Reader's Digest Home Improvements Manual

by Reader's Digest Association

A Do-it-yourself Guide to Renovating, Modernizing, and Adding Space to Your Home. Richly illustrated this book gives user-friendly instructions for a wide range of do-it-yourself projects.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction

384 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1982

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there is anyone who should have no right reading this book, it is moi. Given to me as a gift to learn how to deal with home repairs, I first put it to the side as I established a list of needed handymen. While my philosophy remains the same (let the experts handle repairs), I did actually read through this to understand what I am missing when it comes to do-it-yourself home improvements.

Clear soot yourself from any easily reached narrow space. Use a weighted round brush on a long pole to scrape the flue, or lower a bag of rough burlap filled with gravel into the flue.

For the above instruction, an accompanying illustration shows the bag of burlap rubbing against the flue, thus reducing the soot. I would never have thought of that. There is no fireplace in my life and local regulations mean no wood-burning, but still, it looks rather neat.

The worst part about reading a book such as this is the sudden awareness that one should be installing something that wasn't there previously. You wake up in the morning and everything is a-okay. You then open this book and go, whoa, why don't I have a dormer in my attic? Where is my attic anyway? Bam, your day has changed with the idea of suddenly wanting something that wasn't wanted or missed previously.

For do-it-yourselfers, I would definitely recommend this book. There are pictures and descriptions of nails, porches, foundations, garage conversions, and even a geodesic dome kit. Cool.

Book Season = Year Round (lumber for the linear)

[Dobby · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much more than a simple how-to guide, this book provides an education in all things related to a home's structure. It offers history and general information as well as detailed instructions, with photos, drawings, charts, and graphs. It's pure heaven to sit and browse through. This book walked me through my very first toilet replacement. That's always a handy thing to have on your resume.