Here's a great selection of books, products, & services that will save you time and money and make your construction project simple, easy, and fast....all personally selected for you by Karl.

Page Index

• Decks - How to Build Them / How to Maintain Them

• Building a Boat

• Building it Yourself

• Tools

• Nuts and Bolts for Home Building

• Ideas, Design and Construction

• Being the Contractor of Your Own Home

• Hiring it Out...or Finding a Contractor

• Roofs and Stairs

• Electrical

• Solar Power and Alternative Energy Sources

• Plumbing

• Sheetrock - Drywall

• Concrete, Masonry and Stone

• Good All 'Round Guides

• Outbuildings

• Historical and Preservationist Interest

• Alternative Buildings and Get-a-Ways

• Projects and House Plans

• Karl's Links

Building it Yourself

• Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding : The Complete Handbook
• Building Your Own Home : A Step-By-Step Guide
• Residential Framing : A Homebuilder's Construction Guide

Tools

Nuts and Bolts for Home Building

• Carpentry and Building Construction
• Graphic Guide to Frame Construction : Details for Builders and Designers
• Code Check : A Field Guide to Building a Safe House

Ideas, Design, Plans and Construction

• Architectural Plans for Adding on or Remodeling
• The Not So Big House : A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live
• The New Cottage Home
• Your Own Way (Real Goods Independent Living Books)
• Adobe Architecture
• Casa California : Spanish-Style Houses from Santa Barbara to San Clemente
• The Sensual Home : Liberate Your Senses and Change Your Life
• 200 Budget-Smart Home Plans : Affordable Homes from 902 to 2,540 Square Feet
  (Blue Ribbon Designer Series)
• 450 Two-Story Home Plans
• 380 Country & Farmhouse Home Plans

Being the Contractor of Your Own Home

• Be Your Own House Contractor : Save 25% Without Lifting a Hammer
• Contracting Your Own Home : A Step-By-Step Guide
• How to Plan, Subcontract and Build Your Dream House
• Save $50,000 on Your New Home : Yes! You Can Be Your Own General Contractor

Hiring it Out...or Finding a Contractor

• Before You Hire a Contractor : A Construction Guidebook for Consumers

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Roofs and Stairs

• Framing Roofs : The Best of Fine Homebuilding
• Stairs : The Best of Fine Homebuilding

Electrical

• Wiring a House
• Advanced Home Wiring
• Electrical Wiring Residential/With Plans

Solar Power and Alternative Energy Sources

• The Real Goods Solar Living Sourcebook : The Complete Guide to Renewable Energy Techologies and Sustainable Living (9th Ed)
• The Passive Solar House
• The Independent Home : Living Well With Power from the Sun, Wind, and Water

Plumbing

• Plumbing a House
• Basic Plumbing With Illustrations
• Country Plumbing : Living With a Septic System

Sheetrock - Drywall

• Drywall : Professional Techniques for Walls & Ceilings

Concrete, Masonry and Stone

• Foundations & Concrete Work : The Best of Fine Homebuilding
• Masonry & Concrete Construction
• Building With Stone
• Masonry Fireplace and Chimney Handbook
• The Stonebuilder's Primer: A Step-By-Step Guide for Owner-Builders
• Stonework : Techniques and Projects
• Building Stone Walls
• Building Stone Walls : Storey Country Wisdom Bulletin A-217
• Stone House: A Guide to Self-Building With Slipforms
• Stonework and Masonry Projects: New Projects in Stone, Brick & Concrete
• Step-by-Step Outdoor Stonework :
  Over Twenty Easy-to-Build Projects for Your Patio and Garden
• Stone Houses : Colonial to Contemporary
• Living Homes: Thomas J. Elpel's Field Guide
  to Integrated Design and Construction
• Step-By-Step Masonry & Concrete
• Foundations and Concrete Work
• Working with Concrete
• Building with Masonry: Brick, Block, and Concrete
• Bricklaying
• Basic Concrete Engineering for Builders

Good All 'Round Guides

Outbuildings

Historical and Preservationist Interest

Alternative Buildings and Get-a-Ways

Retreats

• Rustic Retreats : A Build-It-Yourself Guide
• The Tiny Book of Tiny Houses
• Retreats : Handmade Hideaways to Refresh the Spirit

Stone

• Build Your Own Stone House : Using the Easy Slipform Method

Logs

• Building the Alaska Log Home
• Building and Restoring the Hewn Log House
• American Log Homes
• The Log Home Book : Design, Past and Present
• Log Homes Made Easy : Contracting and Building Your Own Log Home
• The Craft of Modular Post & Beam: Building log and timber homes affordably
• Hands-On Log Homes

Timber Frame

• Building the Timber Frame House : The Revival of a Forgotten Craft
• Timber Frame Construction : All About Post-And-Beam Building
• Timber-Frame Home : Design, Construction, Finishing

Earth and Straw

• The Rammed Earth House (Real Goods Independent Living Book)
• Buildings of Earth and Straw : Structural Design for Rammed Earth and Straw Bale Architecture
• The Straw Bale House

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