Q: I'm hoping to find a great book (or magazine) on home remodeling for my husband for Christmas. After renting our whole lives, my husband and I are buying a charming dump of a house with the goal of fixing it up as a project over the next several years. The house will need significant work, from plumbing to flooring, and my husband wants to do as much as possible of it himself.
He's a mechanical and electrical engineer and a serious hobbyist with a fair amount of building experience, including helping friends renovate their houses, but this will still be the biggest project he's ever tackled - so what I'm looking for is something geared towards the skilled newbie, with technical and practical advice on things like installing dry wall or putting in tile, etc.
Sent by Summer
Editor: Please share your book recommendations with Summer in the comments below - thanks!
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I would suggest Reader's Digest Complete Do It Yourself Manual. My husband and I have been slowly remodeling our "fixer upper" and have found this book invaluable. It has a section in it for about everything we've attempted so far.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Do-Yourself-Manual-Completely/dp/0762105798/ref=pd_sim_b_1
Two large renovations projects have taught us a lot about such initiatives, and we're about to take on another. It can be done, even while working full time jobs. Maintaining your sanity must be the top order of business, so prepare yourselves well to complete the entire project or phases within practical limits and with flexibility for, pardon my bluntness, tragedy. Keeping a balance of inspiration and bloody knuckles is increasingly challenging the further into a project you get. Get that pile of how-to, idea, feng shui, going green, small space books. Dream. Start imagining (eyes closed—no peaking) what you desire. Also, time spent imagining each aspect of your projects will yield valuable insights and may help you avoid some gotchas and regrets. Then strap on the tool belt (consider it as integral to your wardrobe as, say, shoes) and crawl into that creepy, smelly, crawl space to begin the project from the ground up. Best of luck!
I came here to post the exact same suggestion as jayhwkgrl. My father, who renovated an enormous barn into a beautiful home by hand with the help of that book, gave a copy to us when we bought our 1910 colonial and it is indeed an invaluable resource. The writers do a great job breaking down complicated tasks and explaining various materials and tools and the illustrations are top-notch.
I swear by the Black and Decker series. Great 'cut away' photos and clear descriptions of many common household problems and solutions. Very thorough. I would start with the Home wiring and plumbing books. They also have a Complete home repair book. Just make sure you buy the complete books, which are volumes one and two combined.
another vote for the Reader's Digest!
oh, and This Old House has a great bunch of books/mags, as well as a website (www.thisoldhouse.com) with great ideas and instructions, really excellent info for older homes.
Thanks for the brilliant idea for a gift! We're almost a year into a 1944 bungalow reno and there really isn't much else we think about these days!
Great question! I'm saving this post.
lots of great old (and new) books on this topic at local libraries -- that's where i started my search.
@modified_tubesock, Yes, public libraries are a convenient way to test drive a book, and free if their materials are returned undamaged and on time. If you borrow a book that you like so much that you want your own copy for future easy reference, then go online. You often can find a newer edition of it, often for half price if you buy a used copy.
Our two standbys are the Reader's Digest Complete DIY (mentioned about) and Renovation by Taunton press. They cover slightly different topics and have rather different styles, so they complement each other well.
jayhwkgrl's suggestion - the Reader's Digest is nice to read on the couch and get an overview. Then we follow up by watching videos on This Old House or on youtube!
My husband and I bought a fixer-upper and did most of the work ourselves and the book you have pictured was our go-to guide! We got it accidentally as a gift shortly before buying and it proved to be a great tool. That and the internet ;)
My husband and I bought a fixer-upper and did most of the work ourselves and the book you have pictured was our go-to guide! We got it accidentally as a gift shortly before buying and it proved to be a great tool. That and the internet ;)
When I owned an old house, this book was invaluable - Your Old Wiring.
Seriously, even putting in a dimmer switch was an exciting adventure in deconstructing someone else's thought process - knob and tube connected to aluminum with tape etc.
This book is awesome, especially if you already have a general understanding of electricity. (I'm an electrical engineer too.)
Other books will tell you how to do it in perfect conditions, this one helps you to fix what you see. (And when not to even try...)
Thanks guys!
To more specifically answer your question, I would offer this very useful reference: The Apple Corps Guide to the Well-Built House, by Jim Locke. 1988. Subtitled "Everything you need to know before you have a new house built or an old one remodeled." ISBN 0-395-43042-9. The Foreword, written by Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder, is a good plug for his book, House, an engaging and well told story about house building.