360° laser is awesome In case you’ve never used a laser level, you might be wondering why all builders use it. After all, all it does is make a line on the wall. A pencil can do the same. What they give is speed and precision. It’s true they don’t unlock any new possibilities. The same things can be done with a pencil, bubble level and a square. But such measurement takes several minutes instead of seconds, and if you do it dozens of times per day, the time saving is huge. They’re also more precise, as the tiny errors from repeated measurements don’t accumulate.

Measuring tools: the basic set Measuring is one of those areas where beginners tend to either underinvest or overinvest. The right answer is somewhere in between. A basic, cheap set of measuring tools unlocks many possibilities and for most projects you don’t need precision instruments.

Computers and power tools can benefit from a regular blast of compressed air. For years, I used a shop vacuum in a blower mode and occasionally a can of compressed air. The vacuum is not powerful enough. Cans get expensive in the long run and produce waste. Plus, they’re not really air, but different gases - smelly, some are flammable.

The new sander arrived last week. I unpacked it and put it to good use immediately. Then I thought for a moment and counted. Six sanding tools. I briefly considered whether I have a sander problem. I decided that I don’t - unless a problem described as “I need to do a lot of sanding” counts as one.

Modern cars are full of sensors monitoring everything from exhaust gas composition to intake air pressure. When something goes wrong, the engine management system logs a fault code and lights the check engine warning. Now, if only cars had screens that could display what exactly is wrong…

Locking wheel nuts exist to stop opportunists nicking your wheels, and when you lose the key, they do their job a little too well. A few years ago when I moved to the UK, I bought a very old Honda Civic with the intention of replacing it soon (I expected to get a lot of scratches before getting used to driving on the wrong side of the road), but really liked the car and kept it for long. One day came a time to replace tyres. I brought the car to the tyre service and confidently told them the key is in the glovebox. I saw it just a few days before when I cleaned the interior. Except it wasn’t there now.

I’m on my third workshop vacuum now. The first one was Parkside, an old model from about 15 years ago. It never cleaned properly, I don’t even remember if it broke or I got rid of it because it was useless. Next one was a small Karcher. It worked great for years, but I only did occasional DIY projects. When I started the large renovation, I killed it in a week. It’s now on a shelf, until I decide if I want to replace the motor unit or bin it.

Every DIYer eventually has to move from a handsaw to an electric saw. Which type to choose? Handheld circular saws look intimidating (though they’re safer than they seem) and making an accurate cut takes practice. Jigsaws are a common choice (the one I actually made years ago - my saw broke quickly and I never felt a need to replace it). Table saws look dangerous and they really are. Mitre saws are great for some tasks and useless for others.

The dishwasher incident I wrote about recently - two litres of water into the mineral wool, a home dehumidifier, sorted in a day - was, in the grand scheme of water-related home disasters, a rounding error. It did remind me of something considerably less manageable. A different house, about fifteen years ago.

Flooring: part 4 of 4 After removing the old floor and checking the subfloor, next step was to install something we like. Choosing panels Apart from the look, the main decision criteria were low emissions and durability, roughly in that order. We ended up with two types, but with similar features.