diy book

[benpost]

i'm interested in buying a diy book, can anyone recommend any?

[George]

It'll take ore than one book to learn all there is about DIY ie one book for each and every trade,a sort of encyclopedia

[rrh]

They can be quite useful for showing you how things are typically constructed (eg walls, roofs, floors) and what materials are typically available for DIY use (eg sheet materials, fasteners), but as George implies are pretty limited. I saw a large recently-published Dorling Kindersley DIY manual remaindered from £25 to £6 at WH Smith the other day.

[Clive George]

Isn't the Collins one normally recommended?

cheers, clive

[Person]

I have the Dorling Kindersley DIY manual and yes I got it for =A36, it is brilliant, it has plenty of pictures to.

[The Medway Handyman]

It should be. The B&Q one is quite good as well.

[Bob Eager]

I've been given a selection, and the Collins one is the best IMO.

[Dave]

I am no expert at DIY, but I find the books generalize too much, but more importantly, they age rather fast. Far better to ask a question on uk.diy news group.

Dave

[Mathew Newton]

Seconded. Or should that be thirded? ;-)

I've got the Collins book and can highly recommend it. The Reader's Digest one is good too.

As the others have said a single book can never cover anything, however if you're relatively new to DIY something like Collins will teach you a LOT. Even if you're beyond 'beginner' stage such a book will still fill lots of knowledge gaps.

If nothing else a book like this will give you good grounding for asking questions around here, if only to use the correct terminology!

Mathew

P.S. I see Amazon sell it for half price (=A312.50) - but make sure you go for the latest version (Oct '07 - see

[newshound]

Don't forget the FAQ of course!

[benpost]

fantastic, i will get the collins one to start with i'm sure i will learn a lot from it, but will keep asking questions here as you are all very helpful!

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Hmm. I'd say not for most basic tasks. Like decorating, minor building works, carpentry etc. True if you're looking for information on the latest boiler or wiring regs and so on but then I'd not expect that sort of info from a DIY book anyway.

Certainly to clarify anything you don't understand. But asking the right question is easier with a knowledge of the basics.

[geoff]

In message , benpost writes

whatever

people will come up with suggestions,

but ...

There is no substitute for asking the right people the right ques tions

and using a bit of grey matter

[Steve Firth]

Heck yes, and it could be bound in a ring binder so you can take the pages out and refer to them as you work.

It would need a sponsor as well. How about Reader's Digest?

[John Rumm]

In true blue peter tradition, here are some we wrote earlier:

[Owain]

Especially if you have an older house, it's useful to get a second-hand book of about the same vintage, this will show you the construction methods used at the time for eg panelled doors, sash windows, and gas lighting.

The other answer is probably "a big one with pictures at the cheapy book shop"

Owain