Home & Interior Design books:
The Complete Guide to Doors & Windows (Black & Decker)

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fresh air -
This review comes from a certified non-handy guy with minimal practical skills. I was fortunate enough a year ago to discover a fine window guy. As a result, we have excellent Pella window replacements in our 1930 Indiana home.

I bought this book to help me with next steps: specifically, what do do about our crumbling main entrance way and our on-again, off-again internal doors. It all has charm, you understand. The problem is it only works half the time.

Before I make the investment in these next steps, I want to understand my options, what portions of it I might remotely hope to do myself, what I'm in for if I hire an external expert to do the work.

THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO WINDOWS AND DOORS has helped me on every one of those fronts. In addition, it's just a handsome book with lots of good illustrations and well-written text.

We're not talking Dostoyevsky here. You'll need to go elsewhere for great literature. But I doubt the old Russian was much good with windows and doors, anyway.

This book is a keeper.

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Weekend carpenter installing a door -
This book is one of the Black and Decker series. It concerns doors and windows. It has a lot of pictures. It shows each step of installing a door. It shows which tools to use and when to use them. It shows how to cut and fit the door and trim. I like it when there is a picture with a caption under it which explains what is happening in detail. Often times a two page spread would have 12 pictures with 12 captions. I think my work will look more professional now that I have read the book. I use it for reference at times. I recommend the book.

Only one thing kept it from being 5 stars -
I had to tear out an old, rotting window that had an old rotting air conditioner wedged into it. My fiancee and I decided to install a wider window in it's place. Oh oh. That meant tearing out the stucco exterior and plaster interior to do so! I didn't want to spend 1000 bucks (or more) to hire someone to do it and install a new window. I've never done any work like this before, and I didn't know where to begin. So I looked into getting Home Depot to do it, but they would only replace existing windows with the exact same size window for a fee of 250 dollars on top of the price of the window. So that wasn't going to work for us. I needed help! So I found this book on Amazon and decided to check it out at Home Depot, since they had the same book but for a little more.
Well, since it was the only book that seemed to cover everything I needed to know, and I was running out of time, I decided to purchase it and put in the order for the window. Well, the window came and I got right at work at demolishing the old window and extending the opening for the new one.

This book was GREAT! Although the book is only 300 pages, it gives you a good overview of what you need to do to get your project done. Once I started figuring out exactly what I needed to do, I could use this book as a reference on what to do to accomplish it. You see, this book does not really give you an "idiots guide" how to... it will not explain the little detail, like how to plaster a wall or how to miter cut trim for your window or door. You need to use it as a reference book and an overview of your project. You MUST read the book through and figure out what steps you need to take. For example, for me... I had to:
1) Tear out the old window (without destroying the wall completely)
2) Extend the opening (which means I need to know how to cut/remove stucco on the outside and plaster on the inside)
3) Reframe the new opening to support the ceiling and new window (which also gives you ways to support the ceiling if you intend to mess around with the studs in the wall that hold up the ceiling)
4) Install the window (different types of windows have different types of ways to install)
5) Fix the stucco outside and plaster inside (this is where I am now)
6) Add trim on the outside and trim on the inside (I've already read what I need to do this and have gotten the materials to finish it)

And you know what, this book gave me great examples on how to do ALL that. BUT, I had to jump around the book to read the sections that applied to me. Remember, this book only gives you a great overview of your project. That is the ONLY reason why I gave it 4 stars. I'd like to give it 4.5. This book is very very good at giving me the information I needed and had GREAT pictures and examples. JUST MAKE SURE YOU READ THE WHOLE BOOK FIRST (skim through sections you don't need to know, but maybe look at them anyway because you may learn something useful), and then read the sections again that apply to you! If you need more details, find another suppliment book for that task. Know what you need to do first before you start any major project.

And you know what, I probably saved myself $1000 doing it myself. This book more than paid for itself.

Excellent Book. -
Not only did it cover step by step on all doors and windows. It covered garage doors and openers. It discussed installing locks. And there was even a section on if your window won't open you do this to fix it type of stuff. Also, if you are putting in a bay window, there is a section on how to roof it. I had been looking for a help book like this for a long time. It does not bog you down in highly technical stuff.

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