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Even if you don't know a thing about home improvement this guide can walk you through many different situations step by step. I consider myself lucky to own this guide. The guide is straight forward and to the point, focusing not only on the steps to take, but also the precautions and pitfalls of projects. It also features a good introduction to Do-It-Yourself(D-I-Y), the tools, the mentality, and the safety.The only problem I had with this guide, is that it made some projects look easier then they actually are (sort of like home improvement shows on the television).I would recommend this guide to anyone who is thinking about home improvement but isn't sure whether to hire a contractor or attempt to D-I-Y. I would also recommend this guide to people who like using the internet to learn D-I-Y projects as published printings tend to be more reliable then internet "hearsay".
I refer to this book all the time. It actually helped me build my house and now it helps with maintenance and improvements. The instructions are clear, easy to understand, even for an inexperienced do-it-yourselfer.
using an earlier edition of this book, my husband and I built a three bedroom one bath addition to our home. I didn't know one end of a hammer from the other but the book was so clear in it's descriptions and illustrations that the project was completed beautifully. Just had to have the updated version for my use and to pass to the kids.
I didn't hesitate to get this book when I found out about it. I was turned on to Family Handyman Magazine years ago from a friend. I keep every issue. Excellent pictures and information, as usual from The Family Handyman. This book is my favorite go to book for home repair/improvement.
The 1973 version was one of the first things I bought when moving from a NY City apartment, where maintenance involved calling the super, to a 220 year old house previously owned by a succession of people who did it themselves and thought they knew what they were doing. Just buy the damned thing. Among other things: windows, doors, toilets, on and on.
I had no skills whatever at that point. And the house became mine in a way it wouldn't have had someone else done all the work. Every time a tradesman walked into our basement, his eyes would light up, and a sly smile would flash over his otherwise imperturbable countenance.
Like the morning on the day we were leaving for Kazakstan, and I went into the basement to find a new pinhole leak that I fixed within the hour so we could make our plane without shutting off the water to the whole house.This book saved me, conservatively, $15-20,000, and an enormous amount of aggravation. We had no money at all to hire these guys. So within a couple of years, I'd replaced the entire hot water circulating baseboards, most of the supply plumbing, a whole lot of knob-and-tube wiring, added GFCIs, put in new cartridge circulators north of the boiler, and replaced the hot water heater.
The revision makes it better. Even if all it does for you is let you talk intelligently with a contractor, it's more than worth it.
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