Customer Reviews

This Old House (2-year)

5 star:		(60)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

If you're looking for d.i.y. information on maintenance and minor repairs for your old house, skip this one. As the publisher says, it's pretty much all about major restorations by professionals, and there's very little the average homeowner could even participate in, let alone do on his or her own. If you want to learn how an architect chooses historically correct replacement windows for your old ones that stick, buy "This Old House." If you just want to know how to get the old ones unstuck, move on to "Family Handyman."

If you are a fan of This Old House, then you probably want to get this magazine. If you have been watching the show for a long time (who hasn't?) then you will feel like you are reading a magazine about family, as there is usually something in each issue from each of the show's participants.

The magazine offers more in-depth information about the projects you see on television. A big reason to get the magazine is to learn more about the materials used in the projects and where you can get them. In addition, there are projects covered in the magazine which are not done on the television series.

While the magazine, in my opinion, is a bit short on exact specifics, or "how-to's," one has to keep in mind that a lot of the attitude of the show seems to be "use a professional." While I can understand doing that if you have the financial resources, it just isn't always practical. Still, if you want to be informed when you do call the professionals, this is one way to do it.

This is a magazine for old house lovers -- people who like the style of an older home, for whom the things that break and the things that creak inspire renovation not cursing.

My wife and I live in our second old house, and have watched the TV show since before our first. For us pragmatic Norm the woodworker, blow-dried Steve the host, and spendthrift Richard the plumbing/HVAC guy are like family. This magazine provides occasional coverage of the project house you see on PBS which is a bonus for fans. But its main focus is to show you how you can fix up your own old house.

It is a great source of ideas, inspiration, and the vendors who can sell you what you'll need. Got an old house and the money and patience for renovation? If you do, get this magazine.

This is a magazine for paid product-placement in articles, tons of ads, and so-so articles. You are paying for the name, and getting much less in return.

I HIGHLY recommend Fine Homebuilding instead of This Old House. You will not only see fabulous new and old construction, but actually take something away from it (that is the point behind magazines, right?) A magazine that actually saved me money!

I'm cancelling my subscription to T.O.H. and adding another year onto my Fine Homebuilding subscription. It's money well spent.

This magazine has lots of nice pictures.....but lacks the indepth articles that Fine Homebuilding or Fine Woodworking offers. Its basically a promotional of the long running tv series, and will disapoint anyone above a novice in construction.

This Old House is published, naturally enough, as an adjunct to the popular PBS show, but it doesn't really offer much by itself. It's mostly a read-and-toss sort of magazine. If you're really interested in home building and remodeling, there are two far superior magazines: Fine Homebuilding and Old Home Journal. Each of them offers far more depth and useful information than This Old House, not to mention better photography and a wider range of topics. Fine Homebuilding in particular is a magazine you'll want to keep- and most readers do.

With the redesign, the magazine now captures the essence of the TV show and extends it into useful information every homeowner can use. Some of the articles focus on DIY-related projects, some help you when you want to work with professionals - all are perfectly suited for me and my wife. I now have a library of the mags which I save for future reference (honey do lists) although I also use their web site (which is integrated into the magazine each month). Great read; great resource.

This Old House magazine is great for keeping up to date on other peoples remodels and what the TV show is doing. It is not however good at teaching you how to do much of anything. There is too much time spent reminding readers that all the "experts" quoted in the magazine can also be seen on the various TV shows.

Compared to the other magazine I get, Family Handyman, This Old House has very little in the way of useful tips and detailed instructions for projects. When projects are explained in detail, they are too high a level for most home handymen.

Good for ideas on what to do: Somewhat
Good for how to implent those ideas: Not

TOH Magazine is a great resource for those who are restoring their vintage homes. It includes many how to guides and readers can send in their questions to Norm. His answers are not always the easy way, but the best way! I also find many of the pictures are good ways to come up with ideas that you would have never thought of for your newly recreated space. All in all, it is one of the best home and garden magazines on the market!

Have been getting increasingly irritated with the magazine. I finally got fed up and canceled and asked for a refund after finding many errors in the current issue.

I'm no home expert but I saw much misinformation and a lot of dangerously shallow information.

Some of many examples:

* It tells you to drill big holes in a tree branch to hang a swing. To cover the magazine legally, there is vague advice in tiny type about using a sturdy branch. Drilling holes will weaken the branch. And may well eventually kill the branch.

* Supposedly Norm Abram's toolkit has one of those expensive, useless many-bits-in-the-handle screwdrivers, instead of a set of simple inexpensive screwdrivers that actually work.

* They recommend WD-40 as a lubricant. It is well known that WD-40 is a terrible lubricant, due to the solids in it that make it an excellent rust-preventative.

* They say to use a metal scraper blade to clean a glass cooktop.

If you can't trust them on the topics you understand, you sure can't trust them on the topics you want to learn about.

Many of the articles are pushing products, probably from companies that advertise on the TV show. (I don't watch the TV show, so I'm not sure.)

At any rate, the products and tools they recommend are almost always very fancy and expensive.

Despite the endless references to "Master Carpenter Norm Abram" and so forth, the TV stars are barely involved at all in the magazine. How would they have time anyhow?

A lot of effort is put into slick, clever, coy writing and beautiful photos. (If you look at the fine print, the photos are all "produced" and "styled.")

Then I got it. I looked at the info up front and realized that the editorial office is in New York City. The writers and editors are professional magazine writers who live in New York apartments, writing about things they don't have personal experience with!

They must have a problem with people canceling. The phone number to cancel was in the tiniest possible type.

Get "Fine Homebuilding" or the "Journal of Light Construction."