The Saturday We Cleared the Repair List: The 9 Tools That Did It
A shelf in its box since March, a tap that dripped all summer, a chair nobody sat on. One Saturday, five small repairs, and the drawer of tools that did them.
9 products8 min read
The list on the fridge
The list had been on the fridge since March. A shelf, still in its box, that was going above the desk. The bathroom door handle that turned without doing anything. The kitchen tap that dripped once every four seconds, which one of us had timed. A dining chair that rocked so nobody sat on it. The kitchen door, which squeaked when it opened and hit the fridge when it closed.
None of it was hard. All of it had waited because every job needed one thing we did not own, and nobody buys a drill on a Tuesday for one shelf. In October we picked a Saturday, bought the tools in one go, and did the list in order. This is that day.
9 a.m. — the shelf that had been in its box since March
The shelf was the job we had avoided longest, because it meant holes in a wall we did not own. The wall was plasterboard, the shelf was going to carry books, and we knew just enough to know that screws in plasterboard alone do not hold books.
The scanner that found the timber and the cable
The 5-in-1 electronic wall scanner, about $15, is a handheld box you slide across a wall; it beeps and shows an arrow when it passes over a timber stud, and shows a different warning over metal or a live cable. We calibrated it on a bare patch, as the leaflet said, and found two studs forty centimetres apart exactly where the shelf wanted to go, and a cable running up from the socket that was not where either of us had assumed. That second finding is the whole price of the thing. It got confused by the thick wallpaper in the hall and insisted on a stud that was not there, so on a papered wall we would check twice.
Electronic Wall Scanner (Studs, Metal, Live Wire)
$14.89
The drill that did the holes and then the screws
The PATUOPRO 10 mm brushless cordless drill, about $49, is a compact drill with a keyless metal chuck and a numbered clutch ring. Two pilot holes into the studs, then swap the bit for a driver and run the screws home with the clutch set low so it stops before it strips anything, and the shelf was on the wall by half past nine with books on it by ten. It is light enough to hold above your head, which with a shelf matters more than power. Two things to know before ordering: the base option is the bare tool for 18 V slide-on batteries, so make sure the option you pick includes a battery and charger; and it is not for brick, which needs a hammer drill.
PATUOPRO 10 mm Brushless Cordless Drill (2-Speed)
$49.19
The tiny driver for the handle that turned and did nothing
The 132-in-1 precision screwdriver set, about $19, is a flat case of small bits with a slim driver and an extension bar. The bathroom door handle had been spinning for a month because the grub screw on its collar had backed out, and the grub screw was a 2 mm hex that nothing else in the flat fitted. The set had it. Thirty seconds and the handle turned the latch again. It also did the battery cover on the thermostat and a loose screw in a pair of glasses before lunch. The bits are short and the handle is thin, so it is a tool for small screws, not for anything that needs real force.
132-in-1 Precision Screwdriver Set
$19.15
Three jobs done before eleven, and we moved to the kitchen, where the tap had been counting the seconds since June.
11 a.m. — the tap that dripped every four seconds
A dripping mixer tap is nearly always a worn cartridge or washer, and the repair is simple: turn off the supply under the sink, take the handle off, undo the nut under it, swap the part, put it back. Simple, as long as you can undo the nut.
The pliers that undid the nut without scratching it
The 4-inch adjustable pump pliers, about $18, are palm-sized pliers with a push-button jaw that slides out to the width of a tap nut and locks. We wrapped a tea towel round the chrome, set the jaw, and the nut that had resisted a kitchen spoon and a pair of scissors turned on the first pull. The cartridge underneath was worn, the hardware shop had the part, and the tap stopped dripping at a quarter to twelve. The jaws are serrated, so without the cloth they will mark a polished finish; with it, nothing.
4-Inch Adjustable Pump Pliers
$17.95
The sealant for the edge the tap had been dripping onto
The clear neutral-cure silicone sealant, about $12, re-ran the bead where the basin meets the wall, which the summer of dripping had turned black and lifted. We pulled the old bead out with a blade, let the gap dry, and ran a new line. The honest note is that it comes as a soft sausage pack rather than a rigid cartridge: without a sausage gun you snip a corner and squeeze it like icing, which works for a basin edge and is messy. It needs a day before the sink gets wet again, so this is the job you do before you go out, not before you wash up.
Clear Neutral-Cure Silicone Sealant (Sausage Pack)
$12.05
We had lunch standing up, because the only chair in the kitchen was the one that rocked.
2 p.m. — the chair nobody sat on
The dining chair had rocked since the day we built it. One of us blamed the floor and the other blamed the chair, and both were right.
The hex keys that fit the bolts under the seat
The Greener ball-end hex key set, about $9, is a plastic holder of long-arm metric keys with a ball on the long end, so you can turn a bolt from an angle. We turned the chair over and found all four seat bolts a quarter-turn loose and one nearly out; the 5 mm key with the ball end reached them past the cross-rail without taking the seat off. Four bolts, two minutes, and the chair stopped moving at the top. It is a metric set only; an older or imported piece with imperial bolts needs its own.
Greener Ball-End Hex Key Set (Metric)
$8.69
The caps that took out the last millimetre
The silicone chair leg floor protectors, about $6 for twenty-four, are soft caps with a felt base that stretch over the end of a leg. Once the seat was tight, the chair still rocked by about a millimetre on one leg, which was the floor’s fault. A cap on each leg, and the felt took up the difference and stopped the scrape on the tiles that we had also stopped noticing. Measure a leg before ordering; the pack covers a range of round diameters and does not do square legs.
Silicone Chair Leg Floor Protectors (24-Pack)
$6.29
Somebody sat on the chair at half past two for the first time in a year. Then the light began to go in the hallway, and we had two doors left.
4 p.m. — the door that squeaked and the door that slammed
The hall is the dark part of the flat, and by four in October it is properly dark. The squeak itself cost nothing: a drop of sewing-machine oil on each hinge pin, worked in by swinging the door. Seeing the hinge pins was the problem, and the kitchen door hitting the fridge was the other.
The light that stood up on its own
The rechargeable magnetic panel work light, about $17, is a flat rechargeable panel with magnets on the back and a fold-out stand. It stood on the hall floor pointing up at the hinges while one of us oiled them and the other worked the door, and nobody held a phone. Later it stuck to the steel leg of the sink unit and lit the pipework while we checked the tap for drips. It gets warm on the brightest setting, and the magnets only help on steel; on a wooden frame you use the stand.
Rechargeable Magnetic Panel Work Light
$17.33
The stop that kept the kitchen door off the fridge
The KAK magnetic door stop, about $11, is a short post for the floor with a magnet in it and a small catch plate for the bottom of the door, fixed with adhesive pads rather than screws. We stuck the post down where the door should stop, a hand’s width from the fridge, and the plate on the door at the same height, and the door now swings open, clicks onto the magnet and stays there while you carry things through. It holds a door open better than it stops a slam; a heavy door in a draught will still arrive hard. The floor must be clean and flat for the pad to take.
KAK Magnetic Door Stop (Adjustable)
$10.65
We took the list off the fridge at ten to five. The whole day had cost less than one visit from somebody with a van, and the tools went into one drawer, where they have come out roughly once a week since.
What we’d leave at home
Everything in this story
Electronic Wall Scanner (Studs, Metal, Live Wire)
$14.89
PATUOPRO 10 mm Brushless Cordless Drill (2-Speed)
$49.19
132-in-1 Precision Screwdriver Set
$19.15
4-Inch Adjustable Pump Pliers
$17.95
Clear Neutral-Cure Silicone Sealant (Sausage Pack)
$12.05
Greener Ball-End Hex Key Set (Metric)
$8.69
Silicone Chair Leg Floor Protectors (24-Pack)
$6.29
Rechargeable Magnetic Panel Work Light
$17.33
KAK Magnetic Door Stop (Adjustable)
$10.65
Everything here comes to about $156. Prices in USD; they move a little from week to week.
Frequently asked questions
What tools do I need for small repairs around a rented flat?
A drill that can also drive screws, a set of small screwdriver bits, a pair of adjustable pliers, a set of hex keys and a light you can put down. Those five did every job in this story. A wall scanner and a tube of sealant are the two additions worth making before a specific job needs them. Our full drawer came to about $156.
Is a cheap cordless drill good enough for home use?
For shelves, curtain rails and furniture, yes. The one in this story is a compact brushless drill at about $49 and it has not been asked to do anything it could not. It is not for masonry; a brick wall needs a hammer drill and a plug.
How do I fix a tap that drips?
Turn off the supply under the sink, take off the handle and undo the nut under it with adjustable pliers, replace the washer or cartridge, put it back. The hardest part is the nut, and a pair of pump pliers with a cloth round the chrome undoes it without marking anything.
How do I stop a chair wobbling?
Turn it over and tighten the bolts under the seat first; on most flat-pack chairs that is the whole problem. If one leg is still short, a silicone cap with a felt base on each leg takes up the last millimetre and stops the scraping too.
Do I really need a stud finder to hang a shelf?
On a plasterboard wall, yes. A screw in plasterboard alone pulls out under a loaded shelf; a screw in the timber behind it does not. A basic electronic scanner at about $15 finds the timber and, more importantly, the cables you must not drill into.