Renovation 5th Edition: Completely Revised and Updated

I'm a PE, have built several houses, a ton of renovations... I've learned lessons the hard way - If you, even if trying your best, do something the "wrong way" - karma often gives you a chance to learn how to do it the right way - as you get to do it a second time... over again. Not with this book. This is book is fantastic. The examples are excellent, the instructions are clear and insightful. The illustrations and photos are awesome. If you were to buy only one "How to" book ever - it should be this one and if you buy more than one - you'll probably just end up using this one (I should know, I have dozens...). Excellent book.

This is a phenomenal reference to add to your library. It covers so many different things. I think any homeowner would benefit from this book! Very thorough and easy to understand!

Great book for the DIY guy with an old residence.

We're owner builders who have been renovating houses for 30 years more or less. We're not professional builders by a long shot but we've done pretty much every job you can think of, including framing, plumbing and wiring several bathrooms, gutting and rebuilding a couple of country kitchens, laying hardwood floors, tiling counters, floors and even an outdoor fountain, shingling walls and roofs and so on. Over the years we've probably bought 50 or 60 home improvement books but we return to Renovation again and again. We cut our building teeth on the 2nd edition and it's only gotten bigger better with each new edition. The 5th edition is big and beautiful. It's now up to 650-some pages, with updated sections on electrical wiring, pex plumbing (way easier than copper), rebuilding a brick chimney, laying conc block, the best material on soundproofing we've seen anywhere, and a long section on post-and-beam framing that is worth the price of admission. A lot of this is stuff we'll never attempt in this lifetime but it's a gas to read about if you love houses. All of this information comes from professional builders all over North America, who shared what they know with author Mike Litchfield, who was one of the founders of Fine Homebuilding magazine. In this 5th edition he's joined by Chip Harley, who's been a contractor for 35 years. Renovation 5 is incredibly complete. Specific tools—including some we’d never heard of, best materials, useful tips and shortcuts somebody figured out on a job site. R5 usually suggests several ways to tackle a job. Best of all it doesn't read like a text, it sounds like real people talking about what they love doing. Like your favorite uncle or your best friend, who has time to hang out and who gets a kick out of showing you how to do stuff. And watching you surprise yourself at how well you can do it.

The faults of this book are due alone, to the fact that it is a book. It’s content is tremendous. Best of its kind, I guarantee it. On that account, I recommend it above all. I also think it’d be wise for a contractor who seeks to own a business to add to his reading “Markup & Profit” which will guide him in the business ventures he desperately needs to be wise in. Secondly, “Elements of Building” for a short, experience beyond years, overview of everything in the business of contracting. It is probably the most important book if you can’t read much. Thirdly, a textbook on the general topic of Residential Construction if you intend to be a Builder/General Contractor. A knowledge of the overall process is irreplaceable. The best book in construction ever written is worthy of mentioning here—it’s a building science book titled “Buildings Don’t Lie” & if you want to be excellent at building high quality homes—don’t waste your time. Go straight for this. It’s the go-to resource! Hope this helps

This book has guided me through many projects. I use it to get a good idea of where to start on projects, and to get a better understanding of the old home I live in.

I like doing as much of my own home work as possible so I can visualize what is behind that wall or how is that fixture wired. It also keeps my mind challenged. Before I ever begin a project, I watch available YouTube video on the subject, but I also like making sure what I am doing makes sense and follows code. I'm glad to see this manual keeps up with the evolving code changes. I had the 4th Edition, but this one is greatly enhanced/improved. The discussion in the book also helps me understand why the persons in the video are doing things the way they do. More importantly, it gives me the reference to identify which of the videos are cutting corners. That said, I would recommend this manual and the videos be used in tandem. Some of us are visually-oriented, some are audio-oriented, and some of us learn by reading. So, even though the book costs a little, it will save you a lot of time and needless revisions.

Remodeling our house and bought several books to learn from. This was the best of them. Up to date on techniques and products. Well written, covers a wide variety of topics.

This book is technical yet easy to understand with lots of diagrams. Buy it if you’re doing any renovations at all. It’s incredibly well written. Would 100% recommend.

Great read, lots of good information about construction and renovation

Very good.

Loving all the information and photos, it has everything in it on what needs to be done with home construction and repair. I have purchased quite a few books before on home repairs, but this one is by far the best!

Best price for the book, you can’t find the better price for the book