Have you been outside the USA before? Europe now has cars and electricity and power tools and better beer than your used to drinking

 

Yes



Thank you, but your reply is not helpful to me. We are moving to Germany this summer and will be renting, but we will buy a vacation home in Sitges. I need to know what power tools I can bring, or just sell and buy new in Europe. I know about the voltages, hertz, and metric sizes, in case someone else posts a like question about that.

My wife is originally from Spain, and we visit frequently, but I've never had to ask her family for a hardware store in all these years.

As to your question if I have been outside the USA, well, let's see... once, or twice a year since 1997 to Spain, my wife is originally from Barcelona, and her father is from Norway. I've been to all Scandinavian countries, all of Western and most of Eastern Europe, China, Australia, Indonesia, Oman, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (I work for an oil company), Colombia, Argentina (wife's mom is from Buenos Aires), Canada, Bahamas (if that counts) and Mexico of course. I am fluent in reading/writing in Spanish, and speak a little German since we started taking German lessons in January as a family.

BTW, I don't drink beer I can see right through, that includes all American beer!

 

For crying out loud, yes there are hardware stores, look on Amazon Germany or Amazon Spain for a price guide.

 

Names...



I apologize, I was not clear, what I want to know are what are those stores called? I want to check out their WEB sites. Interestingly, I was more clear in the German forum. Thanks.

 

Google ............
Leroy Merlin.es
Bricomart.es
Bricodepot.es
AKI.es

All stock what you need and you can check their prices against the cost of shipping yours over.

 

Just remember that here in Europe, we use 220-240V and not what you're used to in USA (110V).

All machinery that you might consider bringing will either have to be switchable or you will need a transformer.

 

2 ferreteria that are common in Spain are Brico-Depot (French) and Leroy Merlin (also in France). We use both in both countiries. The local ferretria are unlikely to have decent websites. We do find the local ones very helpful and if need be we take in to the shop either a picture or a sample of what we are looking for and they disappear out the back for a few minutes and return with what we want;

 

The hardware stores in Spain are pretty weak compared the stores in the US. Prices can be horrific on some items and the selection is always pretty bad. Stores in my town in Michigan have 10 times the selection of hardware as the stores in Barcelona. I ended up ordering many of my tools from Germany. Be ware that many products perform differently in Spain too. For example, I tested out a bunch of oil stains here and they were surprisingly water soluble. I never found anything that functioned like latex primer. Couldn't find a place that had a router that I could actually see before I bought it. Good luck!

 

Be ware that many products perform differently in Spain too. For example, I tested out a bunch of oil stains here and they were surprisingly water soluble.

Maybe because EU health and safety regulations on chemicals are stronger than US ones?

I'm hunting high and low for a small qualtity of glyphosate weedkiller at the moment, to get rid of some stubborn tap roots on the patio. Seems to have disappeared from the shelves.

 

Leroy Merlin hires out power tools and other heavy stuff if you are only going to use them occasionally.

 

Thanks



Thanks, I will save this as a reference.

 

Your problem with bringing heavy duty US power tools is not the voltage which is easily converted but the power requirement. The average step-up transformer will not easily handle the current that you might require. There may not be likes of Lowes in Europe (Yes, i have used them, in Florida) but you should be able to find much of what you need or a good substitute. You are unlikely to find the paper-thin, easily fractured dry-wall that is common in the states because dry-lining here is usually carried out using plasterboard which is gypsum based with a surface finish that is easily painted or is plasticised..

 

Lets be clear, it is the Spanish interpretation of an EU regulation, possibly, although the EU state that it is up to member states to do as they wish while it is EU approved. Most other EU countries have either interpreted it more reasonably or are already on some type of hysteria about cancer and such and are banning it outright.
It is readily available online if you are happy to pay shipping.
This reminds me I need to restock.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-16-2012_en.htm

For ages there was none to be found on the shelves but I have found a product called Resolva, Herbicida Total 24h. It's a weak version of round up but it will do the job. Maybe in 24h on the hottest day of the year, so far about a week for it to show signs of working here.
It's in a one litre spray bottle.