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Patio, a new DIY platform, just launched a feature called “Duolingo for DIY”, a series of gamified quizzes designed to teach practical home improvement skills.

Each quiz covers essential topics like plumbing basics, electrical safety, basic wiring, sustainable materials, and more. The format is designed to be bite-sized and interactive, with points, progress tracking, and badge rewards.

The goal is to make DIY more approachable and help people feel confident before starting hands-on projects.

Would love feedback from the HN community!

Hi HN, I’m Julien, founder of Patio, a peer to peer marketplace for renting, buying and selling construction tools and materials in your community. It helps people earn extra income, save on projects, and reduce waste through sharing. We also offer DIY guides, inspiration, and interactive quizzes.

We’re now building a dedicated tool rental feature and looking to collaborate with tool libraries to make sure it reflects how real communities operate.

We’d love your input on inventory systems, reservations, insurance, liability, waivers, and anything else that helps make this safe and useful. You’d also get early access and a chance to shape the experience.

If you’re interested, reach me at julien@patio.so Thanks for reading.

Oui, la question de la responsabilité revient souvent. Certaines communautés utilisent des décharges de responsabilité, systèmes de dépôt, et/ou assurances.

On aimerait vraiment collaborer avec votre communauté pour comprendre les besoins et mettre en place quelque chose avant le lancement de notre service de location. N’hésitez pas à me contacter à julien@patio.so si vous voulez en discuter !

Exactly! Tool libraries are super great and we're trying to fill the gap where they're not implemented yet but also willing to help existing ones to manage them!

This is a good idea, thanks!

Thats exactly my mindset too. We're planning to give free basic tools (skilsaw, drills, sanders) that we're getting from people that dont use it anymore to ppl that will use it for real.

I don't think we need all the tools that we owns, all the time, and if our neighbors can lend it, its a pleasure to do so. Damage can happens but at the end of the day, we're neighbors lending to each others so we can figure it out most of the time at least!

There are a few tool libraries, community bike shops, and woodworking spaces that offer similar workshops, usually run by volunteers (and I guess some hackerspaces too). But I get you, it can be hard to discover and know when these are happening nearby.

Hahha, that made me smile too — thank you! We’re planning to add an option for online payments in the future, but we’ll always keep the choice to handle it yourself or just lend for free. And, I agree, Montreal is such a nice city!

Also, it's not always only about the price. Sometimes, you simply don't have the space to store some of these tools too. For instance, a pressure washer can take up a lot of room and if you only need it for a 1-day cleanup, renting means you don’t have to find space or worry about storing it long-term.

We’ve updated the desktop navigation bar to be more prominent and easier to use. Thanks for your feedbacks!

We’ve updated the desktop top navigation bar. It should makes it much easier to navigate now :)

We just update the top navigation bar on desktop. Now that it's more prominent, it should now be easier to navigate.

Thanks for sharing this! I think we'll add a list of existing tool library so it will be easier to find the ones near you.

Thanks for taking time to share it!

Thanks for sharing! One of our goals is to support initiatives like this and make it easier to start and operate them. We truly hope to help make tool libraries more common in as many cities as possible!

Hahaha, I don't think this is on our priority list yet tho!

Yes, there are still some things to figure out, and we're working hard to find solutions that make the whole experience easier and more enjoyable. Really appreciate your feedback, it helps a lot!

Glad it did not bother everyone at least!

We're not trying to fully replace that, but offer a more local, sustainable option for tools and surplus materials. It won’t make sense for a $9 hammer, but for the expensive, rarely-used stuff, sharing can save money, space, and reduce waste. Same thing as the 6 drywall panel that would end up in the bin that is now covering my living room. A depot could help with the pickup hassle too.

Thanks a lot for sharing, yes even if there is a lots of need, there is also a lot of issues when it comes to tool rental. I'm sad to see another one that might end up closing but or goal is to create a platform that will help these community to grow by simplifying their work.

I just update the logic and you will now be able to select all subjects if you prefer this way :)

Thanks and that sounds amazing, love the idea of mixing DIY classes with social events. We’re exploring ways to cover those kinds of risks, whether through small fees, deposits, or even shared insurance. You seems to truly love DIY and home improvements so if you had other ideas or you would to chat more about it, feel free to contact me at julien@patio.so!

Awesome!! Thanks for sharing :)

You're right, tools are a different game compared to cars or housing. That said, this means challenges that we're trying to solve. If it were easy, more people would already be doing it.

This is pretty cool, nice to know that this is commonly used in Sweden!

We will take a look and try to figure out of what is happening there, thanks for your feedbacks, it's really appreciated.

Thanks for the feedbacks! The local hub model makes a lot of sense, making it easier for folks to contribute tools without the day-to-day management. Its true that this is not for everyones tho but some folks are happy to rent out tools and connect with neighbors, others would rather drop them off once and forget about it. We're exploring ways to support both but the local hub idea fits that really well.

The FE us using React and styled-components. We're not using components-library, pretty much everything is customized for our needs.

Sorry it bothers you and others.

Yes, thrift store rocks but it's also easy to stack up tools we only use occasionally, they add up fast. We're planning to offer the same kind of base tools for free rental through the platform.

That's a really good idea. A community-run tool library with donations + a small monthly fee could be a game changer, especially in dense cities. It makes DIY more accessible without the cost or storage hassle. We'll certainly think about how this model could be implemented!!