Customer Reviews

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finishing Your Basement Illustrated

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This book is long on generalities but completely lacking in specifics. There are MUCH better books out there if you are looking for a DIY gide - the Sunset book is fantastic (and has color pics!) has all the same material as this book but also includes comprehensive treatment of the different jobs involved and inludes step-by-step instructions with detailed pictures to actually help you along. This book includes none of that and I can't really think of a single reason to purchase it with better books on the market. The Black and Decker guide to general home improvement is also good.

Luckily I rented this book from the local library and didn't buy it as it is truly worthless. I am as green as you can get when it comes to home remodeling and this book didn't provide anything a novice could use. There are many other books that go into much more detail that are worthy of buying.

If you are truly approaching a basement refinishing project from a beginners point of view, this book will be of little if any use to you. Poor illustrations coupled with less than adequate descriptions make it a pure waste of money.

I have just started a "finish my basement" project. This book was not helpful. I am glad that I purchased other books as I haven't even used this book at all. It is extremely elementary and gets into things like what a finishing nail is. I found the other books to be much more helpful in actually helping me know what to do to start the work.

If you want details about actually doing the work, buy a different book...

I've read a couple of other books regarding finishing a basement, and this is by far the most useless. It skims over framing, plumbing, electrical, etc., NEVER getting into detail such as framing around windows, proper DWV sizing, etc. Those are the details that you would really want to get from a book like this. Instead, it seems to focus on building your confidence by using a lot of exclamation points. Again, useless

This book does an excellent job of stepping you through a basement finishing project. It provides help on every step, including some basic electrical that a novice like me can do. If I had one complaint it would be that the pictures are not in color, and some of them are rather small, so when I was looking for ideas on planning the basement, this book wasn't very helpful. However, it's a great help in assessing what needs to be done if you'll be doing some or all of the work yourself.

Its a good start for the lay-person to catch up with the basics. Especially good, if you want to get familiar with the kinds of tasks needed to completed to finish a basement. A good read, before calling a contractor to give you a bid for your basement.

This book gives a decent overall idea of what to expect when finishing a basement, however, it is not detailed enough to actually use to do the work yourself. It is a good book to read if you will be hiring contractors to do the work for you.