Simplify your tiny home frame with these five tools while keeping your tool chest minimal.
Claw Hammer
All uses of the claw hammer are simple: if it isn’t pulling something into place with the biting teeth of the claw in the back, the head makes an impact. Nails are slammed in and held in place with friction. This friction melts the nail coating and forms a slight adhesive bond strengthening the tiny home’s frame. Fingers can’t fit everywhere, nor do humans have the leveraging force from a claw hammer used in a prying motion.
New tiny home builders may choose three handle materials: wood, metal, fiberglass, and graphite. Striking a fastener or lumber distributes the force between the handle and the arm holding the handle. Wood absorbs most of the shock that degrades the handle more rapidly but the tiny home builder’s joints less. Metal degrades less quickly but absorbs less force. Fiberglass and graphite vary based on manufacture but offer a balance between wood and metal.
Circular Saw
Cut lumber to fit walls and the roof, and swap the circular saw blade for tile or metal. Cuts at hard-to-reach angles are simple with a circular saw instead of a hand saw.
Prospective tiny home builders will pick a blade for the job at hand. As a hard rule, first-time builders need a saw blade for wood, tile, and a saw blade for metal. Large toothed saw blades are for cutting wood with or across the grain, while smaller toothed tipped with carbides are for metal. Solid circle blades are for stone.
Carpenter’s Square and Pencil
Two tools that go together naturally, both conventional home and tiny home builders use this to layout angles and mark cuts with the circular saw.
Purchase a carpenter square with metric measurements pressed into the material. The carpenter square is for use with precision measurements, and carpenter squares are purchasable with a solid back or lip to brace the carpenter square against the material for easy marking.
Carpenter pencils have the sturdier lead that doesn’t break when run across rougher grains. Whittle the carpenter pencil to do thicker lines than a traditional pencil. Visibility is critical when cutting along a line on a 2x4 stud.
Cordless Drill
Screws and nails use shearing force and friction to fasten material together. Cordless drills have bits that swap out for specific screw heads.
Cordless drills shine when putting together furniture or electronics in the household. Swap out bits for Phillips or Flathead screws when putting together furniture.
Screws are instrumental for tiny home builds that make use of drywall. Delicate structures that could scratch from the head of a claw hammer benefit from the precision of a screw boring its hole when drilled.