Customer Reviews

Stairs (Best of Fine Homebuilding)

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

 

 

As soon as I opened this book I knew it was what I was looking for. Being in the middle of renovations I was stuck on how to rebuild my staircase and this book came to the rescue. The terminology was simple, the instructional pictures very clear and concise. There was an exact example in the book of what I had to build and using the techiniques, I have sucessfully rebuilt my staircase to my own amazement. I would reccomend this book for anyone from a begining home renovator to a well establish contractor as this book also goes into great detail about more complicated stair structures, ballusters,railing and again with very clear and concise instructions. In amongst the instructions are some beautiful shots of some staircases that have been built using the methods in this book.

This book was a disapointment, as it contained lots of pretty pictures, but not much in the way of detailed construction information. There was no info on constructing circular stairs, instead, valuable space was spent explaining and photographing stone walkways on a hillside. It does not contain enough good instruction to be of help to me.

I'm in the process of remodeling my house and am replacing a railing. Using information from the stair parts manufacturers and from a local stair parts salesman, I had managed to figure out the pieces I needed but now needed help installing it. The instructions from the stair parts manufacturers did not provide the detail I needed. I purchased another stair book at a woodworking show but it didn't help much either. While standing in line at a tool store I spotted this book on the counter. It has saved me.

It has one chapter "Design Guidelines for Safe Stairs" that was invaluable in working out some of the details of my design. Good practical information where they're not afraid to express their opinion. The real life saver for me was the chapter "Installing Manufactured Stair Parts". This gave me the confidence and advice I needed to get through the project.

I didn't end up using much, if any, of the rest of the book but it served as inspiration. There are some amazing stair projects of some of the most beautiful stairways you'll ever see.