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This is our bookworm. Here we reommend books we think will help you with your projects.

The first home Dave and I purchased was a fixer upper. We were young and did not have anyone in the family, or that we knew, who were handy. So, we learned just about everything we needed to know about remodeling our home by reading it in a book. At that time, there were not many books from which to choose. However if we were starting a project and needed help, the right book always seemed to show up.

Now it is the opposite, there are many, many books in which to choose. It can be mindboggling to say the least!

What we have done here is narrow the field down for you and list a few good “do-it-yourself" books.

The books here in the Bookworm have easy step-by-step instructions, which include plenty of drawings and/or photographs and are great for the novice homeowner.

If there is a project you are working on and the book on that subject is not here, contact us and we will suggest one that might help. We will continue to add to our bookworm.

Here are our bookworm categories:

Decks, Including Outdoor Kitchens

General Do-It-Yourself

Rekeying Locks

Mold

Repair and Maintenance

Sheds and Storage Units

Woodworking

Women's Home DIY: Covers All Rooms and All Projects

Decks, Including Outdoor Kitchens:

Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Decks: Updated 4th Edition, Includes the Newest Products & Fasteners, Add an Outdoor Kitchen (Black & Decker Complete Guide)by Editors of Creative Publishing
This book has great step by step instructions to make first time deck building easy. It gives you examples, easy to follow instructions and tells you what tools you need. We recommend you purchase this book before starting any deck building project

To Basic Deck Building Instructions

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General Do-It-Yourself:

Popular Mechanics has long been one of my most favored magazines for the amount of detail they delve into showing how things work. This book is no different. For the Do It Yourselfer, they have chapters on almost every imaginable subject and one of the few that covers security, infestation, rot and damp problems. These are subjects that are not usually covered.

Damp and rot are problems not usually discussed for liability reasons. Dampness and the resulting Mold was a problem was of major concern several years ago that has faded into the shadows. The problem is still there just not discussed as much.

Women's Home DIY: Covers All Rooms and All Projects by Haynes Author Kerrie Hanafin.

My wife loves this book because it has lots of pictures to clarify exactly what has to be completed in a step by step manner, rates the difficulty of each project, and even has a man joke every now and then.

Haynes also provides automobile repair manuals, which I have used for many years when repairing my cars. That is what sparked my interest in this book.

My wife and I both love the motto of this book! ?If you want something done, do it yourself?.

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Mold:

The Homeowners Guide to Mold by Michael A. Pugliese.
Several years ago at the height of the “black mold” crisis, we had a house for sale. The home inspection company came in and did an assessment. The imspector scared the home buyers to death by convincing them the place was full of mold and that they would be dead within 6 months.
This book provides a handy reference to determine exactly what mold is good and which is bad. Mold is everywhere even in our bodies. It lives in your intestines and helps you digest the food you eat.
We had that house retested by a more experienced company that specialized with these problems and they found nothing out of the ordinary. In this situation it helped to know the questions to ask before having problems. The original home inspection company was not certified to test for mold. His ignorance cost us money.
If you have any kind of mold problem, I strongly suggest you acquire this book.

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Repair and Maintenance:

Homeowner Basics Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide by Jodie Carter
This is one of those books that give you everything with pictures. It shows how things work and has drawings on how things fit together. You know that old saying ?a picture is worth a thousand words? well, this book supports that thought.
The book covers electrical, plumbing, flooring and painting. It also has some information about roofing, siding, windows and doors. This is an excellent reference material.
If you are just moving into your house and you are ready to undertake your first repair venture, this is an excellent book.

Readers Digest Comlete Do-It-Yourself Manual by Editors of the Family Handyman.
This book has been around since the early 1970?s and keeps being revised as the times change. It contains many classic storage projects.
It also is an excellent maintenance and repair book for the everyday stuff that comes up and needs to be repaired quickly, easily and economically.
It does not cover everything. But then again, what book could possibly cover it all? There are lots of details about how things fit together. It has excellent drawings of complete in-home systems like plumbing and electrical. It would be a good addition to your library,

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Sheds and Outside Storage Units:

How to build Small Barns & Outbuildings by Monte Burch
If you are considering building a storage shed in your back yard to store lawn mowers, weed eaters, edgers, tillers and/or leaf blowers, this is the book for you. Ot is an excellent choice to help guide you through the process. The building will not be big enough to put your car in. However, it will be big enough to store almost anything else.

The cost of building an out building yourself is cut at least in half by you building it and you have the satisfaction of knowing it is built right. I?m not saying that commercial building manufacturers are not good. I?m just saying you will know it was built with no shortcuts.

Looking at the online prices of sheds it would appear that:

The cheapest metal shed will cost upwards of $500;

Polyethylene sheds start at $299 for a 2 X 4 X 7 foot storage locker and $1,500 for a 10 x 8 X 8 foot storage locker and the door handles are extra; and

A custom built wood sheds can run $2,800 for a 16 X 12 x 6 feet high.
These may arrive as preassembled panels or built on you site, depends upon you location. Some custom ones even come assembled on the back of a wrecker and are simply dropped off. Most of these do not have permanent foundations.

Quick Guide: Storage Sheds: Step-by-Step Construction Methods by Jim Barrett
Are you ready to build the shed you have been wanting for a while, but afraid to start?
We recommend this book to help you start.
It is a great book to use as a reference when you build that shed. It has step by step instructions, which include everything you need to get you going and help with your project. It includes: checklists, diagrams, safety instructions and more.

Black & Decker The Complete Photo Guide to Sheds, Barns & Outbuildings: Includes Garages, Gazebos, Shelters and More (Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide) by Editors of Creative Publishing

This book has the step by step instructions, including pictures. If you are looking for shed plans, it gives you plenty.

To Building a Shed

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Woodworking:

The Complete Book of Woodworkng by Tom Carpenter
If you are interested in exactly how wood furniture is made then this is THE book. Originally I purchased this book to determine how rail and stile doors were made and found many interesting projects to work on that got my interest fired up.
This is an excellent reference guide for the woodworker that has or needs power tools.

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