Claeg

You are right, but I think it kinda traps you into to having to pay too much for simple or seldom use tools. I am a homeowner and couple of small rental properties manager/owner. I have either Ryobi or Milwaukee, after seriously considering their lineup. I want all Milwaukee, but I have to be honest with myself and say will I use this tool that much(or can I afford it)? If the answer is no then I go for Ryobi, if yes Milwaukee. The Ridged 12 volt? palm nailer is nice, as it the Milwaukee, but I don't use it that much so I just get the ridgid head for my Ryobi multi tool and can use Ryobi batteries. Same thing for the circular saw. For me its either Ryobi or Milwaukee (preferably)Fuel. I just would not rather find myself wanting more qyuality or wishing I paid less because I don't use it much. I guess the math of it is you can generally get 3 or 4 Ryobi tools for the price of two good Ridgid, and you can get 2 better Milwaukee tools for the price of three Ridgid. Jimbo I also noticed you nice new Jigsaw. Let us know how it performs. I pause at getting it because I have this hunch that they will be coming out with a new one(?fuel?) soon.

No sawdust?

1) Pistachios are awesome, but I found out I'm allergic to them after about 5 or 10 2) My favorite food is...Texas De Brazil Sausage followed by the steak quesadillas at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

So...I won one of the three Surges given away by Cole and Dan. I haven't use it extensively yet, but it is better far better than the older and worn bottom of the line impact that I have. The speed settings are great. I know they are on the other Fuel version too. The Surge's versatility is pretty notable. I just got the Milwaukee impact rated red helix bits and will be using for an upcoming project. We shall see how the Surge handles those.

I don't know if this is the permanent price but, I just got the Milwaukee 25ft Magnetic Tape measure pack for $24.95. http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-25-ft-Premium-Magnetic-Tape-Measure-with-Free-25-ft-Premium-Magnetic-Tape-Measure-48-22-7125-48-22-7125/300508021

The best is probably the M12 Drill & Hackzall Kit for $99. http://www.homedepot.com/SpecialBuy/SpecialBuyOfTheDay

I don't really hide things from the wife, but if I did it would be a great place.

So this weekend I will be taking out all of the Christmas decorations and putting them around the house. So it jumped out at me, perhaps I'll use them to store the Christmas breakables. Red boxes for Christmas, right. Other than that from what I see they are selling for $10-20 on ebay. I'm not sure if that is worth my trouble for just few boxes. I do like the gun case idea, I think at least one of my boxes has a loop where a padlock can be put on it. Thanks for all the suggestions.

So Crew, what do you men do with your power tool boxes and cases that you don't store you power tools in? I think the cases are sturdy and well contructed, but they are often cast molded in the inside and are not made for other tools. I think I am going to cut out the molding and use them for something else. Does anyone have any better ideas? Are they worth selling? What have you done with yours?

Nailed it. That's also why Milwaukee is perhaps slightly more expensive.

My house is made mainly of heart pine(1225 ibf) joist with true 1' x 5' Flooring. The roof is cedar for some reason, as well as the original trim pieces. A few years ago felled a large Osage Orange. It was awful on the chainsaw I used, little did I know it has a hardness of 2040. I saved some of the wood because it is very orange. So maybe I'll use it to accent something one day.

I would use it for the porcelain tile I have to put in the kitchen and bathrooms. So it would be used minimally. Logistically I'm not near a place that would rent me one and well I usually work on projects after work over multiple days so renting doesn't add up. Should I just use a diamond blade, skilsaw, and squirt bottle?

Good tool? Anybody with any experience with this? $189 $99 http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-7-in-Job-Site-Wet-Tile-Saw-R4020/202518378

Congrats man. He has a nice head of hair. My first just turned one on Wednesday. It will get more stressful and more rewarding at the same time. My family will surely say some prayers for the little man. Keep the faith.

I did not obtain a permit to do the simple tub and toilet waste replacement. I will get one when I move forward with the bigger project. I did reference Louisiana code at the onset of the small work. Since then Louisiana has had a major code change. There is a State Plumbing Board under Dept Health and Hospitals that set the code and managed it. Last year the contractors board lobbied and got their way to replace the SPB code with the International Plumbing code. So things have changed. As far as Pex A, I was very intrigued by it and the flexibility compared to B. Most of the info I see on it about radiant heating and that it is a bit of an unknown because it hasn't been around as long as B. A is not available at HD and Lowes so haven't handled it. I have just looked at it on the supplyhouse site. Also some people seem to hesitant to use it for drinking water supply because of its newness to the market and possible leaching issues. We do drink a lot of tap at my house, so that was a bit of a concern. Is there a type of pipe to avoid as far as drinking water goes?

Luckily there is access back to it and 3 ft. crawl space between floors. Redoing the plumbing is not far down the list. I have some other issues to tackle first. The whole house is in need of basic renovation. The supply lines I believe I can manage myself. I plan on using pex with one of the big maniblocs. The DWV is pretty much all cast iron. Not a one man job from what I can see. especially with two 20 plus foot vertical runs(that stuff weighs an ungodly amount). At the moment the supply lines are all galvanized lines frozen together at the fittings. Then there is the natural gas........and electrical.... Any advise on PEX? I am leaning toward the clamp fittings.

Since you asked. The DIYing started when the claw foot tub we were using, which hadn't been used in some time, started leaking. It was a very busy time and I called the plumbers to come out. They ended up replacing a washer on the drain and calling it a day. They charged around almost $400 for 1.5 hours of work to replace a washer. Shortly there after the tub leaked again. Apparently they either didn't check or didn't mention that the overflow, which looked like this might be a problem as well. I called them back and they wanted to charge more. So the DIYing began. A little later I had to change the tub waste also. Its was a bent lead pipe over the floor joist. . Here are some more pics of the waste under that bathroom. The Tub has a lead bucket trap, have you seen one of those before? . Anyway here is the before and after of that. .

Do you notice a substantial difference in power between the 3.0 and 5.0 for drills and impacts? Right now I have a 1.5 and a 5.0. I do notice the power difference when I use them with my new 2704 drill and but not so much with my baseline impact.

Is this a good deal?(Two XC 3.0ah for $99) http://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-XC-High-Capacity-Battery-2-Pack-48-11-1822/203806673I couldn't post in the deals section. (I guess because I have made so few post)

I'm Henry Clay, but my internet alias is Claeg. I'm 33 and until a few years ago was sailing through a tool-less life. Well, I decided to get married then move into my 140 year old 5000 sq foot family house that is showing its age. I moved back in and hired a plumber to do a couple things and a contractor to some small work. I quickly discovered that I was paying way too much them for something that I could do myself with reason, common sense, diligence, and a bit education(the internet). I also found that I could often to the work and by the tool needed for the work for cheaper than hiring someone else. I saw the quote on the internet "Remember, when you do the work yourself, the tools are free." Now I know that isn't exactly the truth, but it hits a chord. So since becoming the house handyman/renovator I have done simple electric, carpentry, plumbing, and masonry. This site has helped me navigate the huge world of tools. I started with a simple B&D matrix set, but now I pretty much use only Ryobi and Milwaukee. I have found those brands to be a good medium and heavy use products. I have accumulated a small, but growing, bank of knowledge about updating and repairing a mid 1800's house. Anyway I have found the whole DIYer thing to be very rewarding and I appreciate the beautiful simplicity of a man, his mind, and some tools.

I hope this isn't too late, but there is a conversion piece that lets you use the new Makita sliding lithium batteries on the old stick NiCad tools . https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HQW4N66/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1T2NCTM9UIV30&coliid=IYY23Z3T3VOS0&psc=1 Also here is a video showing it. That said I have no experience with it. I recently found a Makita kit(circ saw, recip saw, drill, flashlight) from the late 90's? that was my father's. All the batteries are dead. I have considered purchasing this, but I already have those tools in other brands so there is no need. I found the adapter when I was searching for nicads etc. EDIT: This is for the 18v sorry about that. I will leave the post just for info for others.