Resent-Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 15:14:53 -0500
Sender: Larry Stone <lcs@DEFIANT.MIT.EDU>
Date: Fri, 12 Jan 2001 15:14:53 EST
From: Larry Stone <lcs@MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: <lcs@MIT.EDU>
To: elbow-joints@haven.org
Subject: Re: how-do-to-it books
In-Reply-To: Your message of Fri, 12 Jan 2001 14:53:15 -0500 (EST)
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>    If anyone has a general
>    reference book that they recommend, I'd love to hear about it.

I've found my ancient (70s) edition of the Readers' Digest how-to book
(the yellow one, vs the blue one for appliances) a surprisingly good
resource; it's got good basic background information.  The newest
edition is probably even better.

The "Sunset" series of topical paperbacks (e.g. concrete, plumbing) is
also quite good, get the one relevant to your project.

City and town libraries can be a treasure trove of more heavy-duty
resources.  Audel publishes a series that are essentially textbooks for
the trades.  You can read the same book that the guys who installed your
aluminum siding learned from, at least if they were literate (not sure
about mine!).

OBTW, I second Linda's recommendation on Taunton's _Wiring a House_.
I think they have a plumbing book by that writer too.  Taunton is usually
a good bet, although their topical books of _fine homebuilding_
reprints have very spotty coverage, since it's just a bunch of articles.
I was also not impressed by the Taunton "Renovation" book (forget the
exact title), though it was better than Bob Vila's..

How is the Home Despot book?  I'm instinctively suspicious of anything
they sell, since it could be "how to renovate your home using only the
crappy supplies we sell", like many of the Radio Snack books.

    -- Larry

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