Quick-fix essentials Tackle any repair

Quick-fix essentials

Kit yourself out with everything you need to handle simple repairs around your home

How often have you wished you didn’t have to call a professional just to fill some gaps or fix a sticky door? Don’t fork out for jobs you can easily do yourself – with the right tools in your kit, you’re more likely to have the confidence to take matters into your own hands.

Must-have tools

1 Irwin ‘Pro Touch’ 150mm long nose pliers, $21.98, I/N: 0224232. 2 Irwin ‘Vise Grip’ curved jaw locking plier, $26.48, I/N: 6010392. 3 Irwin ‘Quick-Grip’ 300mm medium duty bar clamp, $28.95, I/N: 5860115. Some products are not available at all Bunnings stores, but may be ordered.

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Gripping tales Where would you be without a tool to grab, grip, crimp, bend and twist things that are just too hard for your fingers? A good pair of long nose pliers will help you reach into confined spaces to extract stuck objects, plus the built-in wire cutter is handy for everything from garden tie wire to snipping machine screws.

Locking pliers are sometimes called vice grips – and the name fits. They can be adjusted to lock tightly onto a bolt or anything else you need to hold, and they won’t slip off until you flick the release lever. They’re perfect for holding a nut while you tighten the bolt from the other side.

For all those times when you need to press and hold something you’re gluing, hold a piece of timber firmly for sawing to length or just want a spare pair of hands, bar clamps are the way to go. Simply squeeze to lock on and click the trigger to release. 

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Got the power? If you’re only going to buy one cordless tool, make it a drill/driver with a two-speed gearbox and torque clutch. “Torque control enables you to set up your tool to stop driving a screw in when it has reached the depth or tightness/ tension level you require,” says Andrew Murray, national training manager for Ozito. Two gears let you choose between high power for driving and extracting screws, and high speed for drilling and sanding. “Variable speed simply means you have control over the drill rotation, especially important because it’s good to start off slow when you drive screws.”

Another ultimate all-rounder is a multifunction tool. “This tool uses an oscillating action, with the head moving rapidly from side to side,” explains Andrew. “Put on the sanding head and you turn your multifunction tool into a detail sander – a nimble tool for getting into tight corners.” This is the perfect way to sand a bit of extra clearance into the edge of a door and stop it from sticking in the jamb.

6 Ozito ‘PXC’ 18V drill and impact driver kit, $169, I/N: 6290524. 7 Ozito ‘Home’ 12V multi function tool, $39.99/skin only (battery and charger sold separately), I/N: 0033142. Stop the drip A chronically leaky tap will need to be fixed by a licensed plumber, but if the drip is coming from a poor seal between your garden tap thread and the hose attachment, a few winds of thread seal might do the trick. Slip joint pliers will help you secure the attachment extra tightly. Hooked on a fillin’ A stash of user-friendly products makes filling cracks, gaps and holes easy. For cracks and dings in walls, ceilings and doors, use a ready-mixed filler like Selleys Spakfilla Rapid, which is easy to apply and dries very quickly, so you can paint over it fast.

“For fixing larger cracks or holes in outdoor furniture, such as a timber lounge chair, concrete or ceramics such as a planter pot, a two-part epoxy filler like Selleys Knead It is a versatile product that can be shaped like putty and sets like a rock to rebuild and repair most surfaces,” says Edwin Sugiaman, brand manager at Selleys.

Filling gaps around skirting boards, cabinets and inside window and door frames, and replacing split, stained and unsightly silicone in the bathroom or kitchen, are common jobs you can take on yourself – with the right tool. A caulking gun ensures steady pressure on a tube of silicone or gap filler, so you can caulk like a master, smoothly and with less mess. If you’re only taking on tiny jobs, infrequently, some products are available in easy-to-use tubes, which can be used without a caulking gun.

4 Kinetic 12mm standard thread seal in White, $0.85/10m, I/N: 4920185. 5 Trojan 250mm multigrip plier, $15.95, I/N: 0126939.

PRO TIP Have you ever wondered about the meaning of the tradie terms ‘drill kit’ and ‘skin only’? “A ‘skin’ just means it’s the tool only, without the battery. A cordless ‘kit’ includes the power tool, battery and a charger to get you started straight out of the box”

Andrew Murray Ozito

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8 Selleys ‘Knead It’ multipurpose epoxy putty, $9.15/50g, I/N: 1230040. 9 Uni-Pro no-drip heavy duty caulking gun, $12.79, I/N: 1670252. 10 Selleys ‘Spakfilla Rapid’ gap filler, $11.45/ 180g, I/N: 1231864. 11 Selleys ‘No More Gaps’ multipurpose gap filler tube, $6.99/150g, I/N: 0147102. 12 Monarch ‘Mini’ silicone in White, $3.95/150g, I/N: 1662109.

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Sit tight Don’t put up with the annoyance of a loose handle, drawer knob or cupboard pull. To take a turn for the better, all you need is a decent set of screwdrivers. For nuts and bolts, bike maintenance and similar jobs, an adjustable wrench gives you countless options in the one tool, while a low-profile model will let you get right in there.

13 Eclipse 150mm adjustable wide mouth wrench, $18.90, I/N: 6110477. 14 Stanley 10 piece essentials screwdriver set, $16.98, I/N: 0127147.

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15 Stanley ‘Dualmelt’ mini glue gun, $12.98, I/N: 0215693. 16 Loctite ‘Extreme’ no drip glue gel, $9.43/20g, I/N: 0273717.

Best of the rest In addition to banging in and extracting nails, a hammer is handy for 101 jobs around the home. There’s no need to get a heavy one – a small 8oz tool will sort you out for basic DIY.

Another must-have is a folding multi-tool – small enough to keep in a glovebox or kitchen drawer, but versatile enough to snip a wire or unscrew the cover to replace batteries in a toy. Sticky situations Until you try it out for yourself, you might not appreciate how handy a hot glue gun is. It lets you stick randomly shaped objects back together with ease, and the glue cools to hold firmly but can be unstuck again without using solvents in case you get it wrong. For more permanent solutions, ranging from broken china to plastic bits that have cracked under pressure, use super glue gel – the non-drip formulation helps save you from sticking your fingers together. ◆

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17 Gerber suspension multi-tool, $49.98, I/N: 6100476. 18 Craftright 8oz/226g steel claw hammer, $4.95, I/N: 5660292. Some products are not available at all Bunnings stores, but may be ordered.