Hi,
I am interested in learning about home building and I was wondering what books you would recommend to learn about all trades involved in building a house. FHB is great and the articles help me understand the different areas of homebuilding but a lot are too specific to help. In the past I’ve used amazon keyword searches with customer ratings and the customer who bought this book also bought this book to find good titles. The books by contributing authors to FHB I’ve also found to be quite good. While this method is good I am sure that I miss out on quite a few good books and searching for the books takes quite a long time.
I have heard good things about a pattern language. I read through this set of books which I thought were quite good:
Insulate and Weatherize: Expert Advice from Start to Finish by Bruce Harley
Drywall: Professional Techniques for Great Results by Myron R. Ferguson
Electrical Code Simplified Residential (Paperback)
by P. S. Knight Co. Ltd
Thanks,
MG
Replies
Design: to reinforce what you heard: a pattern language along with picture books of the style you're interested in.
Restoration/renovation, along with an overview of a lot of other stuff: Renovation, by Michael Litchfield, from Taunton.
Framing: something by Larry Huan, like the Very Efficient Carpenter, or his Habitat for Humanity book.
zak
"When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone." --John Ruskin
"so it goes"
Hi,
A Pattern Language is a BIBLE of design! A must have IMO but not much about building per se.
Carpenrty wise:
Finish Carpentry by Gary Katz
Door Hangers Bible (or what ever the new version is called) Gary Katz.
Carpenrty by Koel. Decent overview kinda trade school type book
Graphic Guides by Taunton are great. There's one for Frame, Finish and Site Layout. Great for those of us who are more visually oriented.
Advanced Framing by Journal of Light Construction
And last but far from least of my collection:
A Roof Cutter Secrets by Will Holladay
Impress your friends with a mastery of trigonometry! If you can cut a complex (or any roof) your well on your way to being a master carpenter!
Good Luck!
Al
Are you from Vancouver area/B.C.?
Knight was/is? an instructor at BCIT.Where are you located?
Phil,from Burnaby.
"If 'tis to be,'twil be done by me."
Yeah from Vancouver but living up in Scotland currently.
JLC has some good books, I have Larry Haun's Very Efficient Carpenter, and recently picked up a book put out by EEBA that related to my climate. They have a book for all climates, check them out at http://www.eeba.org. They have some neat stuff.
Thanks for your help.
Note: EEBA has more than one book, depending on what climate you live in--not one book for all climates. Just wanted to clarify that. Many of these books provide basic knowledge for any region, but it's important to know your local codes and what they will require.
Edited 10/25/2006 7:40 pm by SBerruezo
The above posts gave you some good books... One thing to realize though is that building is highly regional. For example, if I am not mistaken, in Larry Haan's book he talks about using solid timber for headers and trimmers at the sides of windows. These are west coast framing techniques. Here, on the east coast, we use built up multi ply headers - ie two 2x10s nailed together with a spacer. We also don't use trimmers on the sides of windows - we use jack studs. So, if I hired a framing crew and told them to use these techniques, it wouldn't go over too well at all. A building inspector might require me to get a written engineering analysis on the solid timber headers; $$$ and time wasted...
So, you need some actual on-site experience too. Find out if there is a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and go volunteer. Sometimes, the way they go about things is not the most professional, but generally, they build structurally sound homes with standard materials and techniques.
A few things, like electrical are much less regional.
Excellent points Matt!We tend to get a little geo centric in our building..obviously.. and forget that different regions have different concerns. Here in So. Cal. it's earthquake, FLA it woulde be wind shear from hurricanes. Northern latitudes more towards climate control. Of course it's much more varied than this but the point of one technique being universal could cause some problems.For instance I never knew about the built up headers. Now I've done this many times when timbers where short but not aware that it's "code" where you build.Al
Built up headers... It's not code, it's just what is always specified by engineers. Here, everything has to be engineered. If you want to use something else, the building inspectors can, and most often do ask for a sealed engineer's letter approving the alternate material/method. Engineers don't write sealed letters gratis... :-)
Hmm, Let me add Francis D.K. Ching's excellent Building Construction Illustrated to the titles already advanced here.
Five more books to keep you reading this winter:
Electrical Wiring Residential by Ray C. Mullin, published by Delmar
How to Design and Build Your Own House by Lupe DeDonno and Phyllis Sperling, published by Alfred A. Knopf
Plumbing a House by Peter Hemp, published by Taunton Press
Tile Your World by John P. Bridge, published by Mistflower Press
The Owner Built Home by Ken Kern, published by Charles Scribner's Sons
I have been thinking about buying Builder's Guide to Cold Climates: Details for Design and Construction by Joseph Lstiburek. It got a lot of good reviews a while back but I haven't seen anything about it lately. Anyone add that to the list? Or any of Joseph Lstiburek's other books to the list?
Thank you for all of the suggestions and information!! It will be a great help!
I don't think that the Taunton version has been updated, but you might check.But here are the latest editions.http://www.buildingsciencepress.com/books.asp?CatID=1But they have revised the areas and there is a new maritime area. You might be in it.http://www.buildingscience.com/designsthatwork/hygro-thermal.htmThe specs for it is give on that page.And if so they don't have maritime details, but recommend using Mix-Humid in the meantime.