August 1st, 2008 — Book Review, Handy Man
Have you ever dreamt about building your own home? This is a dream that thousands of Americans share, but the task itself can seem pretty daunting. Where do you begin and how on earth do you get the roof to stand up? George Nash answers all of these questions in his book, The Complete House Building Book. This is a must read for anyone interested in learning more about how homes are built or for those that may want to try to tackle this project on their own some day.
By keeping everything very simple and using incredibly detailed graphics, Nash literally walks the reader, step-by-step, through everything they will need to do to build their own home. Before we go any further, it is important to note that the book is geared towards those interested in building a frame home, as it does not cover other construction methods. You’re not going to find how-tos on fancy architectural elements here – just your standard home. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it is important to state the audience that this book is geared for.
All of that aside, this 704 page book has more than 1800 illustrations that clearly detail what you need to have and what you need to do to build a frame house. Although the pictures are in black and white, they are very well done and most are very clear. You will find a few that are in poor contrast, but that is most likely the fault of the publisher and not the author, so we really couldn’t find any fault in that.
Literally every aspect of building a home is covered here, from the initial stages of picking the right site, to making your own plan, to put the finishing touches on your landscaping, this is really the end all and be all of house building books. So many focus on only one area, but we were very happy to see that this was really a comprehensive guide.
This book is so useful that even carpenters take it along with them to job sites. You’ll learn how to frame out the house, build complex staircases as well as handling mistakes. We really appreciated the photos that detailed common errors as well as the advice on how to avoid those errors.
Overall, if you are looking to build your own frame house or if this is a dream you’d like to know more about, we highly recommend this book. It’s earned its place on the bookshelf of any builder or want-to-be builder and it is one that you will likely turn to again and again. We’ve got nothing but praise for this well written and informative book. Not only did it make it sound easy to build your own home, we found that it was very inspiring. People all over the United States have already put this book to good use, and we have to admit, we’re seriously considering building our own house now.
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June 27th, 2008 — Book Review, Project, Renovate
George Nash’s book, Renovating Old Houses - Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes is a wonderful resource for those of us that are living in aging homes. If you’re trying to recapture your home’s fading glory or you just need some tips on how to easily fix common issues in older homes, this is a terrific resource that is well worth the purchase price.
Before Nash gets into the actual projects, he provides the reader with some different philosophies and mindsets when it comes to renovating older homes. There are definitely purists out there that will only use old materials and techniques to fix up their homes, while there are those who will use new materials and change them so that they fit the character of the house. You’ll be able to use this section to determine which techniques and materials you should be using for your home as well as some useful workarounds if you can’t match something perfectly.
It should be noted here that there is definitely a difference between renovating and remodeling. When you’re renovating, you’re preserving the heritage of the home - remodeling is usually associated with modernization. While there is nothing wrong with remodeling, this book focuses mainly on keeping with a home’s original traditions and renovating it for restoration purposes.
Part of the best part of this book is that it is useful even for those who aren’t quite ready to tackle their own home improvement projects, but are interested in buying an older home for the purpose of fixing it up. Older homes are usually much cheaper, but there are some warning signs that you’ll need to look out for when buying it. Nash gives some great hints on how to get an inspection and how to find an older home that won’t turn into a money pit.
After the preliminaries are out of the way, Nash gets down to business with ten chapters that cover some of the most common renovations you can try with an older home. The best part of these chapters are definitely the color photos which make it easy to see what the project entails and how your house will look when you’ve completed the projects. Again, if you’re a fan of old homes, but not really handy, you’ll still get plenty of enjoyment out of the book for the pictures alone.
Necessary things such as handling cellars that are frequently breeding grounds for mold and mildew. Older homes tend to have issues with this, especially in humid climates, but you’ll get plenty of information to help you fix these issues quickly. You’ll also learn about fixing little things, like rotting window sills and how to replace the windows with newer and more efficient windows without losing the original charm of the older windows.
Sewage systems are also covered and this is very important for any older home. You’ll need to know how to bring everything up to code, from water lines to sewage lines and this book will walk you through everything you could ever want to know about fixing up an old home the right way.
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