5 Tools That Make DIY Projects Less Frustrating

Most DIY frustration starts with a wall: the anchor that spins in drywall, or the third hole drilled “just next to” the first two. A typical stud finder beeps at one edge and leaves you guessing where the stud actually is.

The M210 uses a row of 13 sensors, so the LEDs light up across the whole width of the stud at once and the middle one turns green on the center. That’s the spot you want for a screw. It also finds double studs, which usually means a door or window frame is close by.

Pro tip Confirm a stud before you drill a big hole: a small finish nail in the marked spot should hit solid wood within the first half inch. Patch the tiny hole later with a dab of spackle.

A bubble level works for one shelf. It gets frustrating when you’re hanging five frames, or a row of shelves, and every measurement adds a little error. A cross-line laser solves that by drawing one straight reference line across the whole wall, so everything gets lined up to the same thing.

The GLL50-20G levels itself when you set it down and blinks if it’s too far off to do it. The pendulum locks when it’s switched off, so you can toss it in a bag. The built-in magnet is handy for sticking it to a steel stud, a door frame or a metal shelf.

Pro tip For a gallery wall, mark the laser line with painter’s tape instead of a pencil. You can hang everything to the tape’s edge and peel it off at the end.

Measuring a room with a tape is a two-person job, and a long tape sags and bends exactly where you need it straight. A laser measure does it alone: hold it against one wall, press the button and read the distance to the other.

This model keeps things simple. One button measures, the other rounds the result to the fraction you work in, from 1/2 inch down to 1/32. For estimating paint, flooring or how big a shelf can be, that’s all most DIY projects need.

Pro tip Measure from the back of the tool, which is the default, and press it flat against the wall. Holding it at an angle adds length that’s easy to miss.

A dull blade makes every cut harder: drywall tears instead of snapping, cardboard crushes, and you push harder right when the knife is most likely to slip. Most of the time the problem isn’t the knife but that changing the blade is a hassle, so nobody does it.

The FASTBACK knives change blades with a button and no screwdriver, and the set comes with a 50-blade dispenser, so a fresh edge is always within reach. You get two sizes: the full-size one for the toolbox and the compact one for a pocket or a kitchen drawer.

Pro tip When cutting drywall, score the paper face once along a straightedge, snap the board back, and then cut the paper on the other side. One clean pass is better than three deep ones.

Every DIY project has that one screw: the head strips, the driver just spins, and suddenly nothing else can happen until it comes out. A screw extractor is the plan B: drill a small hole in the center of the screw, tap the extractor in, and turn it counterclockwise. The left-hand spiral bites harder the more the screw resists.

This set pairs each extractor with the right drill bit, and the sizes are etched on the tools themselves, so there’s no chart to look up mid-job.

Pro tip Go slow and steady with a hand wrench or a drill on its lowest speed in reverse. A drop of penetrating oil and a few minutes of waiting help more than force. Extractors break when they’re forced.