Yahoo Finance Best tool kit sets for DIY at home
Getting yourself a toolkit is an efficient and cost-effective way to cover the requirements of home maintenance. Often incorporating dozens – or even hundreds – of tools, attachments and fixtures, toolkits and toolsets cater for a variety of repairs and DIY tasks, from replacing fittings to putting up shelves.
Choosing the right toolkit is all about finding an option that gives you most of the right tools, for a price you’re comfortable with. Think about the specific tasks you need to do around your home, and shop accordingly.
Whichever kit you choose, you will likely find yourself adding tools to your toolkit over the years, either when you need a very high-quality example of a basic tool to get a tough job done, or when you need a more specialised type of tool that tends not to be included in generic toolkits. With this in mind, we recommend searching for a toolkit that has a good amount of the tools you expect you’ll need, rather than trying to find an option that covers every eventuality.
For users who only need a toolkit for occasional jobs, a very simple toolkit bolstered with a few additional purchases should suffice, whereas for those embarking on a full-scale renovation, even the most comprehensive of toolkits will likely need to be supplemented with extra tools somewhere down the line. Our advice is that you consider just how much work you expect to be doing, and with this as your basis, buy the best-quality toolkit that’s within your budget.
Siegen S0974 25pc Tool Kit
Siegen from Sealey’s 25pc tool kit gives you the essential tools most households could really do to have, in a concise, high quality collection that won’t break the bank. What more could you want?
Pretty much everything in this kit is tough and well-made. For instance, its set of ball-end hex keys are weightier and have better defined edges than we’ve found with other tool kits available for a similar price; and the universal shears are particularly strong and effective. We might have liked the hammer to be a little heavier, but in all other respects this is an ideal basic toolkit.
It is also available at a 45 piece set.
Clarke CHT641 199pc DIY Tool Box
We’re not sure what’s best about this excellent Clarke toolkit: is it the smart, red cantilever box, or is it the comprehensive selection of tools inside?
This toolkit has seen our reviewer through two years’ worth of frequent DIY sessions/ordeals. The tools contained are of good quality relative to the price you pay, and they are generally tough enough for heavy use. One arguable exception is the hammer, which is fine for jobs like hammering in nails, but may be a little too lightweight for more destructive tasks.
If you’re setting off on an ambitious new phase of DIY, we can recommend this toolkit as an excellent basis to build your inventory from. It’ll take pride of place in your shed, cupboard or wherever else you choose to store it.
VonHaus 256pc Premium Tool & Socket Set
VonHaus’ impressive 256pc Tool & Socket Set is without a doubt one of the best-value-for-money toolkits we’ve tested. Priced well under £100, it offers a wide selection of robust tools with an easy-to-grip satin finish, all stored in a really tough hardcase that will clearly withstand lots of wear and tear.
While this toolkit does indeed feature a large number of components, it’s worth bearing in mind that some of these “pieces” are small items like nails, screwdriver heads and an exhaustive socket set. Meanwhile, a few commonly-used tools are not included – there’s no hacksaw, chisel or spirit level, for example. All things considered, this strikes us as an ideal all-rounder toolkit for home maintenance. It might not quite fit the bill for bigger DIY projects such as a home renovation.
Sealey EK1186 24pc Electrician’s Toolkit with Heavy-duty Storage Bag
Electrical work is an area of home maintenance that you should only consider taking on after thorough research and training, even if you only plan on doing small tasks. If you are prepared to put in the groundwork and take all necessary precautions, this professional-standard kit from Sealey will give you all the tools you need for most odd jobs you’ll encounter.
In the intro to this article, we mentioned how with many toolkits, you will find you sometimes need to replace one or two important tools with higher quality alternatives. This is not the case with Sealey’s Electrician’s Toolkit. Every item is excellent, from its exceptionally bright 3W USB-rechargeable inspection light to its super-tough, 3-piece VDE-approved pliers set.
One downside is that the tools in this kit all come individually packaged inside the case, which can’t be great from an environmental standpoint. Nonetheless, this is an excellent toolset which we would recommend to anyone with serious aspirations of doing electrical work at home. The heavy-duty storage bag is spacious enough to hold several extra tools, and is handy to wheel around.
VonHaus Household Tool and Fixtures Kit
Got a painting to hang or a loose screw to tighten? This neat little toolkit covers a selection of superficial DIY tasks, with key tools including hammer, screwdrivers and pliers, plus a range of fixtures including pin tacks, nails and picture hooks.
This would be a suitable toolkit for someone who only needs to make minor changes to their home – perhaps a person who’s just flown the nest, or who is happy with their place and just wants to be able to make the odd tweak here and there. The quality of the tools is good enough for light work, although they wouldn’t be up to the challenge of a major renovation project.
Guild 25 Piece Handtool Kit
Guild’s 25-piece toolkit is one of the handiest toolkits we’ve come across for meeting basic home maintenance needs. Just stash the hardcase-enclosed set in a drawer somewhere, and get it out whenever an odd job needs doing around the house.
The tools in this kit aren’t up to the standard required for extensive use, but they’ll do nicely for light, occasional jobs. We found that the quality varied from tool to tool – for example, the wrench and pliers are very good, while the scissors are decidedly not so. For low-intensity work around the house, it’ll do nicely.
Teng TM079 79 Piece 3/8 inch Drive Socket and Tool Set
By definition, a tool is a functional item – but that does not mean to say it can’t be a thing of beauty. Take the tools in Teng’s exemplary 70-Piece toolset for example.
Teng’s tools are the strongest and most robust we’ve tested, and are at the same time the most comfortable to handle. The inclusion of interesting and innovative tools adds another dimension of excitement for enthusiasts – how many other toolsets can be said to feature both a gunsaw and a telescopic magnetic rod for picking up dropped metal items?
The downside to the TM079 is its price, which is far beyond what we expect most people would hope to spend on a toolkit. With that said, if DIY is your passion, this set would be a wonderful gift-to-self.
Guild 246 Piece Drill Bit Set
Alongside a toolkit, most DIYers will find they require a cordless combi drill – an essential tool for tasks like putting up shelves and fixing things together with screws. There are a few great examples of this tool in our recent roundup of the best-rated DIY tools.
The more you use your cordless drill, the more you’ll come to realise the variety of drill bits needed to use it to the best of its potential. There are bits for different materials, including wood, metal and masonry; there are bits to drill holes of different sizes, and there are screwdriver bits to fit different screw sizes. This Guild 246 piece admirably covers all these bases, packing in a huge array of bits at a very reasonable price. In our view, it is far simpler and more cost-effective to buy a comprehensive drill bit set like this one, rather than buying new bits as and when you need them.
Verdict
Siegen by Sealey’s 25pc Toolkit gives you a very high standard of tool, covering many of the requirements that apply to the average DIYer, including screwdriving, prying, measuring and snipping. Given its relatively small size, you will probably need to buy additional tools alongside it to cover all your home maintenance needs. However, it makes a fine basis for a DIY inventory, and in light of its high quality and fair price, we are naming the Siegen by Sealey 25pc Toolkit our ES Best Top Pick.
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