2 comments about Everyday Home Repairs (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library).

1. I purchased a home in August and have used this book many times. Installed a new light in the basement, retrofit a kitchen light and hung a mirror in the bedroom all with the help of this book. Great pictures. Simple, easy to read instructions. I would highly recommend this as a house warming gift for any of your friends buying a home. Believe me, they'll need it.



2. halloween is a cinch compared to the megamystery of home improvement using this

1 comments about 1001 Ideas for Floors: The Ultimate Sourcebook: Flooring Solutions for Every Room (1001 Ideas).

1. This was a good book for flooring photographs. Each section of various types of floors had a brief description of the floor, mainly pros and a couple of cons. The rest of the section showed photos of the floor being addresses, like mosaic or ceramic tiles.
   
   The photographs were well done, but several pages in each section were devoted to 3" x 2" squares of a design with a one line description. It would have been helpful to know the name of the tile in the description. For example, on page 62-63, the description for (11) - grouted tiles in a spices color. No name of tile shown or the grout color used. NOT very helpful. This style of descriptions is throughout the book no matter what area of flooring is being described.
   
   I gave the book a 3 for the great photos, but found Design Ideas for Flooring a better option because it contained more information on selecting floors and why.

1 comments about Work Surfaces And Countertops.

1. Lots of good ideas for countertops in that remodeling project you are thinking about...

No comments about Preventive Maintenance for Multi-Family Housing.

4 comments about Fences, Gates and Trellises.

1. This book is excellent. It contains lots of ideas along with explanations and instructions. We built a great-looking fence in the front yard with no experience. We will use this wonderful reference again and again.



2. This is exactly the book that I was looking for. Lots of pictures, good writeup on how to get out there and do it. Nice section on fence repair. No seond thoughts on this one.



3. My husband and I got this book to make an inset board ("Good Neighbor" design) fence. Unlike the 25 other books I reviewed, this book explained EVERYTHING. Which nails (wood, fence design, hardware, etc.) are available and which work best in which application. The instructions for the fence were VERY clear. The book contained excellent descriptions and drawings for each stage of building our fence and gate. It also contained many lovely photos for inspiration. We needed no other explanation in building our fence but this book. Having never built a fence before we were finished in a weekend!



4. My husband and I got this book to make an inset board ("Good Neighbor" design) fence. Unlike the 25 other books I reviewed, this book explained EVERYTHING. Which nails (wood, fence design, hardware, etc.) are available and which work best in which application. The instructions for the fence were VERY clear. The book contained excellent descriptions and drawings for each stage of building our fence and gate. It also contained many lovely photos for inspiration. We needed no other explanation in building our fence but this book. Having never built a fence before we were finished in a weekend!

1 comments about This Old House Bathrooms: A Guide to Design and Renovation.

1. Steve Thomas knows his audience and has put together a really satisfying book. He not only covers the basics, but offers helpful advice on a wide variety of amenities for modern bathrooms with a historic feel. A great selection of pictures rounds out the book nicely, offering great examples and new design ideas for the homeowner looking to renovate. Highly recommended for beginner to intermediate renovators who are looking for design ideas and a general scope for their project.

2 comments about Making Kitchen Cabinet Accessories: Custom Designs for Space Savers and Organizers.

1. This book is loaded with ideas. Lots of pictures and drawings. It shows and explains how to make everything from cutting boards to movable islands. It is also loaded with instructions for many ways to organize the kitchen and pantry, like lazy susans, spice racks, appliance garage and stowaway island. A very useful book for someone looking for ways to improve their kitchen.



2. -
   This book offers ideas and instructions for building kitchen cabinet accessories and organizers. None of the projects are particularly new or ingenious, but some could be helpful if your kitchen is disorganized or short on space. Most are reasonably easy for anyone with average experience with basic hand tools and simple power tools to accomplish.
   
   Projects include:
   1) work space -- stand-alone cutting boards and chopping blocks, countertop inserts, permanent or movable islands, hideaway tables, drawer-mounted
   2) storage space -- door-in-door storage, pull-down racks, dummy-drawers, toe-kick drawers, stud-space cabinets, pantries
   3) appliance space -- appliance garages (with or without tambour door), microwave oven shelf, etc
   4) display space -- open shelves, glass shelves, plate racks, gallery railes, etc.
   5) organizers -- pullout shelves, corner cabinets, storage bins, garbage containers, can rotators, drawer organizers and partitions
   
   PROS:
   1) The construction projects include a materials list and exploded diagrams.
   2) Construction procedures are reasonably well documented.
   
   CONS:
   1) Some of the projects (such as the dummy drawer storage) simply tell you to go out and buy the organizer and install per the manufacturer's instructions. Not much help there, unless you hadn't thought of this idea before.
   2) All the projects are shown first, then the instructions are presented. If you want to refer back to the project description/photo, it may be several pages back. Descriptions and photos should have been presented with the instructions for that project immediately following.
   3) Photos are of actual installations. All are black & white only, and most look like they are simple snapshots, with such low contrast as to be difficult to see detail.
   4) The projects as shown look like they would be very out of place in a "nicer" home. Many would look out of place anywhere except a post-WW2 "cookie-cutter" home. (The designs are too simple and bland, and some of the ideas just do NOT scream "class." Fine woodworking skills might help, but if you're that good, you don't need this book.)
   5) Many of these space savers and organizers could be purchased easier -- and possibly cheaper -- than building them. And unless your construction skills are above average, AND you go beyond the basic design, the cheap plastic things from the local department or home improvement store might actually look and function better.
   
   While I WILL use a couple of the ideas from this book for my upcoming kitchen remodeling, it's is definitely NOT the ultimate book on this subject.
   
   BOTTOM LINE: Get some ideas from this book, but extend the construction plans or you'll end up with some really cheap-looking (though functional) space savers and organizers.
   -

No comments about Painting and Wallpapering for Dummies.

1 comments about Start-to-Finish Cabinets & Countertops (Ortho's All about).

1. This book has some tips that other books don't. It has a good section on how to apply veneer, and prepare the surface so the veneer sticks for years. The author has a lot of experience. It doens't cover how to build your own doors, the author has these made. But there are some suppliers now that sell doors separately. A good book to review for some practical, useful tips and hints, from someone who's actually done it for years. I found it useful. I wasn't really sure how to handle some parts of a kitchen cabinet rebuild, but this book gave me the answers.

2 comments about Hiring Contractors Without Going Through Hell: How to Find, Hire, Supervise, and Pay Professional Help.

1. I have found this book to be very enlightening. I am in the process of hiring a contractor, and this book opened my eyes to several steps that I need to take in order to protect myself and my investment. In particular, I found the sections on writing the contract and setting up the payment schedules to be helpful. There are a couple of improvements that could be made to this book to make it even more helpful. It should include more examples of contracts. The one full contract example the book includes is reduced to unreadable text size in order to save print, which makes it nearly useless as an example.

   Since the book was written pre-Web, it would benefit from being revised to include information on helpful websites. For example, the book provides the addresses and phone numbers of licensing bureaus for each state, but it would be nice to have a website address, too.

   All in all, this is a good starter book and has the potential to save you far more than its cost in troubles and headaches.




2. This book is an easy read and effective resource. The chapters on the contract, financing, and scams are well worth it. Helpful examples of forms in the Appendix (print is a bit small in the paperbook version).
   
   Use this along with What the experts don't tell you about building or renovating your home (may be reissued in 2008 with a new title).