Hello World! Welcome Friends! Americans love home improvement. Every year, they spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on home improvement projects. A single quote from a home improvement company can go up to as much as $100,000! Of course, not everyone has the means (or the will, really) to spend that much on home improvement. So, they choose to go the do-it-yourself or DIY route – personally taking on projects big, and small, wielding a hammer, a cabinet hardware jig, and other power tools they can get their hands on.
According to a study conducted by Nerdwallet, there were around 43 million DIY home improvement projects done from the years 2015 – 2017. While 43 million is quite a large number, it’s not that surprising considering that 70% of Americans actually prefer to do DIY home improvement than pay a company to take on the project for them.
Of course, with such statistics, one can expect a large market for DIY home improvement tools (such as hand planers).
How Can a Cabinet Hardware Jig and Other Tools Affect DIY Home Improvement?
One of the main reasons why people turn to companies to do their home improvement projects is that they’re unprepared for it – they’re not skilled enough and/or they don’t have the tools necessary to take it on properly and get the results that they want. Some may attempt to do the projects with what they currently have but find it incredibly tedious and difficult. They can end up frustrated with a so-so result even after their 10th attempt at it.
Power tools and other equipment used for home improvement and renovation are usually bulky, heavy, and come with a huge price tag. But since the dawn of DIY home improvement, more and more tools are becoming homeowner-friendly – they come in compact sizes and cost significantly less than their commercial counterparts.
This is a big deal for homeowners who like doing home improvement projects by themselves as these tools help make these projects easier and less frustrating to accomplish. In fact, this can be one of the factors that contributed to the rise of DIY home projects in the country. The more homeowner-friendly tools that appear on the market, the more this statistic is expected to go up.
Cabinets Hardware Jig: Cabinets Are a Problem Furniture Piece
Cabinets can be found in almost every room in a home. One can find a cabinet in the bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, and even in the living room. Given this, it’s not surprising that a lot of homeowners stress over cabinets when doing home improvement projects.
They seem like simple furniture pieces – they just open and close with a swing of a door. But just one miscalculation and you could have uneven hardware and wonky doors that won’t close properly.
Thankfully, there are tools like the cabinet hardware jig to provide homeowners with a smooth, cabinet installation or renovation experience.
Cabinet Hardware Jig: Why You Need One
Even the simplest of cabinets would require the installation of hardware in the form of cabinet hinges. Other hardware include cabinet knobs/pulls/handles, drawer slides, catches and latches, door tracks, and under cabinet LED lighting.
Proper installation of these hardware is crucial because, as mentioned earlier, a miscalculation would result in bad cabinets. To add to the challenge, there are so many factors to consider when installing hardware, too.
One common challenge in cabinet hardware installation is making sure double door cabinet handles are symmetrical. Because, of course, one wouldn’t want a handle to be positioned higher or farther from the other.
Usually, it’d take a lot of measuring and marking to install a perfectly symmetrical pair of handles. And sometimes, even with good measuring and marking, some owners still have trouble achieving this. A cabinet hardware jig, however, can eliminate this tedious and imperfect process.
This jig allows homeowners to set hardware spacing and location, hold and drill through the cabinets firmly, and achieve hardware symmetry.
What to Look for in a Cabinet Hardware Jig
Not all hardware jigs for cabinets are made the same. Some of the cheaper kinds simply give you what you pay for – a simple tool that won’t necessarily guarantee accuracy.
Then, there are more expensive jigs that give you your money’s worth: everything you’ll ever need in a hardware jig to help you install hardware in mere seconds.
So, when choosing one, you’d have to consider three very important factors:
Accuracy
This is definitely the most important factor to look out for. The whole point of getting a hardware jig for your cabinets is to install hardware accurately.
Some low-quality devices may come with printed measurement templates that are not necessarily accurate. For this reason, it would be wise to bring your own measurement device when choosing a cabinet hardware jig. Use it to compare the measurements and confirm its accuracy. The most allowance you should give is +/- 0.001” for optimum accuracy.
Versatility
Cabinets come in all shapes and sizes and unless you have the same cabinet design for all the cabinets in your home, you’d need a hardware jig that can adapt to any design you can throw at it. Otherwise, you’d need to do additional measuring and calculating. And if this is the case, why get a hardware jig at all?
Hardware jigs should also be versatile in terms of project size. Whether used for a small DIY home improvement project or for a big, complicated professional one, hardware jigs should be able to do the job.
Durability
Home improvement tools should be looked at as investments for the long term and not an expense for one-time projects. So, your cabinet hardware jig should be able to stand the test of time and continuous usage.
Choose one that is made of quality materials like hardened anodized aluminum. This way, you’re able to confidently use it without the fear of it breaking down after a few uses.
Aside from its make, you should also consider how the measurements are printed onto the device. If they are simply painted or printed on, the measurements may fade in time as you use it. Without clear measurements, accuracy is greatly compromised. Try to get one with laser engraved measurements instead so you won’t have to worry about any print peeling off or fading.
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Toodles,
Home improvement can really be expensive! Thanks for the great insight and tips, I’m planning on making a few improvements to my home this year. I found some more tips on this other post that were helpful!
https://www.jbshandyman.com/blog/molding-and-trim