Here are five top-rated basic home improvement projects books in the category of Home & Garden > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Repair as of the summer of 2009.
How Your House Works: A Visual Guide to Understanding & Maintaining Your Home by Charlie Wing (Paperback), 152 pages
When repairs are needed in your home, the question arises, “Can I make these repairs myself and how can I do it?” How Your House Works covers all the home systems elements such as foundation, framing, doors & windows, roofing, plumbing, electrical, heating and air-conditioning, and major appliances. It includes a sidebar containing, “Before hiring a professional” which helps you troubleshoot a repair or make the decision to hire a professional. Even if you hire a professional, you will know more about what it takes to make a repair and in a better position to control repair costs. Detailed color visuals and schematic diagrams are very helpful. Buyers of How Your House Works suggest that its topics are comprehensive and easy to follow. Readers who purchased the book have been able to successfully apply the information and actually do the repairs. You can purchase How Your House Works from Amazon. Highly recommended.
Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring: Upgrade Your Main Service Panel – Discover the Latest Wiring Products – Complies with 2008 NEC(Paperback), 352 pages
A note of caution – wiring mistakes can cause fires and major disasters so proceed with caution. Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring: Upgrade Your Main Service Panel is a good overview of how to do safe and correct wiring procedures with 2008 National Electrical Code. This book is designed for the beginner and includes details for planning and installing wiring with hundreds of photographs and illustrations and includes some common projects.
Typical projects covered are: computer networks, home theater systems, and security systems to name a few. The technical aspects of installing electrical circuits is covered but not enough to wire your whole house. One reader compared Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring: Upgrade Your Main Service Panel to Wiring a House by Pros for Pros and found Black & Decker Complete Guide to Wiring is a better book. Another reader successfully followed the instructions for replacing fuses in their main fuse panel. If you are beyond basic house wiring or need help with NEC-compliance, another reader recommends Wiring a House by Rex Cauldwell. You can purchase from Powell’s Books. Highly recommended.
Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: with 350 Projects and 2000 Photos, (Hardcover), 560 pages
You may be tired of those small repairs that need to be fixed in your home that you have put off. Enter Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: with 350 Projects and 2000 Photos which covers projects for fixing leaky faucets, updating bath fixtures, missing caulk, or an annoying hole in your wall. It’s the handyman ‘cookbook.’ As the title suggests there are 350 projects with 2,000 photographs and includes step-by-step instructions, tool and material lists, and helpful repair hints.
There are three sections to the book. First section has interior repairs such as replacing windows. Exterior repairs are covered in the second section and includes exterior projects for adding curb appeal to your home. Home systems are covered in third section of the book and deals with electrical and plumbing. You will also find help for an unexpected plumbing emergency. It is a welcome addition in anyone’s bookcase. Find Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: with 350 Projects and 2000 Photosat Barnes and Noble. Highly recommended.
Reader’s Digest New Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything In and Around Your Home(Hardcover), 448 pages
Are you having a problem with your mixer or is your dishwasher not working? Broken garbage disposal or refrigerator ice maker? This self-help resource book assists you in saving time and money to diagnose home repair problems and includes over 3,000 illustrations. One reader comments that it makes a good housewarming gift. It can be purchased at Alibris. Highly recommended.
Insulate and Weatherize: Expert Advice from Start to Finish (Build Like A Pro) by Bruce Harley(Paperback), 208 pages
If you need to make your home cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter and need help in selecting the right insulation, then this expert advice book for a do-it-yourselfer is for you. Bruce Harley, an engineer, offers a wealth of knowledge in energy efficiency techniques based on his 10 years’ plus training of engineers in energy efficient home construction. His troubleshooting advice introduces the basics of air quality, insulation, and heat transfer principles to assist you in making your home well insulated and weatherized thereby saving you money on energy bills. Common problems of homes are: damage with moisture, and how to find and seal air leakage around windows and doors. These topics and others are covered in Insulate and Weatherize with 350 color photos and 35 drawings. So don’t let your money escape out the roof. You can purchase at Handyman Fix home repair. Highly recommended.
