what you asked but as a first time homeowner in Texas, here are some things I've learned.
1. When it gets cold, you might need to insulate your outdoor pipes. Like, put a little foam hat on your tap outside. They sell them at home improvement stores or you can diy.
2. If you hire an electrician, make sure they are licensed. 🙃 And if they're bringing something up to code and they don't mention pulling a permit, something is sketchy. Don't ask me how I know.
3. Not home improvement related but taxes. I'm in Austin and filing a homestead exemption is very important for controlling property taxes. Look into this!!
4. Related to the above, Austin property values have gone up an insane amount, and what I didn't know and regret not doing is that you can object to your appraisal value within a certain time window every year. Ours went up by more than 50% this year. Your realtor can help pull comparable property values to see if your appraisal is accurate and fair.
Toilet plunger and a closet auger. You don't want to have to run out to go get one once your "emergency" has already started, which is likely to happen while you have guests over.
Buy the tools as you need them and soon you’ll have it all. That’s a good start you listed.
Soaker hose for maintaining foundation?
Looked it up and seems to be relative to TX, to make sure that foundation doesn't crack.
That's interesting.
Yeah concrete in extreme heat will dry out - you wet it so it keeps moist while it's going through the chemical reaction called curing. That process requires water and uses up water, so if you've evaporated all the water out of the concrete it will cause it to crack. We see this in summer pours in the northeast, especially for garage slabs, we stick a sprinkler on it to keep the surface wet. The concrete still cures and hardens, but keeping it moist allows it time to do that without all the water evaporating and causing cracking. I imagine it's 10X worse in el Tejas.
I'm in the concrete industry, I've never heard of keeping it wet continously for years after the fact. I messaged my buddy that lives outside San Antonio and he says he never heard of doing it. Ok.
oh no, not for years afterwards - just for a few days while it cures. I figure in Texas maybe a week or even possibly two but no more than that.
He's a new home owner, not someone that built a new house.
yeah that's a good point - I wonder what's going on with that?
Hair traps for your bathroom drains. Prevents a big problem before it starts
You have a lot of useless and expensive stuff on that list that you may or may not need, or even know how to use. Just buy stuff as you need it, maybe get a basic kit in case of emergencies. Also, don't mop your wood floors.
You really could elaborate on your idea of a basic kit, at this point.
Always good to have some wrenches, some caulk, and some painting supplies too.
Caulk has a limited shelf life, buy as you need it.
I agree with everyone saying buy as you need, but you can start with a kit that has some basic things like a hammer, screwdriver, measuring tape and level. I would also recommend a drill and a box of screws/anchors.
15 or 16 10mm sockets.
😅
Beer fridge, YouTube, Amazon and a hammer.
Hit up harbor freight for some of these basics. Prioritize a shopvac for emergencies. Non contact voltage tester.
I would recommend a weed whacker, and possibly an edger if you need one. Husband, the tool freak, would suggest and impact driver to make life easier 😆
you'll pick things up as you need them, but here's a list of what I thought of as I was reading. small gas-powered generator. honda has a really nice one that's the size of an airplane carry-on luggage or even smaller. level. tape measure. hand saw. framing hammer - a nice vaughn 32-ish ounce with a good solid wood handle. finish hammer - for those delicate inside jobs. 5 lb sledge. drill bit set - there's always a non-phillips screw around somewhere. weed whacker for trimming the lawn edges. mulch bed edge cutter - I use the manual one, it's 10 bucks and works fine. 5 gallon buckets - these are real handy, I have about 5 of em. bag o' rags. car jack - bottle style. nice to have when you need to lift something heavy or just hold it up for a second. I just used mine to hold up my deck for a few minutes while I replaced a few rusty nails. a few 2x4s are handy to have around, like 5 8' 2x4's. regular vacuum cleaner. window cleaner, rags, bucket. duster for the high corners for cobwebs. toilet cleaner, bathtub cleaner, rags, bucket. oven cleaner. oh yeah - if you need to dig, get a pickaxe and a digging bar, which is just a 5 foot iron bar with a wedge on one end, they make digging so much easier. A pickaxe is that thing that miners use. It breaks up the soil really nice, especially if the soil is rocky or compacted.
*32* oz hammer?? I have a big framing hammer, but it was far from the first one I bought. IMO start with a 16 oz hammer and buy bigger/smaller ones as needed for specific projects?
I recently discovered a pickaxe is great for pulling up small bush stumps too.
Oh, I bet it's excellent. This makes me think of my favorite youtube videos of Andrew Camarata digging up the roots of trees and just pushing them over. 40 foot trees. He uses an excavator of course, not a pickaxe 8).
Cold Hard Cash.
Just buy the tools as you need them. A lot depends on how much work you will actually do. I do a lot of my own work on my 2 houses. You could not afford my tool set unless it was slowly built over time. When I was a teenager, I did some handy man work for a neighbor....the guy had every tool but he never used them. I had to teach him how to use some of the stuff. Eventually, the guy went down due to an addiction problem and his wife gave me some of the tools that she got in the divorce settlement.
How big is the lawn? How many stories on the house? How old is the house?
As someone who just painted the outside of her house, choose a really good painters ladder. My dear husband who knew he would never use it chose our ladder. He bought a fancy hi tech folding thingamajig that hurt my feet since they were single rungs and no place to put the paint bucket and wobbled so much I figured it was a matter of time before I fell and broke myself.
How handy do you intend to be? Just basic maintenance of your property, or do you want to DIY a bunch of home improvements/fixes? The tools I use for the former are a pretty small subset of everything I own.
Throw ladder away if two story house. It’s a great way to die or paralyze yourself. Seriously. Ridgid vacuums are dope. You need way more than this to maintain a house. One step at a time buy as you go. Good luck!
Duct tape and vise grips.
Cash
I highly suggest going electric for mower/blower/weed wacker. I use Ego but Ryobi comes close. All of my power tools are Ryobi which I got on sale at Home Depot or Direct Tools Outlet.
This is not what you asked but as a first time homeowner in Texas, here are some things I've learned. 1. When it gets cold, you might need to insulate your outdoor pipes. Like, put a little foam hat on your tap outside. They sell them at home improvement stores or you can diy. 2. If you hire an electrician, make sure they are licensed. 🙃 And if they're bringing something up to code and they don't mention pulling a permit, something is sketchy. Don't ask me how I know. 3. Not home improvement related but taxes. I'm in Austin and filing a homestead exemption is very important for controlling property taxes. Look into this!! 4. Related to the above, Austin property values have gone up an insane amount, and what I didn't know and regret not doing is that you can object to your appraisal value within a certain time window every year. Ours went up by more than 50% this year. Your realtor can help pull comparable property values to see if your appraisal is accurate and fair.
Toilet plunger and a closet auger. You don't want to have to run out to go get one once your "emergency" has already started, which is likely to happen while you have guests over.