Mocha,
Hi. You've gotten some good info here, but I'll add my [2cents]...
IMO, the most important things are to 1) get the right tools, 2) define your needs (you have a good start) and 3) learn the "trades". And here's where it gets rough - the order is reversed. You need to "learn" before you can really define your needs well, and you need to define your needs well before you buy the right tools. And here's where it get's really tough... The problem is that we learn by doing. So how do we start doing with no tools!?!
First, let's focus on one key fact - you are "remodeling" and not "woodworking". Yes, it may involve working with wood. But most of your work will NOT be in a nice warm shop where you are building cabinets, furniture, boxes, and such like you see in the slick woodworking magazines. That's not what you're doing...
You'll be in the kitchen cutting holes in drywall and cutting sheetmetal, out in the garden digging holes and mixing concrete, and in the basement cutting and laying tile. How about installing door, window, base and crown moldings? That's finish carpentry and it's done on site. And building a tool shed, and deck or porch? That's general construction and framing, and some finishing on site. Sanding and repainting exterior shingles? Onsite construction work. While there's wood working involved, that's only part of it.
So what makes me so smart? School of hard knocks and making LOTS of mistakes. I'm close to finishing my master bathroom rebuild. When you tear out and replace all of the drywall, the entire subfloor down to the joists, all interior walls, all plumbing, and all electrical, that's a bunch more than just a little painting and spiffing up. I've made every mistake possible. Virtually all of my mistakes were from my own ignorance.
What have I learned?
Get smart about each job. Start reading and asking questions. There are a lot of good books and reference material. Research before you work. What looks simple almost invariably is not.
Meet code - there are lots to learn about building, plumbing, and electrical codes. When remodeling, being code complient is important for safety. The Journal of Light Construction caters to tradesman and has a very good bookstore:
https://m1.buysub.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomePageView?langId=-1&storeId=16301&catalogId=17803 . I found the "Code Check" books to be excellent. Here's the Amazon search: The
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_10?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=code+check&sprefix=code+check&x=0&y=0 . Reading the Code Check books won't guarentee you'll meet code, but it's a start.
Move your workshop to the work area and not the reverse. Here's a review of the boom arm for the Festool vac:
http://www.talkfestool.com/vb/festool-reviews/75-boom-arm-review.html. Notice where my vac and MFT is. A nice 300lb wood working bench is wonderful. But not when it's in the garage or basement, and you're trying to install cabinets or a pergola. Having your tools at your worksite will save you massive amounts of running around.
Make sure that you have good dust collection for inside work. For outsite work dust collection is less of an issue. For inside work? Mandatory, IMO. Dust collection means a good vac and tools that have good built in dust collection. Even when you're not cutting something, construction work generates dust - concrete dust, drywall dust, thinset dust, and wood dust from all sorts of tools like drills and hand tools. Guess how much dust is created when you demo a wall? You will generate more dust that you could possibly imagine. You have to have a good vac to suck it all up.
Get good tools first. Yes, I know that you don't think your skills are good enough now to warrant good tools. IMO that is exactly WHY you need good tools. If you're a Pro with years of experience, you can make up for the limitations of the tool. But if you're an amateur and not getting the results you expect, how do you tell the difference between a lack of skill, and the ideosyncracies or deficiencies of the tool? At least with good tools, you're pretty sure that it's you and not the tool that's causing the problem.
Get VERY good measuring tools. Very good quality rules, measuring tapes, squares, and levels are critical for good work. A VERY large number of my screwups were from poor measuing technique or poor tools. For example, when raising the joists in my garage (long story), I spent hours trying to figure out why the support posts weren't lining up properly. It turns out that the junk 4' level I was using wasn't accurate. That's when I went out and bought my first Stabila level. Problem solved. Get good measuring tools and learn how to use them.
For what you're doing, my recommended tools are:
Reciprocating saw with several types of blades - Great for demo and general construction. I have a Makita AVT for the big stuff and a Ridgid Fuego for more delicate work. The Makita has vibration reduction features and is fairly comfortable to use. The Ridgid is so small and light that it's easy to use one-handed - great for tight places.
Drills - For a lot of what you'll be doing like the pergolas and the decks, a good drill and impact driver (NOT impact drill) will be pretty much mandatory. The Makita drills are good, but the Festool C12/15 drills are exceptional. Once you get used to the quick change chucks of the Festool drills, nothing else compares. The eccentric and right angle chucks will solve all sort sort of "weird" problems that you'll run into. The C15 would be my choice for your use.
Impact Drivers - As much as I like Festool drills, for driving big lag screws (like you'll use for decks and pergolas), nothing beats an impact driver. Drills are great for small screws and drilling holes. The problem with driving lots of lag screws is that a drill transmits the torque to your wrist. An impact driver transmits almost no torque. I recommend the Makita BTD144, 3-speed impact driver:
http://www.amazon.com/Makita-BTD144-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless/dp/B001TWPRCO/ref=sr_1_18?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1314072881&sr=1-18 . At the low speed/torque, you can gently tap in small screws (although a Festool drill is better). At the high speed/torque setting, you can drive huge lag screws and never feel it in your wrist.
Miter saw - A miter saw is critical. With a good miter saw and stand with wings plus a rough-cut blade, you can accurately cut 2X material easily and safely. And the same saw with a fine tooth blade will give you precise cuts for base and crown. It must be accurate with no runout. Given that you'll be working inside, you WILL want good dust collection. And if you're toting the sucker outside, it needs to be light weight. So the answer is...
Start wailing and gnashing your teeth, but with as much work as you are planning and where you will be doing it, you want a Kapex. I've owned a Bosch 4410L and a Makita LS1016. Also bought and took back a Ryobi and a Dewalt. The Bosch weighed 75lbs with blade and stand attachments, and was awkward to carry. (Don't believe the advertised weight on their website.) The Makita LS1016 seemed like a decent saw initially, but the dust collection was
abysmal! Worse, the first 1016 I bought had runout. And the second, replacement 1016 had runout too! I took that back too. After wasting much time and money on the other saws, I finally bought the Kapex.
Festool Vac - Tools with dust collection + Festool vac = nirvana. When you start cutting lots of 2X4's or large crown inside the house, you'll understand why. CT26 is the right choice for you IMO. Fairly light weight and portable, excellent suction, and decent capacity. As Per Swenson once said, they can pack 20 pounds of smutz in a 5 pound bag. (I have a CT22 and just ordered a CT26.
)
Fein Multimaster - A multimaster has no major role. It does all sorts of things. After you buy one, you'll question your sanity. That is, UNTIL you have to solve some off-the-wall problem! Then it's priceless and you'll love it. I've used mine for everything from polishing out little dings in stone tile to enlarging a toilet drain hole in the subfloor to cutting out a damaged piece of decking.
MFT - The Festool MFT is an excellent
tool. With clamps, rails, dogs and guide rails, it does all sorts of things AT YOUR WORK SITE. With the flop-down guide rail, it's a good table saw. Need to clamp a work piece for drilling, jigsawing, routing, or sanding? No problem. Have a recalcitrant piece of drywall that need be fine tuned? Clamp it to the side of the table. Having an MFT a few feet from where you're working makes your work MUCH easier.
Other folks have discussed the TS55 (and other circular saws), routers, sanders, and nail guns. I won't add much:
- The RO150 and RO90 are the most flexible sanders. If you're sanding down shingles and other rough wood, get Vlies - A80, A100 and maybe A280. It's amazing stuff. It digs down into the cedar siding and decking on my house and removes the old stain but doesn't remove much of the grain. (With the help of a couple fellows, I'm refinishing my decks - 1500 square feet of decking, railings, benches, and planters - this week. We're cleaning the dirt and mold off with chemicals, and then using Vlies on my RO90 and RO150 to get out the tough spots.)
- For moldings, you'll probably want a 15g or 16g, and 18g for most of the moldings. A 23g will probably be nice for returns and small cabinet moldings. I have older (good quality) Porter Cable 15g and 18g guns, and a Cadex 23g pinner. Cadex and Grex are top grade pinners. I like my Cadex, but I'd probably get a 16g instead of the 15g if I had to do it over. Brice Burrell is a finish carpenter and can provide good advice here.
- The OF1400 is probably the most flexible Festool router. I love mine. That said, it's not clear if you'll get enough use out of one to warrant the cost. I'd suggest putting the cost of an OF1400 towards a Kapex. A small plane, some sandpaper, and maybe a couple of chisels will do well for most roundovers, easings, bevels, and mortices that you'll probably encounter.
For tile work, approch this slowly. It's can be far more difficult than what they teach you at the Home Depot clinics. Stone tile adds difficulty. Large tile adds difficultly. Uneven floor adds difficulty. Complex cuts or out of square rooms add difficulty. (When have you seen a perfectly square room?) Weak or bouncy subfloor adds LOTS of difficulty. Check out the John Bridge Tile Forum for more info on tiling:
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1 . Lots of good people over there and they welcome amateurs.
Lastly, safety is job one. With this much remodeling, you WILL get injured. It just depends on when and how badly. I've dropped hot solder on the back of my hand while sweating a plumbing fitting, scratched the tar out of my hands from sharp electrical wires, wrenched my right thumb pretty badly (three times), and got my work shorts caught in the belt sander. In front. Close to the center. [scared] And then there was the time that I sanded off part of my left middle finger from the first joint to the end. There's nothing that gets your full and complete attention like touching a running belt sander with 36 grit sandpaper on it. At the hospital, I asked the nurse if I needed stitches. She looked at it and said, "Nope!". [big grin] Then she said, "There's nothing left to stitch!!!" [eek] ) Please... Be VERY careful.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Dan.
