Hands free building?
March 5, 2016 7:40 PM   Subscribe

Today I discovered drywall lifts, a device that is used to hold drywall in place horizontally so it can be nailed to a ceiling. I'm a short woman and just purchased a house where I will be doing a lot of basic renovation by myself. What other tools can be used to make it easy for one person to accomplish building tasks on their own?

I also need a chicken coop and would like to replace the hoophouse style greenhouse I am leaving behind. Any tips and tricks for building and painting ceilings and such on ones own?
posted by annathea to Home & Garden (25 answers total) 38 users marked this as a favorite
 
Drywall stilts?
posted by adamrice at 7:44 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Corner Clamps. So many of my home maintenance tasks have been made easier by having clamps that can hold stuff at right angles.

But this goes for all clamps. Get clamps. Traditional ones, sliding ones, angle ones, get them all. A good selection of clamps turns a dubious repair on a shaky table into a sure thing.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 8:02 PM on March 5, 2016 [8 favorites]


There's a variety of things that clip onto ladders to hold paint, tools, lights, etc.
posted by Crystalinne at 8:10 PM on March 5, 2016


Cool Tools is great for this: drywall cleats, drywall carrying devices, drywall lifter, support jacks, etc.
posted by suedehead at 8:29 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Good lighting. LED work lights make doing a project on my own that much easier, and don't heat up the room or present a burn or fire risk.
Seconding clamps.
posted by rockindata at 8:35 PM on March 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: 3rd on clamps, also light weight cargo straps to hold large things. Most hardware stores will have a cheap 600-800 lb. dolly with castors at the top to convert it to a 4 wheel cart. A flashlight on a headband. Magnetic screwdriver bits. 2 come-a-longs.

A tough case for your cellphone in case you need to call for help. An external speaker for your MP3 player, NOT earbuds. Ice-packs, bandaids and triple-antibiotic ointment. An eye cup and wash.

Renting good tools beats buying cheap ones.
posted by ridgerunner at 9:45 PM on March 5, 2016 [2 favorites]


If you're not in bear country, cow panels are great for chicken coops and greenhouses. A 20 ft. horse panel bent in a circle with a quick and dirty door frame and a tarp over the top makes a good temp quarantine pen for new birds.
posted by ridgerunner at 10:00 PM on March 5, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: Hm. Well, what're all the things you usually need another person for?

- "Hold this" - various types of clamps, as mentioned

- "Help me lift this" - drywall lifts, other types of jacks and lifts, things with wheels on them (short dollies / skates - oh man, moving skates are great, but be sure to put padding on the corners of whatever you're moving because eventually a corner of something will hit a wall (and, depending on what you're moving, it may be heavy enough that you don't want to put your hand out to cushion it).

- "Check if this looks OK" - bit hard to mimic, the closest you can get is probably clamps and good lighting and lots of measuring-before-acting

- "Shine the flashlight / hand me the ___" - ladder clip-on trays and holders, a good tool belt, work lights you can angle/move into position, a headlamp

- "Go get help" - cellphone in tough case on your person, good safety precautions, an electrical proximity tester to verify there's no live wires (I'm sure there's other good safety equipment but that's what's off the top of my head).
posted by Lady Li at 11:25 PM on March 5, 2016 [5 favorites]


Best answer: Nail gun for driving nails into that drywall (and anything else).
You'll need a compressor that has sufficient capacity to drive the nail gun.
You'll need a long compressed air gun on a reel to connect the two.
posted by the Real Dan at 12:00 AM on March 6, 2016


That should be ".. a long compressed air HOSE on a reel to connect the two."
posted by the Real Dan at 2:43 AM on March 6, 2016


Dollies. Getting stuff up on wheels is the best thing ever.

Cramps/clamps as everyone else has noted.

A portable/moveable work surface.

A good head torch.

Potentially a glass sucker. They are the absolute bomb for sheet goods that they can seal against, like painted timber sheet, bench tops, and glass obviously, but I haven't found them as useful domestically as I have for commercial work.
posted by deadwax at 2:54 AM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


You might be interested in this book.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:32 AM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: There are a bunch of safety and efficiency issues that come up when working alone. You can't really solve the efficiency problems (with two people, one can cut and the other can nail, for example), but the safety issues are very real, especially when working on ladders or with heavy items. I don't own a copy but the book Working Alone: Tips & Techniques for Solo Building gets recommended a lot and covers this ground well.

The two biggest time wasters I've found when DIYing things are a) doing it wrong the first time and needing to completely redo it, and b) not having the job planned out and needing to make repeated trips to the hardware store. Both are completely solved by planning ahead and thinking through the full process before just wading in.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:34 AM on March 6, 2016 [4 favorites]


Nthing clamps, clamps, and more clamps. Keep several 2x4's, 3" screws, and an impact driver handy for temporary blocking, bracing, etc.

Another thing I'll suggest is that techniques and skills, rather than specific tools, are often more essential to accomplish tasks without a helper. It's been several years since I've picked it up, but I remember the book Working Alone (part of Taunton's excellent For Pros By Pros series) really helping me.
posted by lost_cause at 5:38 AM on March 6, 2016


Clamps, cordless drill, small dollie, compressor and nail gun, shirts with breast pockets (for small hardware, so you don't have to reach down),moving pads for sliding heavy furniture around. s-shaped metal hooks for hanging a paint can near where you're working. Lay in a supply of zip ties--they are terrific for holding something in place for a while (as you run and get something stronger for a better fix, say).

cow panels

YES to this. Some wheels and a lumber frame and a handle, and you have yourself a chicken tractor.
posted by MonkeyToes at 5:55 AM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: In addition to clamps, straps, and lifts mentioned above, I'd suggest making your peace with the idea of occasionally needing to build somewhat elaborate supports and brackets to hold things you are working on. With two people, one can hold and one can fasten. Working alone, I've found the issue is often how to hold something while you attach it.

The idea of nailing a 2x4 into a finished wall to hold something temporarily will drive you nuts until you understand that it will allow you to efficiently do the next phase of a job, and that needing to patch the finished drywall afterwards isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
posted by BillMcMurdo at 6:40 AM on March 6, 2016 [2 favorites]


Best answer: My husband inherited a bunch of heavy-duty, powerful tools. I'm a petite woman and while I'm pretty strong and could handle the tools, I have some wrist problems that restricted how much I could, or for how long.

My world of able-to-do-projects-by-myself opened up when I got a couple Matrix tools from Black & Decker. They're interchangeable heads for the drill body with lithium-ion batteries - I got them because they're lighter, which makes them drastically easier to control and do precision work without stressing my wrist.

The roughly 3-1/2" circular saw head for it, for example, can easily cut plywood and other sheet materials in-place. It doesn't handle 2x4s and other dimensional lumber, but I have a tilt-head miter saw I can use on those.

For anything short of large-scale construction, they work great. I've used the drill heads, circular saw, sawzall (the little baby sawzall head fits in tiny places that the full-size doesn't), jig saw, etc.

Good-quality consumables make a difference, too, like sharp thin-kerf saw blades. Other commenters have already talked about clamps.

I have a toolbelt I like with big pockets so I can lay in stores of things like nails, staples, small hand tools and hook my current tool on it so my hands are free. I use a toolbelt with leather compartments because things tend to go in/out easier than with canvas.
posted by bookdragoness at 6:42 AM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]




Nail gun for driving nails into that drywall

Drywall is installed using screws, special drywall screws. Using a nailgun to hang drywall would be a huge mistake.
posted by humboldt32 at 7:48 AM on March 6, 2016 [6 favorites]


Best answer: Light! I've added two of the Feit "corn cob" LEDs to my garage where I work on projects. They're equivalent to 300W incandescents, and draw around 50W. Being able to see everything is great. I also have an LED "work light" which is another 500W equivalent that I can point where I need it (under things, for example).

I also use a cordless drill (a Makita recommended by an ex roommate who works construction) and drywall screws for "hold this" tasks. Clamps are good too, but sometimes a couple screws end up being quicker and easier. Remember that you can remove them later if you don't need them permanently. But drywall screws can be used for a lot more than just drywall.

A "nail holder" hammer is sometimes a huge help when working solo. Means I only need two hands instead of three.

Finally, take extra time to think. Sometimes I find that just stepping back and pondering for a few minutes will help discover a way to do something without calling a neighbor for help.
posted by DaveP at 7:50 AM on March 6, 2016


Cool Tools and Family Handyman Magazine.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:09 PM on March 6, 2016


Best answer: LumberLok Plate Vise -- totally worth $32

And regarding a "nail gun" mentioned by previous commenters, I find that those are dangerous and not well suited for many nailing tasks. I prefer a palm nailer. They always seem more versatile to me, especially if you need to use slightly different sizes of nails for various projects or get into tight spots (they're half the size of a nail gun). I built an entire redwood deck with a palm nailer and it worked great.
posted by buckaroo_benzai at 3:43 PM on March 6, 2016 [1 favorite]


I recommend not doing drywall work yourself. Drywall subs cost very little and are much faster than you ever will be, they run, they have stilts and banjos (its a taping tool not a stringed instrument) and other tools which let them knock out the work super fast. The exception might be if you are talking about a super small job.
posted by Pembquist at 9:14 AM on March 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


Are you going to be up wayyy high for these ceilings? I use these yellow bakers scaffolds a lot when we get into the innards portion of building. I'm 5'1 and I can assemble these suckers in minutes.

Also Nthing clamps. I am a fan of 6 inch locking clamps because they fit in my tool bags or hang off my belt loop if my hands are going to be full.
posted by teslacoilswoah at 3:43 PM on March 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


I mocked headlamps until I tried a Petzl Tikka, and have been hooked ever since.

If clamps help, jigs are also a useful set of tools; you build custom pieces that help you make work repeatable. Or even just screwing a 2x to a wall temporarily to help support something, and spackling over it later.

I love my 12V Dewalt cordless drill/driver set; they're too lightweight for fulltime work, but since I don't do work with them fulltime... they're awesome because they're light and easier to grip, which doesn't wear me down as fast.
posted by talldean at 2:53 PM on March 8, 2016


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