6 Menards Tools Every Home Owner Should Have
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Homeowners often find themselves wanting to fix things up around their home after buying one, especially if it's an older house. This can range from all sorts of projects, and there are many places and apps for you to look for inspiration. You will need to pick up some tools to get started, however. Places like Home Depot, Lowes, and Menards are all retailers where you can find a good selection of things. If you've ever heard the Menards jingle, you'll know it's a place where you can pick up quite a bit for cheap, so it's an excellent place to get started on your collection of tools for a homeowner.
Every item on this list can be found at Menards either in-store or online, so you have your choice of how you want to shop. On top of that, you will find tools backed up by good word of mouth and user scores, so there's no need to worry about what you buy being a dud.
Skil PWR Core 20-Volt Brushless Cordless 1/2 Compact Drill Driver Kit
A popular tool line you'll see a lot of at Menards is Skil, and you'll find it's also quite affordable. If you're starting from scratch with a tool collection, a good place to start is a dependable power drill. Skil has a 20V drill/driver kit you can pick up from Menards for $99. This price includes the drill, battery, and charger, so you have everything you need packed into a single purchase. The motor delivers up to up to 450 in. lbs of torque, so it should tackle just about anything you can throw at it DIY-wise.
Menards doesn't have user scores on its website, but this same drill is sold at Amazon where we can see it's well received among buyers. The Skil 20V drill has a 4.6 out of 5 rating with over 950 reviews, so you are getting some dependable for the low price. There are plenty of more expensive brands that have the more dedicated contractor in mind, but Skil is a great option for the casual DIYer who just needs a drill here and there.
Masterforce 16 oz. Solid Steel Curved Claw Hammer with Nail Start
A hammer is something nice to have around the house, and Menards has several options available. The Masterforce brand is another staple you'll see a lot of at Menards, and the solid steel curved claw hammer is a tool you can pick up from the store for $17.98. Since Masterforce is an in-house brand and the Menards website doesn't have user reviews, it's tough to track down exactly how this hammer fares for people. On Reddit, people have spoken positively of the brand and it's able to stand up to quite a bit of wear and tear.
This hammer does have some nice features such as a magnetic nail start that allows for a hands-free nail setting. It's not a game changer, but it will be a nice quality-of-life upgrade that not every hammer brings to the table. The Masterforce hammer also comes with a lifetime warranty that'll let you get a replacement if something goes wrong down the road.
Masterforce Force-Blade 25' Magnetic Self Lock Tape Measure
If you don't already have a tape measure, you'll want to pick one up as soon as you can. A homeowner typically needs to do a lot of measurements whether it's finding out how tall their ceiling is, how far their TV is from their couch, or how wide their DIY bookshelf should be. Menards' Masterforce Force-Blade tape measure is a good choice at $13.98, and it comes with a lot of features to help justify the price tag.
The tape measure blade comes with a nylon coating that's designed to give it more durability than its rivals, and it has markings on the backside of the tape that give it just a little bit of added versatility. Since Menards doesn't have user scores, it's a bit tough to find good word of mouth for this tape measure. There don't appear to be many people complaining about the tape measure online, and it comes with a lifetime warranty that'll make getting a replacement easy in case you have trouble in the future.
Masterforce Acetate Screwdriver Set - 20 Piece
Picking up a set of reliable screwdrivers is a big boon to any homeowner as you'd be shocked to see how often the need to have one arises. Menards has a 20-piece Masterforce set that'll have you covered with a variety of slotted and Phillips heads with varying sizes. While those sizes make up the majority of heads, you're also getting square, star, and offset screwdrivers to round out the collection. You can pick up the whole set for $29.99 from Menards, where you'll find it's also backed up with a lifetime warranty.
Although you don't have user scores to go off, Masterforce tools are well-received by quite a bit of Reddit users. The big thing is the warranty ensures you will never be without a replacement if you have problems. Screwdrivers tend to last quite a while as is, but having a lifetime guarantee lets you rest easy knowing you won't have to spend more money in the future on additional screwdrivers.
Stud Buddy Magnetic Stud Finder
If you're planning on hanging things on a wall, especially something heavy like a TV, you'll want a way to know where your studs are. If you're hanging something on drywall alone, you run the risk of it falling off and destroying your wall in the process. Using the Stud Buddy Magnetic Stud Finder, a tool you can pick up from Menards for $9.97, ensures you won't have to worry about that. With Stud Buddy not being a Menards-exclusive brand, we're able to look at user scores on Amazon to see how the stud finder stacks up.
This particular stud finder has a 4.5 out of 5 rating from Amazon buyers based on over 10,000 ratings. That makes it clear this stud finder works exactly how you'd want it to, and you have no reason to worry about hanging something on your wall without the proper support. All you must do is move it along your wall until you hear the beep. The beep indicates where the stud is, and then you're in business.
Cobra Skinny Snake 1/8 x 10'
A clogged drain is no fun, and when the plunger isn't getting the job done you'll need to resort to something else. In many cases, a snake can save you the hassle of having to call a plumber. The Cobra Skinny Snake is a perfect option for people looking to unclog their drain, and it's slender enough that it can fit down most strainers without having to take them out. You can pick one up from Menards for $11.98. It's a perfect way to clear out blockages, provided the debris is somewhere closer to your drain versus deep into your pipes.
While you can grab this snake from Menards, Amazon is where you'll be finding the high user scores. The Cobra Skinny Snake has a 4.1 out of five score with more than 1,100 ratings on Amazon, and you can expect an easy-to-use snake with the purchase. Keep in mind this won't have the length to get extremely deep in your pipes, so you'll need to grab a more expensive option if that's the goal.
Why were these six tools chosen?
The list of tools a homeowner can use is quite lengthy, so narrowing it down to just six is a difficult task. These tools were picked with the expectation they could be things you'd use in everyday life versus something you'd need to take on a DIY project. Tools like a snake drain or screwdrivers are handy to have around for various situations, and even if you're not actively making a bookshelf or something of the sort, you'll get some use out of them.
Nothing on the list is anything close to something that's going to break the bank, and that's nice for homeowners who might've just spent a good chunk of cash on a house. Masterforce is the Menards in-house brand, much like Ryobi is for Home Depot, so it's a name the retailer trusts. The other manufacturers on this list can all be trusted as well as they all carry high user scores on third-party platforms like Amazon.