Great Books for DIY and Home Improvement Projects

Image Gallery Home repair and improvement projects can be fun and faster when you enlist the help of friends and family. ISTOCKPHOTO/GEORGE PETERS

Knowing how to do simple home improvement projects can save a lot of money and leave you feeling quite satisfied. Have you ever lamented in a moment of fix-it frustration, “Oh, I wish I knew how to fix …” or never started a project because you weren’t sure about the steps? Well, there are a variety of useful, inspiring DIY books available from your local library or bookstore.

Two that stand out are Reader’s Digest’s New Fix-it Yourself Manual, and Julie Sussman and Stephanie Glakas-Tenet’s book Dare to Repair: A Do-It-Herself Guide to Fixing (Almost) Anything in the Home.

The Reader’s Digest book promises: “How to repair, clean and maintain anything and everything in and around your home.” And the book delivers through detailed illustrations of how to take apart and reglue a frame chair, repair a faucet, disassemble and clean a toaster, tune up a lawnmower engine, and dozens more simple and complex repair projects. The exploded views throughout the book let you “see” the inner workings of the tools and appliances you are repairing.

Dare to Repair is the ultimate in a simple home maintenance reference. Not just a book for single women, the book tells you what tools you need and walks you through how to change a furnace filter, clean the refrigerator coils, choose a screwdriver and unclog drains — many of the common maintenance tasks we all face, whether we rent an apartment or own our home.

These two books barely scratch the surface of handy how-to/do-it-yourself books. The books mentioned below are full of high-quality color photos and step-by-step instructions to help you through DIY projects, whether you’re a beginner or professional.

Creative Homeowner offers books that will take you through the process of remodeling a kitchen, bathroom, garage or attic; rewiring a house or room; and creating cabinets and shelves. Taunton Press, publishers of Fine Homebuilding magazine, offers a range of books that cover remodeling a kitchen, installing wood finish and trim work, adding home storage solutions and more.