Paperback 8 1/8 x 10 7/8 in. 640 pages with 1600 drawings
Published 2009 ISBN 978-1-60085-246-6 Product #071297
Here's the updated and enlarged third edition of our classic reference on how to choose systems and materials for every part of a home.
With brand new chapters on transforming a home with green practices and creative storage solutions -- plus the latest code information and over 400 new full-color illustrations -- this up-to-the-minute, enhanced edition will become an essential resource for your building library.
Designed for do-it-yourself homeowners, as well as builders, contractors and architects, The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling is the authoritative, go-to reference manual for anyone involved in residential design and construction. In fact, earlier editions of this classic guide have sold over 250,000 copies.
With its unique visual approach and over 1,600 full-color drawings, this new, expanded edition provides you with a clear, detailed look at every aspect of home construction -- and built-in systems. So you can visualize exactly how to tackle any building project or construction challenge.
And, in addition to its user-friendly graphic presentation, you'll also appreciate the clear, straightforward language that gives you everything you need to get going.
Here are just a few reasons why you'll want to pick up a copy of this new edition.
- It's chock full of new material with lots of essential information not included in earlier versions
- Over 400 new full-color drawings shed light on a wide range of additional materials, systems and details
- New chapters on energy-efficient green building practices and innovative storage solutions
- Over 1,600 drawings -- in total -- cover every aspect of home building and remodeling
- Over 300 tables offer quick access to critical data
About the author
Charlie Wing, an authority on home building and remodeling, specializes in translating technical information into layman's terms. He founded the nation's first owner-builder school, called the
Shelter Institute. He's also written and hosted a national PBS TV series about remodeling and is the author of 14 home-related books, including
How Your House Works.
Twenty years ago I proposed to Rodale Press a "visual handbook for small builders and do-it-yourselfers." In my opinion, I told them, such a book could sell 50,000 copies and might, with periodic revision and addition, enjoy an indefinitely long life.
"Let's just see how the first edition sells," was their dubious but predictable reply. (They later confided that they expected the book to sell only 5,000 to 10,000 copies.)
It turned out my gut instinct was right. In fact, I was so right I was almost wrong! The first edition sold not 50,000 but 200,000 copies and, at age seven, was showing little sign of slowing.
Eight years later Reader's Digest purchased the book and issued a second edition with an additional 100 pages containing:
- span tables for US and Canadian lumber
- checklists of building code requirements
- a catalog of metal framing aids
- design standards for access
- three times as many framing details
The Reader's Digest edition sold an additional 100,000 copies. In reading the Amazon reviews, I discovered that, in addition to small builders and do-it-yourselfers, people who were finding the book useful included home inspectors, energy auditors, codes officials and vocational instructors.
Ten years later I am thrilled that Taunton Press -- arguably the foremost publisher of building books -- has agreed to publish a third edition, this time in large format and full color. In addition to bringing the previous content up to date, the 56-percent larger third edition adds information on:
- sustainable ("green") building
- storage options
- the International Residential Code
But let me go back and tell you why I felt compelled to create the handbook in the first place.
"Building a house requires thousands of decisions based on a million bits of information." This was the opening line of my lectures to thousands of potential owner/builders attending my three-week courses at Shelter Institute and, later, Cornerstones.
Teaching that course, and a precursor "physics of the house" seminar at Bowdoin College, taught me how to convey technical building information to people who are not professional builders. I put that training to work in five previous books, which covered every aspect of building, from retrofitting insulation to a drafty old house in House Warming, to siting, planning, and constructing a house from the ground up in Breaking New Ground.
But still, something was missing. I'd written all I had to say about designing and constructing a house, but I hadn't thoroughly covered the topic of what to construct a house of. What's more, it didn't seem to me that anyone else had, either. There was, and is, a plethora of technical literature for architects and structural engineers, but there was no thorough guide for people without formal technical training. The fact is, the majority of people who actually lay their hands on building materials -- tradesmen, owner/builders, and do-it-yourselfers -- are not trained architects or engineers. These people needed a book just as thorough as the ones the architects use but that also offered explanations, formulas, and charts that would make the information accessible. The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling, I believed, would be that book.
Naturally, in my previous books, I discussed materials in the context of how to install them, as have most other how-to writers. But the Visual Handbook focuses on the materials themselves. Its purpose is to enable one to decide how much of which material of what size should be used for any given house on any given site. Some how-to-install information is included because the way materials are used is often relevant in deciding which materials to use. However, the how-to is incidental to the what-to, instead of the other way around. For example, the chapter on siding discusses the pros and cons of each type of siding, from clapboards to vinyl, so you can make an informed decision about which is best for your particular site and climate. But it also illustrates construction details, to help you decide which will work best on your particular house.
I could see right away that this had to be a highly visual book. Nowhere is the saying, "A picture (or drawing, in this case) is worth a thousand words," more true. Further, there is no way words could describe, for example, every standard molding profile. It is possible, however, to show for each the full-scale cross-section.
Three things have made it possible for me to create this visual handbook. The first is software for illustrating (Adobe Illustrator) and desktop publishing (Quark and InDesign) that enabled me to create illustrations without training and camera-ready pages without being a printer. The second is that I am an information pack rat, a looter of lists, a burglar of booklets, a swiper of spec sheets. The third is the willingness of manufacturers and trade associations to let me adapt their diverse materials to a uniform format.
In the accretion of building information I am insatiable. No builder, no hardware clerk, no sawyer in the backwoods, not even architects are spared my quest. I raid their files, their bookshelves, and their minds. Over the years I have accumulated the best of what they found useful in the actual building of houses: tables, lists, government pamphlets, manufacturers' literature, building-trade association publications, even instructions from a package of asphalt shingles. And now there is the internet and Google! Now I can sit at my computer and search for and download information that used to require road trips and photocopies.
The result is a book that should be useful to anyone who puts his or her hands on building materials or hires others who do so. If you hire a builder, you won't be limited to his preferences but will be able to take a more active role in deciding what materials to use. If you are an owner/builder, this book should complement the how-to books containing step-by-step instructions. And if you are a tradesman, I hope that you will keep a copy behind the seat of your truck for easy reference.
By the way, the opening line of my owner/ builder course proved to be a bit off the mark. According to the computer, The Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling now contains 59.7 million bytes of information.
Charlie Wing
Bath, Maine
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