Community Workshop News! Mural, Air Filter, & People!

Community Workshop News!

1) If you haven’t seen it yet, our bland boring white walls have been taken over by our new galaxy lady who saws wood in space. THANK YOU SO MUCH ELENA GUNDERSON FOR THE RAD MURAL! @elenathunderson

2) Thanks to our fantastic volunteer Karl’s contribution, we bought a Powermatic Electrostatic Air Filtration System! This will make it easier to breath back there when the sanding/sawing gets crazy for classes and open workshop AND WE LOVE BREATHING.

3) The workshop has been busy and super fun! Come join the party or invite a friend to the party by buying them a workshop hours gift card for the holidays.

We'll be Closed Christmas Eve Through New Years Day

Get your thermoses, hot apple cider recipes, and secret bourbon flasks ready because holiday vacay is soon! There will still be classes going on, but the Tool Library and Community Workshop will be closed from 12/24/22 - 1/1/23.

Pro Tip: If you’re a maniac and are trying to get projects done during the break, it would behoove you to check out your tools during the week before we close because all late fees will be waived.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Knowing Your Home is Back! 1.23.23

Knowing Your Home is back! This class is designed to give you a foundational understanding of how the many systems of a house works, and this time it’s being taught by our hilarious resident tiling/plumbing teacher Dave Cooke and his home quality assurance pal Tim Lubbert. Between these guys they have two lifetimes of knowledge about home renovation, home inspection, and home repair so you’ll be hard pressed to come up with a question about your home that they can’t answer (yup - there’s a Q&A after class).

To go deeper into a house’s many parts, check out the rest of our classes in the Knowing Your Home Series.

Knowing Your Home Home Renovation Class // 1.23.23

Dave Cooke and Tim Lubbert will give brief explanations of a house’s various systems from the shingles on the roof to the sump pump in the basement and everything in between. They will discuss how all of these systems interact with each other to keep your lights on, water running, and climate controlled. You will leave class with a basic understanding of how your house works, what tools to carry so you can perform simple fixes, and when to call a contractor (and how to find the right one!) This discussion style class will be interactive, so come with lots of questions.

This class will discuss…

  • Electrical Systems: service entrance panel, 110v/220v, single phase/three phase circuit breakers, amps vs volts, GFI breakers, lighting, and ceiling fans.

  • HVAC Systems: heating, cooling, air humidification, filtration.

  • Plumbing Systems: water supply, faucets, toilets, water heaters, garbage disposals, drains.

  • Kitchens: countertops, cabinets, tile.

  • Roofs: repellant, leaks, ventilation.

  • Walls: structural frame, windows, doors, what walls are made of, and why paint matters.

  • Foundations: structure, moisture issues, drains, sump pump.

  • Structures: decks/porches.

  • Bonus!: how to find the right contractor, basic tools that won’t break the budget.

About Dave & Tim…

David Cooke taught home repair classes for twelve years. He wrote articles on home repair and improvement for a local magazine and appeared weekly on a television program in Boston as the "Resident Home Repair Guy" for two years. David ran his own home repair and improvement business for most of the last 30 years.

Tim Lubbert’s career for the last 2 decades has centered on quality assurance of single-family to large multi-family construction and development projects. Tim’s job on behalf of owners, builders, and/or insurers is to guarantee that the building “envelope” has been constructed according to plans and specifications and that in particular, every roof, wall, door, window, foundation will be resistant to moisture, whether driven by weather or sub-soil conditions. Tim is the homebuyer’s guardian angel.

What People Say about Dave’s Classes….

"David was hilarious. Also I feel much more confident."

"Incredible amount of information and practice for 3 hours without feeling overwhelming."

"Instructor was fantastic, kept the jokes coming and made the time fly by!"

"Instructor was very knowledgeable and engaging"

We Do Private, Group, & Team Building Classes!

Book a Private Class at the Denver Tool Library!

Looking for a unique gift for your partner or family? Perhaps your group is taking on a building project and needs to learn some tool basics? Or maybe you’re just looking to have some fun with your company? Well forget a trust fall - give your coworker a circular saw in one of our private classes!

Why Book Your Event With Us?

We might be bias, but our classes are definitely the best group activities in Denver! Not only are they a lot of fun, they also encourage creativity, collaboration, and will pass on practical skills to your group that will last a lifetime. With dozens of different types of workshops to choose from we are sure to offer something your party would like. By choosing us you’ll also be supporting local craftspeople, artists, and a non-profit that strives to put tools in the hands of all folks and organizations regardless of income.

"You can take away anything from a man - his wealth and health and suchlike - but you can't take away his craftsman skills." -Happy People, Werner Herzog

Go GOLD When You Renew Your Membership

Here's an easy way to help your community get affordable tools: When you renew or buy a tool library membership, ask to go gold! The bit of extra money it costs goes toward discounted/free memberships for people and orgs who need them. As a sweet perk you’ll get a photo of yourself put on our gold member wall so everyone knows how outstanding you are. You even get to meet and pose with Werner Herzog if you’d like.

"Civilization is like a thin layer of ice upon a deep ocean of chaos and darkness." -Werner Herzog

Special Holiday Classes! One Time Only!

We’ve got some special holiday versions of some familiar classes this season. They’re one time only so grab them before they’re gone!

Super Charge Your Donation - Colorado Gives Day!

Did y’all know there’s this thing called Colorado Gives Day going on now through December 6th, 2022 where you can donate to all of your fav Colorado based non-profits? Did you know that your donations go further through this program because they’re backed by a 1.4 million dollar fund? And can you guess who’s on the list of non-profits you can give to once again this year?… Oh yes, it’s us!

If you or someone you know has the means, consider giving the gift of tools this season. Your donation will go to…

  • Local orgs who use our tools to make a difference in the community.

  • Our sliding scale membership fund so everyone has access to tools.

  • If you’re a member - YOU! More $$$ = more tools.

All you need to do is go to coloradogives.org/organization/DenverToolLibrary and hit that donate button. We’ll turn whatever you give into tools for everyone. THANKS!

Come Hangout With Us! (aka volunteer)

Our fantastic volunteer Celi @aracelialto gave the classes chalkboard a makeover! It looks SO good. If you ever want to hang with Celi and the rest of the totally cool DTL staff/volunteers, sign up at denvertoollibrary.org/volunteer There's like a million different things you can do like check people in/out, fix broken tools, inventory new tools, zone out and organize the shop, whatever! Don’t know anything about tools? It doesn’t matter - we’ll teach yah. HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.

Woohoo! New Merch!

Look Cool, Impress your Friends, and Support a Cool Org while you’re at It.

Checkout our new version of a really old shirt. It’s a three quarter sleeve not-illuminati baseball t-shirt now in black. If you’re looking for a holiday gift for someone who likes us and also wants to be adored by all of their friends because they look so cool, look no further. Come by and pick one up from the shop before yours & their size is gone!