Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #202320 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Most do-it-yourselfers are part-timers and only a few are likely to attempt to build a house from scratch, but in this Popular Science reworking of the author's 1977 book, they will find everything they need to know about home construction and improvement. In clear text accompanied by tables, photographs and line drawings, DeCristoforo describes the basics and many options concerning, for example, site selection, tools and materials, foundation, frame, roof, walls and partitions, doors and windows, stairways, chimneys, flooring, plumbing, heating and electricity. This manual is an excellent guide to more limited projects, such as refinishing an attic or adding a room, for making repairs or for dealing knowledgeably with hired professionals. Of particular interest is DeCristoforo's advice for using maximum solar energy and minimum outside fuel consumption.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Customer Reviews

The must-have Builders Bible
After contracted builders let me down and stole my deposit, I decided to build an extension to my house myself. Having never built anything more than a kids playhouse, I went in seach of books to help. I'd taken out many from my local library, but they only gave brief explanations on various items--nothing from the ground-up. Then I bought this Housebuilding book--it is absolutely wonderful! It covers everything from footings and foundations, walls and sheathing, to the cupola on the rooftop in clear, concise grammer and very easy-to-follow illustrations. It gave me enough confidence to go ahead with my project and it turned out beautiful! Even though my extension is done, I've kept the book handy to help me with my next project--a new shed/workshop. Bottomline--if you want an all-in-one guide and straight forward instruction in quality building, this is definitely the best reference manual you could get.

Step-by-step
Put 'House Building' into Amazon Advance Search and you'll end up with over eight thousand titles, make it one word and you'll get a more manageable fifty plus. This book is one of the fifty and at the Amazon price for 702 pages I think this is an impressive buy. Luckily for the family I'm not going to attempt to build my own. I bought the book essentially for reference: I wanted something that explains (and reveals through Tom Webster's brilliant illustrations) how a home is constructed.

The twenty-nine chapters cover it all in what appears to be the basics for each area. If I was to built it myself though I reckon I would have a look at books covering some specific tasks like: framing, drywalls, flooring, plumbing or electrics. The author wisely recommends that for plumbing and electrics professionals are hired.

Other books I've seen about house building and DIY use photos to explain things. This book uses very attractive illustrations (nearly 800) which visually do a better job than photos and with the two column format all the information is very accessible. Perhaps it would have been better to include some sidebars about specific things: an illustration showing the range of nails and screws used, types of sandpaper and tapes etc.

For my reference needs I'm very impressed with this book. I'll be keeping it next to Francis Ching's classic Building Construction Illustrated.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Will this book teach you everything you need to know to build a house?
Will this book teach you everything you need to know to build a house? Yeah, pretty much.