Cordless Tools - a Reason to Live

*** Hey, Ryobi! How about putting me on the payroll? ***

Talking to a co-worker yesterday, the conversation turned to home renovation and tools. He's of the mindset that the only good tools are the type with plugs. His exposure to good cordless tools must have been very limited, as I've got and worked with corded and cordless tools for renovation work and am of the opinion that decent cordless tools are worth their weight in gold. I started looking for cordless tools when I was renovating a condo a few years ago. My buddy and I were constantly turning off electrical circuits for the work we were doing and Murphy's Law dictated that any circuit we had tools plugged into would go dead. It became a hastle as the cords would have to reach from one side of the condo to the other (plus they kept getting tangled up) so on one of the daily trips to Home Depot I picked up a couple of Ryobi 18V tools - what they call their "Renovator Combo Kit".


I was impressed with how well they worked and how long the batteries lasted, so over time I went back and picked up the hammer drill, right angle drill, impact driver, planer, and caulk gun (yes, a battery powered caulk gun - it's a LOT more useful than you'd think). Now, I've got about a dozen different tools which all use the same battery packs and have found no issues with quality. Sure, they're not DeWalt or Milwaukee tools, but they're substantially less expensive meaning I can get MORE of 'em for the money. Checking out their website, I found they've also just released a leaf blower and pole pruner which I could use as well. I'll also pick up the air compressor, fan, stapler, and angle grinder before too long. While I wouldn't rely on a battery powered tool to fully take the place of all plug-in or gas powered tool, their convenience is sure hard to beat.

House Values

For the fun of it, I decided to see what the home market is like in the area. We've only been in this house for a month, but I'd like to see if Spring has brought newer/higher prices with it. I found a comparable place two blocks east of us listed for $40,000 more than we paid for this one. It's being sold by the original owners, and since there are no pictures listed other than the outside picture, I can only assume it's a little dated inside and they're hoping to get people in to look at it instead of turning them "off" with the pictures. If my guess is accurate, that bodes well for me, as I plan on having my house in excellent condition when it comes time to sell in 4-5 years. Now we just have to hope that home values don't drop like a rock. The area we're in should help avoid that - we're just outside of Milwaukee County and people are leaving Milwaukee in droves thanks to the increase in crime over the past few years and the horribly high taxes. I wish we would have left years ago.