The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: 2000 Color How-To Photos (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library) (Hardcover)

by Creative Publishing International (Author) "Your home's interior provides a backdrop for day-to-day activities..." (more)
Key Phrases: concrete fortifier, demarcation jack, coarse abrasive pad, Helpful Hint, Building Codes, Exterior Painting (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Got a problem with grout? Open The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair (to page 98) and watch your tiling worries dissolve before the simple beauty of photography. Black & Decker has anticipated your every question and problem with interior, exterior, and home systems repairs, and detailed the solutions in just over 500 pages. In no other human endeavor is a visual guide so important as home repair (well, maybe brain surgery), so this is a crucial aid to the handyperson. Easy-to-find sections on floors, insulation, roofing, chimneys, water heaters, wall switches, air conditioning, and much more are well-designed, brilliantly illustrated, and carefully outlined with step-by-step instructions from masters. The photos in particular are extremely valuable, offering many different views (sometimes even exploded) of the operation in question, and always showing just enough to communicate without overwhelming the reader with too much detail. These alone would be worth the price of the book, but the written explanations and instructions are also very helpful, offering tools, materials lists, and hints that wouldn't occur to the amateur. The book finishes with a maintenance schedule to help you keep repairs from becoming serious, and the end papers have conversion charts and tables that you'll use time and again. If you can't have Norm the master carpenter over to help you fix your old house, The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair is the next best thing. --Rob Lightner

Review
...Black & Decker has anticipated your every question and problem with interior, exterior, and home systems repairs... -- Rob Lightner, Amazon.com

...For each project they provide detailed how-to instructions, complete tools and materials lists, helpful hints, and troubleshooting charts... -- Book News, Inc., 1999, Portland, OR --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Creative Publishing International; Bk&CD-Rom edition (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865737533
• ISBN-13: 978-0865737532
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 10 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #503,610 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

362 of 364 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Crisp, Clean, & Surgical instructions, February 20, 2000

By	James J. Bell (Chamblee, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

There are certain skills that are "wasted" on no one. Home repair is one such skill. I believe that 5 weeks after purchasing this book - the book has already paid for itself. My parents moved back into my grandmother's 1960-era house after she passed away last year. The house was in need of a few repairs, but money was a limiting factor. I had to find a way to teach myself (and my dad) how to weatherproof the basement, replacing an ancient water heater & dishwasher, replace several outlets with new GFCI (p. 397!) outlets, and finally, how to update the upstair's faucets and fixtures. I logged onto Amazon.com and typed-in HOME REPAIR. To be honest, I chose this book because it had 500+ pages and two 5-star reviews. When this book arrived, I instantly felt the weight and quality of the binding.(think college textbook material) I quickly found DETAILED descriptions of the tasks I would soon have to perform. I called my father and said "Get ready we're going to Home Depot!" On the phone, my father expressed concern over our lack of experience. When my father got in my truck, I handed him the the Black&Decker text. I had put PostIt's on the pages with our projects. He slipped on his glasses and peered through his bi-focals and didn't say a word on the way to purchase tools & supplies. Once in the parking lot, I could hardly turn-off the engine before he was pointing to pictures saying "Ours looks just like this! I want some gloves like that!" And he was making a bee-line for the door!(the old man can move!) He was excited and so was I. Now, it has beeen 5 weeks since that first trip to Home Depot. Both my father and I have the cuts and scrapes and the ever present sore backs to prove that we have done our own home repairs. My father now keeps the Black&Decker text at his house "for safe keeping." He cleans the text with a moist cloth after each project. The projects don't seem to have an end in sight, which I believe is a direct result of my dad reading the text for "suggestions." My suggestion....don't let anyone "borrow" this text, unless of course - you love him!

81 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable Resource, January 6, 2005

By	Joe (Upstate, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: With 350 Projects and 2300 Photos (Black & Decker) (Hardcover)

We recently purchased an old home with lots of "problems". I borrowed this book from my local library (along with Black & Decker's Home Improvement) and was amazed at how clear and detailed it was. I think the best part is how they use real photos of everything, and not sketches. There are well over 2000 photos. Within days, I was dealing with and solving basement issues, plumbing problems, electrical outlets, and many more things that I did not even thing of. The books helped so much that I decided to go ahead and purchase them here on Amazon. There are countless home improvement books out there and some rank better than others. From what I've seen, the Black & Decker series ranks at the top and are an invaluable resource. It literally pays for itself with all the money saving tips and instructions. I recommend this book, along with Black & Decker's Home Improvement and Outdoor to anyone looking to save money on home repairs.

112 of 117 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great new homeowner starter book!, October 5, 1999

By A Customer

I just bought this book and really love it. It's simple and easy to understand, and considering that I have never done much home repair before, this was a plus. It's the hammer and nail equivilent to that Betty Crocker cookbook we've all be hauling around for years. Always something new that you never knew you needed!