Customer Reviews

Walks, Walls & Patios: Plan, Design & Build

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

 

 

If you know absolutely nothing about creating walls, walkways, and patios, then Walks, Walls and Patios is a book you'll want to read. This book covers every aspect of hardscaping your property and has detailed diagrams, instructions on figuring out exactly how much material to buy, and several photo galleries filled with design ideas. The photo galleries are actually my favorite part of the book, since they really have good ideas and designs.

The book is very easy to use and very well written. The layout is great. Although this book doesn't have a ton of bells and whistles, it is exactly what it is supposed to be - a clear, easy to understand instructional book on how to make your own walls, walkways and patios.

This book is jammed packed full of photos. Whether you're requiring basic information to do it yourself or looking for ideas to share with your landscaper, this book will inspire you. Well organized and easy to follow diagrams make this book a pleasure.

I love the tons of pictures of samples but most important is that it have a step by step for each projects. Walls, retaining walls, patios, concrete floor, and more. I'm looking for to purchase the other books in this series.

I am a 46 yr old female with no prior experience and I laid a beautiful stone walkway over my ugly concrete walkway and it looks GREAT! Suggestion: buy odd shaped flat stones (I used slate)and you may not need to cut them, I didn't! and don't add too much water to the mortar mix. Good Luck!

As a member of the building trades (obviously not landscaping) I found the book completely lacking in crucial details. The illustrations must have been drawn by preschoolers, and the photographs were average at best and didn't provide any design insights. The layout of the book was horrid and cheaply done, probably by some poor overworked and underpaid freshman intern. There was hardly any discussion on how to achieve anything but the most basic installations, and even the information given for the basic installations was far too generic. For instance, illustration after illustration calls out "gravel." Gravel comes in grades, so it's important to know what type to use for different purposes. Not only that, but depending upon the use, it could require anywhere from several feet of gravel to only a few inches. Also, there was no discussion of permeable paving systems, and the paving pattern suggestions were insulting. Herring bone? Running bond? How pedestrian. It's not rocket science, but there is a RIGHT way to do do things which is why there are building codes, of course there is hardly any mention of that either. What really set me off on this book is that it improperly describes how to build a footing for a retaining wall. Hurriedly, I didn't pay attention to the author on this book before I bought it. I wish I had because any book by a publisher of a home magazine is terrible; unless its from the "For Pros by Pros" series. I purchased this book because I thought it would have valuable information on building both a patio and a retaining wall. This book is just useless unless you have never seen a retaining wall or patio before in your life, not even on TV.

This book is pretty good at showing you how to accomplish building well... the title of the book. I find it's best attribute are illustrations and examples.

This stuff is pretty fun to do after you read this book.

I cannot review this book, because it was not received. It may not be the vendor's fault. The item was ordered after we moved to a new address, but it should have been forwarded by the post office. I have never been stiffred by an Amazon vendor. I prefer to think it is the post office that is at fault.