The Vine: August 31, 2007
Sars:
My partner and I just bought a house (which, for the moment, in the State of Maryland, is the closest he and I can get to any kind of legal marriage, only really, I guess, we’re married to the house — making us now gay polygamists. Do you remember the woman who married the Berlin Wall? We’re like that, only with fewer umlauts. But I digress) and neither of us are what you’d call “handy” guys.
I’m curious if you or your readers had any suggestions for “how-to” books that are both comprehensible and thorough. I checked out the Popular Mechanic’s Complete Home How-To from the library — and that may be the perfect book, only I don’t know, and I’m sure at some point we’re going to have to hammer something on a day we can find no handyman, and it would be nice to have a book nearby to walk us through it.
Thank you in advance. In lieu of magnets or pencils, you can just send a mortgage payment or two.
“What Happens If We Put A Nail In This?”
Dear [Beat]…[Crash!]
The only even marginally relevant book I have in the house is Use This Book, which…isn’t really relevant at all, now that I think about it (but it’s still kind of fun).
Let’s see what the readers have to add.
Tags: Ask The Readers home 'n' garden
I picked up a book at a friends house once that would be just the ticket I think it was this one http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Just-About-Everything-Ehow/dp/0007172303/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/203-2062672-0779908?ie=UTF8&qid=1188574498&sr=1-10 although I seem to recall the one i read having a maroon cover. It will have the basics of what you need, and of much that you won’t need.
Hope that helps.
p.s. sorry about the long url. I don’t know how to make it small. Tips on that would be good too.
I highly recommend “The Virgin Homeowner: The Essential Guide to Owning, Maintaining and Surviving Your Home” — it’s a fun guide to everything housey from the inner mysteries of plumbing and electrical systems to security, insects, maintenance and everything in between. It’s a pretty entertaining read, actually. Good luck!
Theory and practice are two different things when it comes to home remodeling, as I’m quickly finding out. My recommendation to Nail is to try and attend how-to workshops at the local Home Depot or Lowe’s to get your hands dirty. If the thought of a warehouse store gives nail the hives, there’s a chance that if their local hardware store is worth their mustard, they’d be willing to walk you through the basics, actually having hands on practice instead of reading it from a book. Also, and this might not be true in some areas, adult education centers or continuing education centers sometimes offer classes or one off classes in hands-on home improvement.
Sadly, I can’t recommend any books because my husband is a trial and error home-improvement guide and big how-tos give him hives, or that’s what he’s convincing me of…
I’ve scoped through many, many home how-to guides myself when my less than handy friend bought his first place and I found the Popular Mechanic’s Complete Home How-To to be the best one. I was taught by my Dad how to do a lot of this stuff in the midst of many projects (my last vacation was spent insulating and drywalling the garage), and I like the Popular Mechanics book better than the rest.
‘Nail it’ already knows this from having seen it, but it has step-by-step directions including lots of pictures for the more difficult stuff. Between that and DIY’s website, you guys should be set.
And hey, if the guys are ever short a handyman, I’m a handywoman in the DC metro area that could help out. I could use being able to actually put these skills to good *paying* use. (I may have bought my buddy that book so that he wouldn’t have to bother me anymore- hee!)
autiger23- queen of roofing, framing, drywalling, insulating, painting, stripping, sanding, staining, varnishing…but always hire a pro for plumbing and electrical work (and try to get a union guy for the electrical especially).
This Old House (www.thisoldhouse.com) has a website that looks pretty comprehensive, with articles on projects and tools and stuff, as well as forums. They have a couple of books out, at least one of which I’ve seen kicking around my parents’ house, and I know back in the day my dad subscribed to their magazine. The show is still on TV, too, on PBS and DIY. I think those guys have a pretty good reputation, and they certainly seem to know what they’re doing, so that might be a good place to start.
Home Depot has a great book, called something like “Home Improvement 1-2-3”. Covers everything from hanging a picture to fixing plumbing or drywall. Was very handy when I sold my house & had to do mass fix-ups. Lowe’s has one too but I like HD’s better.
I like Dare to Repair.
Everything I know about handyman stuff I learned at Home Depot. Seriously! They hold demos all the time for different projects, and even if you don’t think you’re ready to tackle those kinds of big projects, you can learn a lot from watching a compentent person handle a hammer, or drill, or saw, or whatever, and the instructors are friendly and will talk to you afterward. They always sell books there too — look for the big rack of 8-1/2 x 11 softcover books on every topic — I learned about wallpapering, faux painting, drywall repair, and wiring from those books. The best lesson I learned is that most of this stuff is not that hard, and your first task is to get past your own fear. I have a contractor for installing windows and stuff like that, but little stuff, you just have to dive in!
The Virgin Homeowner: The Essential Guide to Owning, Maintaining, and Surviving Your Home by Janice Papolos is a good place to get an idea of everything in the house – the systems and such.
The Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair, ISBN 978-1589231818 is also very useful – you can see all of the steps for what needs to be done. Probably more what you’re looking for.
We have had good luck with the readers digest home repair books, it is enough to cover the basic things and if it is not in there with good instructions that is when you hire someone. You can find it on amazon – New Fix-It-Yourself Manual: How to Repair, Clean, and Maintain Anything and Everything in and Around Your Home by Reader’s Digest Editors.
Home Maintenance For Dummies and Home Repair For Dummies. I know, I know, I don’t love plunking down money for a book that insults me in its title either, but when it comes to tools, I am a dummy. And these books are very well written and easy to understand.
Popular Mechanics is good. Home Depot also has a good one that’s more “projecty.” Honestly though, in this day and age, you can really go online and google a job (ie toilet repair instructions) and voila! Pictures. Instructions. Including “ingredients” for the job. Places like Home Depot and Lowes also have workshops from time to time and while they’re mostly geared toward women, I’m sure there are some general ones also.
Where are you in MD? We are in MD and the proud owners of a 155 year old home (aka the money pit). I don’t have any recommendations on books but we have found great tips and information by watching Hometime and Ask This Old House on your local PBS stations. They offer information on a variety of projects and you get to watch them use the tools properly. You will want to set your DVR to grab them for you. They are usually on at weird times. We’ve also flipped through This Old House magazine. Good tips and information for old and new construction. If your place is old, an excellent on line resource is: http://www.oldhouseweb.com. They have local message boards as well as resource listings.
Bought my first house nearly two years ago, it’s an old fixer-upper and my absolute, never-steered-me-wrong-yet, even-my-very-handy-Dad-learned-some-new-techniques book for home repair is “The New Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair” published by Black & Decker. This is the one with the red cover, there is a similar book with a blue cover that we didn’t feel was as good.
This book is very comprehensive and includes detailed photos. I’ve used it to replace electrical fixtures, install flooring, interior and exterior painting, make plumbing repairs, install crown molding, etc etc etc. It’s also been very helpful in deciding when we need to call in the calvalry and hire a professional because we can read the instructions and decide if it’s something beyond our comfort–and then we have a reference point when a contractor gives us quotes.
Good luck!
autige23- do you have contact info? i don’t have any projects at the moment, but i live in DC and would love to have the number of a great handyman on hand.
I had the worst experience trying to get help from local hardware stores. I went to two different stores to get advice on hanging a really heavy mirror. I went in thinking, “these are small, independent hardware stores where the people know what they’re doing and would be happy to help a young person who wants to become self sufficient in minor home repair/improvements” well, i was totally wrong. Both places told me that I should just ask the super in my building to do it and that it would be a “waste” for me to buy a drill. Ugh! I finally had to borrow a drill from a friend and cobble the instructions together from information online (thank you google)… I don’t know if its because I’m a woman or what, but I found it really difficult to get help from local hardware stores. Next time, I’m sad to say, I’ll be heading to a big chain.
If you need help and you live near Bethesda (You, too, Monica), Strosnider’s has excellent people who will tell you what to do and what to buy. The biggest problem is that the parking lot is a madhouse and that there are almost always more people who need help than there are people to help them. I used to live in a very crummy apartment and was over there a lot getting advice on plumbing and repairs. They are not cheap but it is better than buying something at BigBoxStore that is poor quality and having to re-do the job 6 months later.
I’ve also had them re-wire lamps for me and they did a great job for not too much money.
I do wish that I could find a good and honest handyperson, though. Sometimes you just want someone to take care of things.
I, too, have the Reader’s Digest books but I’m definitely going to look at the reader’s recommendations. One can never have too many books, right?
I strongly recommend the Readers Digest “How To Fix Almost Everything”
It has been a life saver to me and can be picked up in any bookstore. They upgrade it on a regular basis to account newer technologies…including fixing appliances, simple builds and building repairs and even how to repair jewelry.
More recs for both Dare to Repair and the Home Depot Home Improvement 1-2-3 book. The former is great about listing all the tools you’ll need for a project (including “a buddy” if necessary), and also has tips for how not to wreck anything else while you’re making a fix–for example, if you’re gouging old caulk out of the tub, protect the surrounding tile with a couple strips of painter’s tape. No scratches! Genius!
The latter has exhaustive photo illustrations of every tool you could think of, so you can sound informed at the hardware store. My brother-in-law gave this to me for Christmas the year I bought my house; we refer to it informally as “The Big Book of Don’t Call Me”.
Oh, and a third idea: if a project looks really ominous, chat with the neighbors and see if they can recommend handyfolk. My whole block–all 1940s homes–seems to be coming due for sewer line repair/replacement within the past 18 months, ugh…but we’re all in it together, at least.
Black & Decker complete photo guide to Home Repair. walks you through everything! with pictures! so you don’t have to know what the thingamajig is, just what it looks like!
Someone mentioned the demos at Home Depot. I second that, for sure. They’re fun, and they’re informative. And, the people giving them are just regular people and they understand that you probably don’t know what the hell you’re doing, so they put everything in simple terms.
My SO and I went with our best friends and learned to tile… and we tiled our best friends’ new bathroom. It was awesome!
I second the suggestion to attend How-To clinics at Home Depot. I have also found the Home Depot published book, Home Improvement 1-2-3, to be helpful, with clear instructions and photos or drawings to accompany each step.
That being said, for more specific instructions from a real live person, you are nearly always better off going to a small, privately owned hardware store rather than those big monster stores. You’ll get better advice and more attention, and the store won’t be filled with people who were only hired for their ability to stock and scan hardware items rather than understand them. They can probably recommend an even better book!
I recommend Against the Grain: A carpentry manual for women by Dale Mccormick, which I used when I renovated some spaces in the attic of an old barn in Maine for me and my then nine-year-old son to live in. I had only the most basic tools and no one to help me with the heavy stuff. The instructions are practical and designed for people who know little or nothing about building, renovating, or repairing. One of the things I did, following her instructions, was to reframe an entryway and then rehang the door! Dale Mccormick is the first woman to complete an apprenticeship with the carpenter’s union and was appointed Maine State Housing Commissioner in 2005. She has another book, which I haven’t looked at it, but it’s probably also good. They are both available used on Amazon, and if you just bought a house, you probably want to spend as little as possible on anything else, right?
I personally am going to buy “House Smarts” when I can actually afford a house. I got it out of the library on a whim with a whack of home repair books, and it was the best of the lot. Very well-written and informative. Although it did make me feel guilty about all the maintenance we let slide because we rent.
Also, if you are in the area – Montgomery College offers basic repair classes. I’m taking three this semester – plumbing, electricity and flooring. Each runs for a Saturday or two. No idea how they are yet though, obviously.
Since you’ve bought a house, Nail, you are going to need some tools as well. You can get pretty far without power tools, but you’re going to be putting holes in walls, tightening and loosening things, etc.
You need: 3-4 screwdrivers of each Phillips and Flathead,
1-2 adjustable wrenches. (You don’t need the monkey wrench unless you’re doing plumbing or need a melee weapon for home defense.– also, don’t go for novelty wrenches, the traditional work fine, and you’re going to bang your knuckles either way.)
A set of Allen (hex) wrenches– it’s generally cheap to get both metric and english in the same set, so what the heck.
A bubble level. (These come in many sizes– start with the one you can put in a drawer and has some convenient right-angles, and maybe a 45-degree angle.)
A studfinder. (You can find wall studs with your knuckle, but this is the 21st century, and besides, your knuckles will be banged-up from the wrenches, above.)
A tack hammer (I’d love to say claw hammer but you’re more likely to want a small-headed tack hammer with its magnetic grip on your tacks/nails, vs. having to pull nails out with the claw.)
Maybe a rubber mallet. It delivers soft but firm blows to things you don’t want to bend by hitting them with a heavy metal hammer.
gaffer’s tape. It’s the new duct tape.
These tools will get you through repairing drawers, cabinets, minor sink adjustments, doors, hanging anything on walls (no tape– you are a grown-up and it’s time to frame everything if you haven’t already) etc.
Get advice on electrical stuff, plumbing stuff, and demolition stuff. Exception: anything in the toilet-tank is stuff you can do. Good luck!
I fourth the “Black & Decker Complete Guide to Home Repair” one. My engineer dad recommends it, which is good enough for me and then some. I never needed it with my condo, but it’s my go-to home book.
(Also, I totally thought that picture of Ty Pennington on the home page was the harbinger of the oft-promised new GBC entry, so I am am HIGHLY DISAPPOINTED to find out it’s just useful stuff like The Vine.)
I know, I know. I suck. But now that Wing actually lives here, I feel as though I might have to change the format a bit, and I haven’t figured out how yet.
“Do you remember the woman who married the Berlin Wall?” What? I’m 21–maybe this was before my time. Can someone explain that please??
I adore the Home Depot Home Improvement 1-2-3 book…it’s a great reference that covers all of the basic stuff you’ll be bound to run in to, has good descriptions of what’s involved, and has nice pictures that are very helpful. I believe that Home Depot has a whole range of books, like “Plumbing 1-2-3,” etc., but the Home Improvement 1-2-3 one is a good start. GOOD LUCK!!!!
First off — thanks to everyone for the great book suggestions. Once we’ve unpacked and mainlined Excedrin, I’ll be heading to the library to give them a test-spin before committing.
Secondly, for my Maryland peeps, we moved into the Twinbrook neighborhood of Rockville (cf Rockville, Don’t Go Back To). Or, actually, will have moved come 9/1.
Thirdly, for badkittyuno: Here’s a link that explains the woman who married the Berlin Wall: My Dear Berlin Wall.
Try “The Movable Nest” by Tom Schneider. It’s out of print and the prices are way dated, but it’s written for totally unskilled renters, so the advice is extra-thorough and clear, and most of the projects are reversible or easy to repair. There’s also an emphasis on saving money via knowing good design when you see it, and found materials.
I have a book titled “Home Repair” from Sears (so I’m sure you can find it fairly easily at Sears) that has pictures and step-by-step SIMPLE, but not insulting, instructions for just about everything. I’m not particularly handy, but I fake it well with this book.
Home Depot’s Home Improvement 1-2-3 is the first thing I look at anytime I have to do anything around the house. That book taught me how to rewire light fixtures, outlets, switches, change out faucets, etc. You also get a feel for what’s going to be too hard to do yourself.
Also: Chix can Fix. I got it for xmas and its awesome.
Oh! I see that you are in Montgomery County! You are in luck then — Montgomery College offers the BEST non-credit do-it-yourself classes. I’d link, but unfortunately the college website sucks serious ass. Fees are about $200, but they are totally worth it. TOTALLY. You get handouts with instructions, hands-on demo, and an instructor who’ll answer questions about whatever projects you have. I’ve taken and can recommend the plumbing and electrical courses, and I have my eye on the drywall class. I know you wanted books, but I can’t recommend these courses enough.
I find that the best way to get advice on how to do stuff is to go to a small (or small-ish chain) hardware store and look for the old guy. The old guy has seen/ done/ fixed it all, and no one appreciates the wisdom he’s accumulated.
That being said, Home De(s)pot’s 1-2-3 books are a good start.
Hey! You are like ten minutes away. Welcome to the neighborhood! I am currently living behind the Mall (Montgomery, not White Flint) but am desperately hoping to move very, very soon.
I am seriously considering taking those classes that Jen and Katxena mentioned. I’ve taken a cooking class and French class through the county program but it has been a while and I sort of forgot about them since they stopped mass-mailing out the brochures. I’ve never taken with MC but it is a pretty good school.
I have both the Home Depot and the Reader’s Digest books, and I tend to look at both of them whenever I’ve got a project to do. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, so it’s helpful to play them off one another if the instructions in one are at all unclear. If you really just want one book, I’d give Reader’s Digest a slight advantage.
And Bronte: http://www.tinyurl.com