Eric G and John Dudley dive into a delightful discussion about their top ten favorite tools for construction and DIY projects. With a casual vibe that feels like you're just hanging out with friends, they reminisce about the early days of their DIY adventures. Eric hilariously recounts how he would sneak in the cost of new tools into project budgets, all while trying to maintain peace with his significant other. The duo emphasizes the importance of tool rental centers, especially for those one-off projects where you don't want a full-sized tool taking up space in your garage. They poke fun at big box stores, sharing their preferences for local rental places where tools are well-maintained and up-to-date, ensuring that you get a quality experience without the hassle. With plenty of sarcastic humor, they explore the absurdity of struggling with outdated tools, and how the right ones can save time and money, making DIY projects not just possible, but actually enjoyable.

Takeaways:

• Eric and John dive deep into their favorite tools that make DIY projects easier, sharing tips that save time and money.
• A tool rental center is a lifesaver for those odd projects; it beats hoarding tools you'll only use twice a year.
• They hilariously lament the horrors of renting tools from big box stores versus local rental shops, where the equipment is usually better maintained.
• Discover the game-changing innovations like battery-powered outdoor equipment that actually works, making lawn care a breeze for homeowners.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Parkrose Hardware
• Abric's Rental
• DeWalt
• Grabo
• Milwaukee
• Ryobi
• Bosch
• Akita
• Skill

To get your questions answered by Eric G give us a call in the studio at 833-239-4144 24/7 and Eric G will get back to you and answer your question and you might end up in a future episode of Around the House.

Thanks for listening to Around the house if you want to hear more please subscribe so you get notified of the latest episode as it posts at https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/listen

If you want to join the Around the House Insider for access to the back catalog, Exclusive Content and a direct email to Eric G and access to the show early https://around-the-house-with-e.captivate.fm/support

We love comments and we would love reviews on how this information has helped you on your house! Thanks for listening! For more information about the show head to https://aroundthehouseonline.com/

Information given on the Around the House Show should not be considered construction or design advice for your specific project, nor is it intended to replace consulting at your home or jobsite by a building professional. The views and opinions expressed by those interviewed on the podcast are those of the guests and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Around the House Show.

Mentioned in this episode:

SiteHype Designs

Visit SiteHype Designs and lets build a website that works as hard as you do! Use Promo Code "Eric G" for your free website audit and 30 minute consultation.

Site Hype Designs

Check out the BEST Trailer in the US!

Summit Trailers

SiteHype Designs

Visit SiteHype Designs and lets build a website that works as hard as you do! Use Promo Code "Eric G" for your free website audit and 30 minute consultation.

Site Hype Designs

Subscribe to the Around the House Pro Insider!

Find the podcast here or your favorite podcast player! https://player.captivate.fm/show/d5793130-86a7-4b36-896b-b5c645059d3b

Around the House Pro Insider

Suscribe to our YouTube Channel

Want even more home improvement tips, tricks, and insider advice? Subscribe to my YouTube channel @AroundTheHouseEricG for project guides, product reviews, and behind-the-scenes content you won’t hear on the podcast. Don’t miss out—hit that subscribe button today!

Around the House YouTube

Advertise on the Around the House Show!

Contact us at AroundtheHouseOnline.com for more information!

Suscribe to our YouTube Channel

Want even more home improvement tips, tricks, and insider advice? Subscribe to my YouTube channel @AroundTheHouseEricG for project guides, product reviews, and behind-the-scenes content you won’t hear on the podcast. Don’t miss out—hit that subscribe button today!

Around the House YouTube

Foreign.

Welcome to around the House with Eric G. Your trusted source for all things home improvement.

Whether you're tackling a DIY project, hiring it out or just trying to keep your home running smoothly, you're in the right place.

With over 30 years of remodeling experience, certified kitchen designer Eric G takes you behind the scenes with expert advice, industry trends and the latest innovations for your home.

Home.

It's everything you need to know without the fluff.

Now let's get this show started with our host, Eric G. And John Dudley.

Welcome to the around the House show, your resource for home improvement advice.

Thanks for joining us today.

I'm Eric G. Johnny D. Hey guys.

Today Johnny and I are going to be talking about our kind of a good subject, our top 10 favorite tools that can save you time and money.

And I tell you what, when I was starting out in tackle and DIY projects, I always loved it because I would fit in the price of the project with my significant other.

I'd always put in another tool right, like oh, I need to get that roto hammer or yep that into the bracing.

Oh, this is going to cost us two grand to do this project.

And I knew I had a couple hundred dollar tool mixed in the middle of that and I have to buy.

The bigger table saw.

Sorry, honey, sorry.

Exactly, exactly.

But here's the thing.

Some of us, including me at times don't have all the storage space to put all those big tools around.

So before we get into the list, a little side mark.

One of my favorite things is having a really good tool rental center for that thing that you're going to use twice a year that you don't want to have like a full size table saw takes up a ton of space in the garage or shop.

And if you're going to use it once or twice a year, go get it from the tool rental center and I'm going to bag on the big box stores.

Usually their stuff has been hammered, it has been ridden hard and put away wet.

I like the good independent ones like we have in my area here in Portland we have Parkrose Hardware.

Love those guys.

Great company.

They have always stuff that the money you're old, they're swapping it out all the time, putting the latest in there.

So you're getting a tool that's newer.

It's like you're rent borrowing it from a buddy versus bought it off of Craigslist after a contractor had their best ways, stays with it.

Yeah, that relationship is important.

We had Abric's rental in Tacoma Yeah.

I would go from Seattle and rent from there.

Any kind of problems.

Those guys always had three or four guys taking care of the equipment.

Any problems on the job site, they'd come out with a new whatever you needed that's invaluable.

Versus, like you say, the big box stores that they're like, yeah, too bad.

Yeah.

Oh, man.

I tell you what I can tell you.

I.

How many times I rented a tool.

Like, I would go rent a post hole digger from the orange store, and I'd get out there, I was putting a fence in first, pull on the cord and it rips off, breaks right in the middle, drive 20 minutes back down there.

And then the guy goes, or rent it out.

So let me see if I can fix it real quick.

And they don't have the right parts.

And it's just.

There goes two hours of your day.

Yeah.

And part of that service of the shop itself.

And also part of that is user.

Right.

Like you're getting the diyers that don't really know how to use some of those tools that are renting those out and wrecking those tools.

Right.

And when you go to the local places, the smaller guys, the guys that have been around for 30, 40 years with reason like an a, generally the people that go there are contractors, know how to use the tools, know how to care for them and know they're going to be using it again.

So they take care of them.

Yeah.

And when the tread wears out on the excavator, they put a new tread on it instead of just breaks.

Yeah.

I can't tell you how many times I rented one from the.

From a large box retailer.

And I'll just say it like that because I'm out here to bag on them, but you got to go out there to hook it up.

And I'm like, really?

Man, this thing needed tracks like year ago.

Yeah.

And it's just gonna slide around the mud.

It's.

I'm not going anywhere with this thing.

And it's tough.

That's the only one we got for today.

All right, now we're back to delays on home remodel projects.

Oh, it just kills me.

So now here's one of the things I tell you what that I'm gonna talk about some of my favorite tools here.

This is one that I think if you have gas powered equipment, it is the game changer.

Somebody actually made a gas can that works, that meets all the safety guidelines.

Because, you know, stupid gas cans you get, They've got.

It takes four hands to hold the plastic piece to do this and you're while holding 5 gallons of gas over the top of something.

There's just never enough hands.

When they invented that, those contraptions, let's call them.

Yeah.

I was like what is this?

So sure can I have one.

And this is the only gas can I buy anymore.

Sure can.

Made this spill proof gas can, it is so simple.

They put up on the handle a trigger and it runs the valve on the bottom of it.

So you hold it up, take the little cap off and when you hit opens it up down below and the gasoline comes out and it self vents.

Weird.

Yeah.

It actually works.

How many years have, how many years have we had gas pumps that function just like that?

Why wouldn't you create a can that does the same thing?

Hello.

Yeah.

Incredible.

And how they test it.

This is the crazy thing.

They, they test it and I forget where they're at.

They're like Minneapolis or North Dakota.

They'll freeze those things and throw them and throw them off their second story loft onto the concrete to see if they hold.

And they sell replacement parts for them too.

If you break something so super durable and for 35 bucks are cheap for these things.

It's not $100 gas can.

And boy, that's a game changer.

Now since you left here, one of my other favorite tools and this is an important one, they just licensed through DeWalt.

So if you're DeWalt tool person, this works too.

And they've been on the show before.

It's called Grabo.

It's an electric vacuum lifting tool.

So wow.

Smart.

It's about.

Oh, it's probably 10 inches by 6 or 8 inches.

And you put it on.

It has its own rechargeable battery.

You put it on the flat surface.

Like if you're installing a pane of glass or you're going to be moving a shower door or even plywood, you put it on there, hit the on button and it gives you 770 pounds of suction.

So if it's 700 pounds, you can lift up with this.

Wow.

And for grabbing a piece of plywood and moving it around, it's basically adding a handle wherever you want a handle to be and it keeps that suction on there.

So it is so great.

Then it keeps my fingers from getting pinched.

Right.

Oh my gosh.

When you're putting siding in just a flat panel of siding or plywood in now you can just slide it in there without trying to skinny your fingers off the end before you pinch Them Fantastic.

I had at my house, I had another use for it.

I had some of my luxury plank vinyl flooring with all the ladders and things come separated in the middle of the room.

I didn't want to pull it back, so I took that, put it on there, and then just gave it a good shovel and it clicked back.

Nice.

There's a lot of uses for that.

I know that there's.

Guys now they have some bigger ones.

They're using it for installing large format tile.

Like the 4 foot by 2 foot tile.

The 4 foot by 3 foot tile.

Big panels.

That's the first thing I thought of is.

Yeah, those big panels.

Awesome.

So it's a must have.

They're a couple hundred bucks out there, but you can get them from DeWalt to.

They've licensed them through DeWalt.

So DeWalt's putting their brand on it.

But it can save you about 40% of time when you're working on a project, which is key.

So.

Yeah, pretty nice.

Especially with large sheet goods like that.

Yeah, no, yeah, it's great.

Way easier.

I was actually even using it on drywall, so that I was.

That's what I was just thinking.

I was like, does it suck on drywall?

Yeah, sure.

Yeah.

Yeah, it does.

So.

So the next one here, which is.

Which is a good one as well, that I like using, and we're gonna have to go out to break.

But a good laser for going around in your room for setting anything from moldings to figuring out where the high spots and the low spots are.

For a kitchen when you're installing cabinets, a really good laser you can set up in the middle of the room can save you so much time.

Yeah, super cool.

Now they're cheap.

You don't have to go spend the $500 one on the Milwaukee one.

You can get something for 40 bucks on Amazon.

That works pretty good.

Yeah, those were a game changer years ago.

You couldn't.

Yeah.

Otherwise it's a six foot level on the floor and making marks and pulling tape and.

Yeah, no, that's really.

That thing over in the corner.

Yep, yep.

You can just set that up and get in there with a tape measure and go around and start figuring out where the high spots and low spots are and tells you what you got to do to fix it.

Filling in your substrate and go.

Yeah, Yep, absolutely.

All right, guys, when we come back, we got more specialty tools here.

Things that'll make your job on your next project so much easier.

We'll do that just as soon as around the House returns.

Don't go anywhere.

What's up?

This is Sticks it in Ya and.

Satchel from Steel Panther.

And you are listening to around the House with Eric G. Yeah, we love.

Eric G. And you should too.

Welcome back to the around the House show, your resource for home improvement.

If you want to find out more about us, head over to aroundthehouse online dot com.

Check us out on the website, make sure you follow us on social media, and of course, check out our YouTube page because we got a lot going on there as well.

Just look up around the House, Eric G. And you'll find us right there.

Dudley and I, we've been sitting here talking about our favorite tools that really have changed how you can save time and money that make work so much easier.

And what was one of your favorites?

Man, I'm going to put you on the spot.

What was one of your favorites?

Was it a good hammer?

Was it a good tape measure?

When they finally came out with a Teco nail gun?

Yes.

You know how many less smashed fingers I had in my life and on the whole crew?

That was brilliant.

I'm like, oh, finally somebody got smart.

Oh, my God.

Whether you're building a deck or laying floor in a house, nailing in those plates with the galvanized Teco nails that always had little nubs and they were hard to get in the hole of the place and your fingers are too big for the nail and, ah, every time.

Tico nail gun, Brilliant.

Genius.

Same with roofing nails.

Man, I tell you what, I hate starting roofing nails.

Yeah.

You're sitting there, you're trying to hold them.

How many times I'm gonna hit my hand?

A lot.

A lot.

Yeah.

And it's always in the northwest.

It's always 30 degrees out when you're doing it.

That is the one thing that I'll say about it.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen the guy go up on the roof with the blowtorch to knock the ice off it before the roofers got up there.

Yeah.

I have dug holes in ice to plant ladder feet to get up on walls to hang things.

Yeah, yeah.

Hang things covered in ice.

Yeah.

Love it.

Sure Miss the northwest.

Nope.

Yeah.

But I'm watching you seeing your breath in Columbia in the mountains where you're at, brother.

So it's.

It looks a little cool there.

Yeah, that's just for the time being.

Okay.

We're way up on a mountain.

Way up, way up in the mountain.

Supposed to be this way.

Yeah.

Okay.

I'll give you that.

I'll give you that.

I tell you what, my number one favorite tool, I think is an oscillating tool that is a game changer as far as cutting, sanding.

Yeah.

I've got the fine.

The orange one.

That is such a great tool to use.

I'm gonna burn that thing up one day.

Cause I use it so much.

I tell you what, it is so easy to work with.

And on my house, it was interesting.

I needed to remove some aluminum windows.

It was so easy to put in a metal blade and then just chase along the frame of that and cut off the nailing flange and take the window out.

Those things are amazing.

The fine tools are.

Yeah, amazing.

I was using those in Milwaukee when I was working with Scott up there.

Like, oh, man, I hadn't seen one because I was actually.

I forget where.

I was in Europe somewhere at the time.

And I came back and did some jobs with him.

And I was like, oh, what is this?

Super cool.

Yeah, it's a game changer.

And what I like about the one that I've got is it's got the dust extractor tool on it.

So if you're cutting drywall or you're inside and you don't want sawdust everywhere, it works really well.

It'll get 75% of it, which is pretty good.

Pretty good.

And it's great when you've got like metal shavings and stuff, because that stuff loves to stick in everywhere.

You don't want it to like that too.

Yeah.

And.

And you can get the.

You can get in sanding little sanding pads on there.

So if you're doing some corner sanding and stuff, it's really good to do that.

And the secret, I've noticed.

Noticed with those as well, is get the good blades.

I tried one time as a on the around the house Northwest television show.

I said, what happens if I buy the cheapy Amazon ones where you get like 50 for 10 bucks or whatever?

Yeah, they were garbage.

Yeah, they're garbage.

No, for the good ones, they last longer and they just do a better job.

Whether it cut and toe kick or doing corner stuff, like all.

Yeah, great for electricians.

Cutting into.

Cutting in an outlet into a hardwood panel or something like that.

Great to get in and do that kind of stuff with.

But what I like too is just flush cutting.

Like even if you had to cut off a redhead bolt in concrete, you put the metal blade on and flush with the concrete and smooth it out right there.

And you're Good as gold.

Yeah.

Way better than bending four Sawzall blades to try to get.

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

Don't get me started on that.

And then, of course, the Sawzall blade is.

It's cutting and you're trying to move to a different spot of the blade because you're hammering on that one part of the blade and then all of a sudden it's multi stabbing it with the end.

It's going, oh.

Kicks back, cracks a rib.

It's awesome.

Yeah, awesome.

We've all done.

We've all done it.

It's just brutal.

And I tell you what, there are a lot of new products out there too, when it comes to stud finders.

And this is where you put in the joke and go, oh, it doesn't work around me.

But the stud finder is something.

And like we were talking about the last hour, I was trusting my basic stud finder that did a great job of finding that CPVC pipe that it thought was a student.

Yeah.

There's new ones out there, like what Wallabot has, where it's actually using a radar to read what's on the other side of the wall.

So it'll go, hey, that's a water line dummy.

Yeah.

It'll tell you if that's water voltage or whatever.

Yep.

And that can really be a game changer because it makes your life so much easier.

Worth the, Worth the price of admission.

If you ever in your entire life hit one plumbing line like you did.

Yeah.

Like you will never do that again.

You're like, nope, I'm buying the good one because I just spent three hours chasing water all through the house.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

And then the other one that I've used that can be good is one of those temperature heat guns because like on the outside of a house, you basically, it's a little infrared scanner that you can look and see what the temperature is coming through the wall.

Those will show you so much on an exterior wall as well, because you'll see where the studs are because it'll show you where the thermal mass is.

And you'll go, oh, this is one color.

The studs are different.

But what's cool with one of those is you can use those in a way, as a stud finder.

I used to use those looking for water intrusion because wet insulation shows up different than dry insulation.

Simple math.

Makes sense.

Math.

You get in there.

Whoa, what's that?

Oh, that's not good.

And that's another one.

Yeah.

A lot of hidden Secrets.

And it's really good, and it shows you all those air leaks as well.

So I think it's important.

If you're having a house built once the drywall's in, you can go around and go, hey, as long as there's a temperature difference between the inside and outside, you can walk around and go, you missed insulation there.

You missed it here.

And you've got an air leak here because that's 10 degrees colder.

Why is that?

Or 10 degrees hotter.

That's an impressive tool.

I never worked with one.

Yeah, they're super cool.

I have one, actually, that I use.

I use just for my pizza oven that I could do in there because I can look at it go How?

What is the floor of the pizza oven?

Okay.

I'm at 685 degrees.

Perfect.

That works.

It's a tough life you live, buddy.

It's a little bougie.

It's a little bougie.

But great tool to have around.

Yeah.

Impressive.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You can see if the dryer is.

The dryer vent is leaking in the wall someplace.

A lot of those things.

It works well.

I found a H vac duct that was disconnected in my wall.

Talk about a rabbit hole, though.

Suddenly you're right.

I wonder what this.

I wonder what's here.

I wonder what's here.

I wonder what's here.

Yeah.

There goes a Sunday.

There goes a Sunday.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And it works.

Hey, we got to go out to break here, brother.

I don't want to run us too far over because we got to pay the bills.

When we come back, let's talk about more of our favorite little tools.

And I've got another one for you here that I think you've seen since you've left away, but it'll be a fun one.

We'll talk about that just as soon as around the House returns.

Don't go anywhere.

Welcome back to the around the house show, your home improvement resource.

Thanks for joining us today.

Hey, guys, make sure you follow us on social media.

We got a lot of new stuff coming up here, and you can find that@aroundthehouse online.com and find us over there.

Make sure you follow us on social media, all those different things, because you can really track us down and see what's coming up with the new stuff.

So, Johnny, we've been talking about our favorite absolute cool tools out there, and there's one that I don't think you've seen yet because it's been something newer on the market.

But I love my track saw.

So for all you guys out there that don't know what a track saw.

This is a aluminum track that you can clamp down to your project.

It's like a reverse table saw.

In that that track you can put on clamp onto your project and then this saw follows the track down like line.

A straight circular saw and you can make cuts with it.

What I like about it is that if I have to scribe cut, let's say like a bottom of a door or a panel.

Trying to take a contractor table saw and make an angled cut is super difficult to do.

Three quarter inch plywood that you're trying to take two inches off the eight foot end and one inch off the other end to give it that angled cut.

You want to get it perfect.

It's hard to get it perfect with this.

It's money for making that cut nice.

Yeah.

Compared to six clamps, a level piece of steel, and a skill saw set at a 32 degree angle.

Yeah.

I saw.

Tears the hell out of the veneer.

Unless you got a brand new blade in there.

Yeah.

This scores it.

It does all the cool little stuff.

You can actually do a scoring run to cut it first.

So if you want to take down a 16th of an inch, you can take that through and then do your big cut.

There's a lot of different things with it.

I saw a guy on Facebook and I was like, he had a unit of OSB and he was trying to cut multiple sheets down.

Yeah.

So he snapped his line, turned his contractor table saw upside down and cutting it multiple sheets that way.

I'm like, no.

Wow.

I'm like, I've never had a table saw kickback where the saw hits me in the face.

But I don't want to do that.

That's crazy.

That's.

Yeah.

Takes all kinds, man.

That takes all kinds.

Like which was doing that?

Which roofer was doing something.

I.

We used to call guys like that pavers.

You must be a paver.

Sorry.

Pavers.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It just.

It was innovative and dangerous all at the same time.

Equally innovative and equally dangerous.

I couldn't believe it.

I was just shocked.

I was going, you kidding me?

And what's cool with this is like the Milwaukee one, which I have.

Festool has one.

There's a lot of cool little things going on, but they're just really good for hardwoods and things like that.

That could be difficult.

So if you need to go rent one because they're expensive.

Just the saw itself is like almost 700 bucks at home Depot.

And then you gotta buy the track and the clamps and all the other little parts with it.

So it's not your everyday home improvement tool, but if you can go rent one, it's awesome.

It's a game changer for doing panel projects or big sheets that you're trying to describe or something like that.

It's just awesome.

Nice.

Makes life so much easier when you're tackling a project like that to be able to knock that out.

So it's super fun.

Now another one.

And I'm gonna get geeky on this one, and it's not really on my list, but I'm gonna change out one item and add to it.

Oh, really good hammer.

A really good hammer that fits your hand.

You just touched my heart with that one.

Did I?

Dude.

My hammer was like.

No.

Like my sword, if I was a gladiator, like it.

You don't understand how special.

It's like a guitar.

It's.

It.

Yeah, yeah.

No.

Yeah.

Exactly what it's gonna do.

You know exactly what it's not gonna do.

Yep.

And I've got some bougie ones.

We were talking about bougie tools.

Yes.

I've got the stilettos.

I've got four of them.

I was just gonna say I had my stiletto hammer.

I could split wood with it.

I could tap in a finish nail with it.

I knew exactly how it handled, and it was.

Yeah, it's like your third hand.

Like it?

Yeah.

One of my favorite parts to add on to that stiletto hammer is they now make rubber covers that go over the head.

So when you're doing, like, flooring tap, it's got that real rubber, like a white rubber, almost like a tennis shoe rubber that you can hit with so you don't mar things up for doing flooring, for doing stuff like that.

It's awesome.

And then in half a second, you can pull that cover off.

It just slides right off.

And now you're.

Now you're nailing a finish.

Brilliant idea.

And they make them now with the.

So they're all titanium, where you can actually change the head out on it.

So if you've got, like, that waffle framer that you've used enough, and you're, like, destroying the waffle end on it.

You just take a big screwdriver and can actually unbolt the head on it and put another one back on it so it's brand new again.

Nice.

Yeah, they're great.

Yeah, it's.

Spend the money, find what's good.

Some guys are like, I've got to have the wood handle.

Some guys, like, I want to have just what my grandfather had with the hickory handle or whatever.

And I'm.

I like it light.

I don't want to have something destroying my forearms at the end of the day.

I liked my forearms destroyed and I had to have a wooden handle.

And I kept it.

I kept it sanded and oiled like a fine pair of Italian shoes, man.

I freaking loved it.

My baby, right?

It's such a personal choice.

It's like in the guitar world, it's like, are you a Les Paul guy?

Are you a Stratocaster guy?

Which one is.

When was the last time you saw Slash playing on a Stratocaster?

It's the guy you are.

So you're a less Paul guy usually.

Yeah.

But I do got.

You did have a Strats, I was.

Going to say, but however, comma, I do both.

Yep.

And that's part of it.

Now, the next one here, I think is probably the most used tool.

Even more, maybe even the hammer these days.

And that is a really good, basically, screwdriver, drill driver combo.

Whether it's a Milwaukee, whether you're a Ryobi, whether you're a DeWalt or even a Bosch or Akita, whatever brand it is, that's the one I think that I probably give the most abuse to.

Yeah.

Drill the falls.

The driver that falls off the ladder under the concrete falls off seven times a day.

Yeah, yeah.

And they have come so far with those over the years.

Dude, I was just.

I was actually building that little kid's house the other day and just remembered how mind blowing it was when they created the pneumatic ones.

Yep.

And you're like, oh, I don't.

Especially if you're like over your head trying to get in drywall or something like that, and you're fighting with the stutter on and it freezes.

No.

Versus, no.

Yep.

If anything, if you got cheap screws, you'll be busting them off that too.

Yep.

And that's the thing.

So really finding one that fits your budget.

And again, and a lot of people are brand specific, I always say get the brand that's going to fit in with your battery system you're using.

You know, but generally speaking, if you're a contractor and you show up with the Ryobi set, you're going to get laughed off the job site.

But as a homeowner, it's a great deal.

Same parent company as Milwaukee, but it's just the homeowner grade version of it.

It'll probably do you?

I will say as a contractor in the past, with several team members in a couple different trucks running them, I bought plenty of those Ryobi spork, because guys abused them and broke them all the time.

Like, yeah, I don't care.

Take the whole 300 set, break the hell out of it this month.

We'll buy another one.

Yeah, brother had this circular saw and he made it through to a garage build and a home renovation with thousands of cuts.

Now, just a couple weeks ago, he sent me a video of him plugging the battery in and smoke coming out of it.

So he fully let the smoke out of it.

So it was done.

But it had a good, hard life.

I'm not saying it's top choice, but I am saying it can be economically viable.

If you're going through drills and you're going through cause and batteries and losing set, when you've got employees, you're like, I don't need every guy to have a dewalt set or a Milwaukee set because it's just going to get wrecked because they don't care about my stuff.

Sorry, guys.

It happens that way.

It happens that way.

All right, we come back.

I want to wrap this one up.

Johnny, we got to go out to break and we'll keep talking about some of my cool little tools, more specialty stuff that can make life a little bit easier around the house.

We'll do that just as soon as we return.

If you want to find out more about us, hit us up on the website@aroundthehouseonline.com.

we'll be right back.

Make sure you follow the around the House show on social media and our YouTube channel at around the House.

Eric G. For all of our home improvement videos.

Hold on to your tool belt, folks.

We're taking a short break to rewire our thoughts.

Around the House will be back faster than you can say drywall dust.

All right, welcome back to the around the House show.

Thanks for joining us today.

Hey, if you want to find out more about us and all the things we're doing, head over to our website aroundthehouse online.com and make sure you follow us on social media over there.

We got so much going on there with some new interviews, will be coming out soon and got some new videos popping up this week as well.

So take a look at that and make sure you subscribe and share to your friends that are trying to track those projects down.

And Johnny and I have been sitting here talking about our favorite tools and some of the stuff that I think is really has been some game changers for out there and one of them is a big deal.

And I think this really relates to whether you're a contractor or homeowner.

It's battery powered outdoor lawn care.

And I tell you what, it used to be so horrible and now it's gotten to be so good.

You can literally go out now and buy a battery powered zero turn lawnmower that'll do three and a half acres on one charge and it'll.

Yeah, you've got that one video on that one.

Yeah.

And I can.

I had a half acre of lawn basically that I could get with my lawnmower.

Go out there with a single charge and I could probably mow it three or four times off of a single charge off of that dual battery setup.

And that folded up all nicely so it fit in the garage.

Yeah, just goes up on edge and oh my gosh, it's a game changer on it.

And the nice thing is the leaf blower is probably my favorite.

I used probably not your neighbor's favorite.

No, it was because it was quiet.

You think about the gas ones, you're out there.

I always want to hit record.

The leaf blower.

Gas powered leaf blower comes out whether I'm working outside or the lawn care guys show up when I'm recording inside.

Murphy's law is they show up when you hit the record button.

But the electric one is so battery powered is so much more quiet.

And you'll laugh at me.

When I got the house all moved out, everything's clear.

I took through the garage and the house, the leaf blower in and made sure every last little bit of dust out, open the doors up and just blew it outside.

And then did one last cleaning.

And I tell you what, I could sweep the garage floor 100 times and until you got the leaf blower out with that 120 mile per hour burst of air, all that little fine dust disappeared.

Nice game changer.

And these days I think it's smart.

Now here's where it doesn't work.

And this is where I think government regulation gets dumb.

Like in California where governments are saying you can't run gas powered equipment if you're in North Dakota or Minnesota.

A battery powered snowblower isn't going to work at minus 25 degrees.

Not going to cut it.

And this is where contractors have a problem.

And this is an interesting one.

In the northern states, if you leave your dewalt your Milwaukee batteries in your truck at night, it's 20 degrees outside in the morning.

They don't work as well.

Yep.

You get half or less of the battery power even when they're fully charged.

So it's like.

Yeah, like starting your car when it's 10 degrees outside and you turn it over and it's.

Yep, the oil.

Just have to put them in front of the heaters.

The job site heaters.

Yeah.

So any place you're getting below freezing out there, it's.

That's where that stuff doesn't work.

Now you're not mowing the lawn when it's 20 outside, but it's maybe the leaf blower to clear some powdery snow or the snow blower is not really the best move with that.

That can be pretty, pretty troublesome.

But like you said, you got to warm them up first.

And in those areas, I think there's always should be some gas powered equipment out there, like snowblowers and things like that that you just need to have.

Unless they change battery technology.

That's my big one.

Now the last one that I have on here I think is an important one.

And that's your trusty skill saw.

I'm gonna say skill because it's a skills of brand, but we all know it.

It's the Kleenex of saws.

It's your circular saw.

Second choice.

My hammer, my skill saw.

Those were my two extra additional hands.

Again, such a personal thing, how you handle it, you know how it cuts, you know, the weight, you know the force, you know that it's.

You get.

Well, whatever.

I'm getting a little contractory about it, but.

No, but it is, it's.

It is.

It becomes an appendage that you fling around like it's nothing.

Which could be very dangerous if you hadn't been doing it for 20 years.

Absolutely, absolutely.

I can use my skill saw for that.

What?

No, watch this.

Yeah, I was a little reckless now.

Now they've got demo blades where you can cut through wood and steel and aluminum or whatever else.

And it's meant for just.

It's meant for demo day.

It'll cut through just about anything.

Yeah, nice.

I throw that on mine for demo day when I'm cutting stuff out.

And it's just.

Who cares if there's a nail in there?

It doesn't mind it.

Yeah, but I changed over to battery probably seven or eight years ago.

And all battery power now.

And that is the way to go because there's no cord, you know, when you're cutting a sheet of plywood.

How many times, Johnny, with that cord, maybe you got your mag 77 or whatever.

Gotta swing the cord over.

Yep.

Catches on the corner.

Catches on the corner and it stops you.

Yeah, it's like nobody could come up with some kind of a cone to go over the top of that.

That you could actually just keep going.

But it was like hitting the power brake on it.

It would be like darn cord.

You'd have to kick the cord out of the way to keep it going.

But nowadays, and I've seen this by many different manufacturers, the battery power ones have more power to the blade than the electric ones do.

Interesting.

I've seen side by side races where they put so much pressure on them and they're cutting like inch and an eighth plywood.

Because the computers inside of the saw will sit there and tell it to put more power.

So it'll put that battery power right to the engine of that electric motor and it'll actually give you that burst of power that the plug in ones don't really have the ability on.

They're on, they're one speed.

But there's a computer and the battery power one.

So you can under load actually be putting more power to that with these 18 volt or 20 volt.

And by the way, guys, here's a trick for you.

You'll notice this out here.

Here's a little thing I don't think, you know, this DeWalt is technically 18 volts.

It's not 20.

If you look over in Europe, it's the DeWalt 18 volt.

And it's similar.

It's the same as the Milwaukee's.

And that's because they're rounding up to 20.

It's not bad.

Must be nice.

They're just rounding it.

Yeah, must be nice.

They're just rounding up.

I just round it up.

Round it up.

So it's not really they rounded down, they round it up and it's in between that.

But it's the same battery pack.

So they've got new technologies and.

But it's the same amount of cells in the batteries.

It's the same thing, you know, but they do work the same.

But 20 volts is not two more than the Milwaukee.

Just so you guys know out there, get what you like, but it's not what it says it is.

And that's why Europe won't let them sell it under 20 because it's not 20.

Huh.

Interesting.

Yeah.

I'm actually still contemplating the.

How the computer puts the power when it's needed to the cordless sock.

Because I would never.

I don't know I'm old school, but I'm like, I don't know.

Cordless skill saw.

Like, something about me liked the habit of knowing the chord was gonna catch and moving it before.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know.

It's a weird thing.

It's a very.

Again, it's very guitar.

Like, it's a personal thing.

Becomes an appendage.

It also brings to mind the story of the guy putting the table saw upside down.

Cause I would do wacky stuff like that with my skill saw where people are like, you're gonna do what?

I'm like, one foot, one hand on the ladder, hanging off, going to cut the rafter tail with.

They're like, you can't.

Oh, wow.

Yep.

Absolutely.

And that's the same thing.

And the nice thing, too, I like about that, too, is that you can jump up on the roof and cut something without going, how many cord do I need?

Yeah, that I like.

That was nice, because Murphy's law said that whatever you wanted to cut was approximately 14 inches farther away than what you had cored for.

Yeah.

Not to mention it's one less cord to be tripping over when you're on a roof.

That's right.

That's a huge.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

How many cord rolls have you done roofing?

Oh, my gosh.

Oh, it's just walking on the floor.

How many on the last one I want to see out there?

Yeah, you're walking around.

Whoa.

You catch it?

My last one on here.

That's really not on the list, but a good shot back.

A good shot back for cleanup.

This is where we throw in the electrical jokes, and the electricians don't clean up.

But really, this is the cleanup tool that's so good around the house.

And I've converted over, like, with.

I use the.

The.

The ones from Home Depot.

The rigids.

That's what I've.

Rigid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I always had the rigids.

Yeah.

I like using the bags.

If you're not using the bags around there, that slide into them, and they just snap over the top of the inlet on the.

If you're not using that, try it out sometimes.

It's a game changer.

Yeah.

So it's a good way to go.

Johnny.

That's the end of the list.

And it's the end of the show, brother.

Thanks for coming on today.

I always appreciate it.

And, guys, make sure you follow us on social media.

If you're a contractor out there and you've got a favorite tool, make sure you message us.

Or a homeowner you go.

Ah, you missed this one.

Hit us up at around the House online dot com.

Love to see that.

Maybe we'll talk about some of those next week if you can get those over to us.

And for the contractors out there, follow us over on our new podcast as well.

We rebooted the around the House Pro Insider, so make sure you catch us over there.

We're talking business, and we're putting our business brains together, helping people like you with your business and making sure it's growing and keeping up with today's technology.

I'm Eric G. And I'm Johnny D.

And you've been listening to around the House.

Go all over the radio with you.