From Library Journal
Acknowledging that most renovations are performed for homeowners by professionals, TV host and author Vila explains how informed consumers should approach their project so that it is done properly. He provides a wealth of information on architectural styles (and how to integrate newly remodeled sections with the existing style), evaluating the house, dealing with building professionals, planning, financing, and more. Required reading for anyone considering a home renovation. (LJ 10/1/99) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Vila, the host of PBS home renovation programs, has authored more than a dozen how-to home-improvement books. In his latest, he steps back and observes the remodeling experience from an armchair perspective. Unlike most remodeling texts, which readers use like reference books, jumping section to section according to the day's project, Vila's new guide is intended to be read start to finish by first-time remodelers. It begins with an engaging account of Vila's own recent home renovation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, including the typical decisions and delays. A survey of the various types of U.S. domestic architecture follows, reminding readers of the importance of adding "sensitively" to existing structures. The second half of the book is more practical, with specific criteria for remodelers to use through every step of planning, designing, and implementing a renovation: Which projects offer the best return on investment? (Kitchens and bathrooms.) Will an architect or designer be needed, and if so, how to select a good one? What about contracts? Vila walks the reader through building codes and permits, getting and comparing contractor estimates, arranging for payment through bank loans, and basic lessons in plumbing, roofing, flooring, and the delicate task of working with laborers. Supplemented with ample photos and illustrations, Vila's guide offers readers the mental and verbal tools for nailing a challenging project on the very first try. James Klise

Book Description
Bob Vila, recognized as America's foremost authority on renovation and of the popular TV series This Old House and Bob Vila's Home Again, now presents the quintessential book on remodeling your home. Millions count on Bob Vila for reliable, understandable advice and now the wealth of knowledge is at your fingertips to help you increase both the value of your home and your living enjoyment.Remodeling is all about making the right decisions-from determining what you want and need to hiring and working with the contractors who will help you realize your vision. Bob Vila's Complete Guide To Remodling Your Home takes you step-by-step through the renovation process from inception to completion, following a logical progression that begins with looking at your house in a new way, inside and out, and making a careful investigation of the existing structure and decorative elements. It guides you through such key issues as design, style, and living space, while minimizing stress and maximizing the use of your remodeling dollar.Whether you're considering a major makeover or just remodeling one room, you'll find the know-how to help you achieve the results you're looking for. Bob Vila will help you determine remodeling viability, estimate costs, and choose methods that work best for you. Armed with technical tips, trade secrets, and the latest product information-as well as legal advice-you can keep the project on track and within budget as you evaluate contracts with confidence, negotiate terms, and hire the best professionals for the job. In addition to his own vast experience, Bob Vila draws on the skills and know-how of architects, designers, carpenters, and other home-building specialists to present reliable information and practical, real-world advice on managing the entire project from start to finish.Enhanced by hundreds of drawings, photographs, architectural plans and a glossary of building terms, Bob Vila's Complete Guide To Remodling Your Home is the one book anyone considering home renovation must have.Bob Villa, recognized as America's foremost authority on renovation and of the popular TV series This Old House and Bob Vila's Home Again, now presents the quintessential book on remodeling your home. Millions count on Bob Vila for reliable, understandable advice and now the wealth of knowledge is at your fingertips to help you increase both the value of your home and your living enjoyment.Remodeling is all about making the right decisions-from determining what you want and need to hiring and working with the contractors who will help you realize your vision. BOB VILLA'S COMPLET GUIDE TO MODELING YOUR HOME takes you step-by-step through the renovation process from inception to completion, following a logical progression that begins with looking at your house in a new way, inside and out, and making a careful investigation of the existing structure and decorative elements. It guides you through such key issues as design, style, and living space, while minimizing stress and maximizing the use of your remodeling dollar.Whether you're considering a major makeover or just remodeling one room, you'll find the know-how to help you achieve the results you're looking for. Bob Villa will help you determine remodeling viability, estimate costs, and chose methods that work best for you. Armed with technical tips, trade secrets, and the latest product information- as well as legal advice- you can keep the project on track and within budget as you evaluated contracts with confidence, negotiate terms, and hire the best professionals for the job. In addition to his own vast experience, Bob Villa draws on the skills and know-how of architects, designers, carpenters, and other home-building specialists to present reliable information and practical, real-world advice on managing the entire project from start to finish.Enhanced by hundreds of drawings, photographs, architectural plans and a glossary of building terms, BOB VILA'S COMPLETE GUIDE

From the Author
"People spend tens of billions of dollars on residential remodeling every year. The goal of this book is to enable you to get the most for your remodeling dollars."

About the Author
Bob Villa was the original host of PBS's famed television series This Old House and is star and producer of Bob Vila's Home Again, currently in its tenth season and syndicated on over 150 stations nationwide. He is also the author of many books on building, repairing, and renovating houses, including This Old House, Bob Vila's Workshop, Bob Vila's Tool Box, and numerous guides to historic homes throughout the country.

FROM OUR EDITORS

All Hail Vila

Bob Vila. His name is to home improvement what Michael Jordan's is to basketball. Like Jordan, Vila hasn't just elevated his craft to dazzling new levels; he has become a singular entity in his field His profile has managed to transcend the very nature of the vocation itself. But Vila's art isn't a thriving trade these days, and his concern is detectable. He dedicates his book to "America's remodelers, from enthusiastic novices to practiced preservationists," as he laments the fact that "the do-it-yourself tactic has, for most people, been superseded by the buy-it-yourself strategy."

Complete Guide to Remodeling Your Home looks to buck this trend, and in doing so, it might be the most practical and important home improvement guide on bookstore shelves. Do not crack this book open looking for cute little DIY projects. Vila's book doesn't teach you how to hammer a nail without busting a thumb, how to lay cement without losing a shoe, or how to shingle a roof without tumbling onto the pavement below. As a matter of fact, there is nary a single picture of Vila with tools in hand (or belt, for that matter) in the entire book.

Instead, the Complete Guide to Remodeling Your Home is the forum in which Vila's cerebral dynamics finally get overdue props on a par with his world-renowned handyman skills; it's more a book of theory than a craft manual. Vila's on stage here, and he's as handy without a hammer as with. You scoff? Well, check this out: We call those things that take us from the second floor to the first floor "stairs." Hardly. Vila claims that the stairwell is comprised of the newel post, riser, tread, stringer, nosing, and baluster. For instance, should you trip while walking down the stairs, the riser keeps you heading downward, the tread cracks your coccyx, and the baluster is what keeps the whole stairwell from collapsing under your clumsiness. The newel post lets you know the trip is over -- a finish line of sorts.

Partially inspired by the renovation of Vila's own 1897 home, the Complete Guide to Remodeling Your Home is all about preparation. So get out of the car -- we're not going to Home Depot just yet. There's plenty of work to be done before the dirty fun begins.

From the overall style of the house to the components within the rooms, Vila breaks down home renovation into history and equations in the first section, "Looking at Your House." He identifies some of the more common styles of home, the aspects that make each singular. He also offers tips with regard to hidden treasures within the home, such as trimmings, styles of stairwell, and so forth. In the first segment, Vila essentially asks you to visualize what you have: what works as is, what needs restoration, and what needs to be ripped out and replaced. He then marches through organizational plans, from hiring a contractor, scheduling, and budgeting to execution and payment.

One of the great charms of this book is Vila's sincerity in dedicating the book to novices as well as professionals. The degree of interaction between a newcomer and his or her contractor may be less involved than that of a professional, but matters of taste don't depend on DIY know-how. In effect, Vila's book becomes a great equalizer.

And once major restructuring is finished, Vila walks the reader through some of the tasks that won't fatally backfire should they be executed by a rookie, though he continues to urge aspiring renovators to hire professionals. Should a novice screw up a ceiling, it might wind up on his or her head. Painting, tiling, laying carpet, et cetera, can be expensive if executed clumsily, but other than draining one's savings account, about the worst thing that can happen is growing dizzy from painting with closed windows, or stepping on a stray nail that didn't quite make it into the floor. When was your last tetanus shot?

And don't think Vila has forgotten the peskiest of minutiae: paperwork. You won't want to forget your building permit, lest the government slap you with a fine and shut down your operation. And hang on to those receipts: You may be able to deduct what you owe to Uncle Sam. Bob Vila is no friend of the Man.

Balance, style, landscape, utility, time constraints, money (or lack thereof), government regulations -- the list of aspects to home renovation seems endless, but Vila covers all of his bases with the Complete Guide to Remodeling Your Home. With this volume, you won't become any handier a handyman (that's more a matter of practice), but you could end up a smarter one.

—Andrew Dansby

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Bob Vila, recognized as America's foremost authority on renovation and of the popular TV series This Old House and Bob Vila's Home Again, now presents the quintessential book on remodeling your home. Millions count on Bob Vila for reliable, understandable advice and now the wealth of knowledge is at your fingertips to help you increase both the value of your home and your living enjoyment.

Remodeling is all about making the right decisions-from determining what you want and need to hiring and working with the contractors who will help you realize your vision. Bob Vila's Complete Guide To Remodling Your Home takes you step-by-step through the renovation process from inception to completion, following a logical progression that begins with looking at your house in a new way, inside and out, and making a careful investigation of the existing structure and decorative elements. It guides you through such key issues as design, style, and living space, while minimizing stress and maximizing the use of your remodeling dollar.

Whether you're considering a major makeover or just remodeling one room, you'll find the know-how to help you achieve the results you're looking for. Bob Vila will help you determine remodeling viability, estimate costs, and choose methods that work best for you. Armed with technical tips, trade secrets, and the latest product information-as well as legal advice-you can keep the project on track and within budget as you evaluate contracts with confidence, negotiate terms, and hire the best professionals for the job. In addition to his own vast experience, Bob Vila draws on the skills and know-how of architects, designers, carpenters, andother home-building specialists to present reliable information and practical, real-world advice on managing the entire project from start to finish.

Enhanced by hundreds of drawings, photographs, architectural plans and a glossary of building terms, Bob Vila's Complete Guide To Remodling Your Home is the one book anyone considering home renovation must have.Bob Villa, recognized as America's foremost authority on renovation and of the popular TV series This Old House and Bob Vila's Home Again, now presents the quintessential book on remodeling your home. Millions count on Bob Vila for reliable, understandable advice and now the wealth of knowledge is at your fingertips to help you increase both the value of your home and your living enjoyment.

Remodeling is all about making the right decisions-from determining what you want and need to hiring and working with the contractors who will help you realize your vision. BOB VILLA'S COMPLET GUIDE TO MODELING YOUR HOME takes you step-by-step through the renovation process from inception to completion, following a logical progression that begins with looking at your house in a new way, inside and out, and making a careful investigation of the existing structure and decorative elements. It guides you through such key issues as design, style, and living space, while minimizing stress and maximizing the use of your remodeling dollar.

Whether you're considering a major makeover or just remodeling one room, you'll find the know-how to help you achieve the results you're looking for. Bob Villa will help you determine remodeling viability, estimate costs, and chose methods that work best for you. Armed with technical tips, trade secrets, and the latest product information- as well as legal advice- you can keep the project on track and within budget as you evaluated contracts with confidence, negotiate terms, and hire the best professionals for the job. In addition to his own vast experience, Bob Villa draws on the skills and know-how of architects, designers, carpenters, and other home-building specialists to present reliable information and practical, real-world advice on managing the entire project from start to finish.

Enhanced by hundreds of drawings, photographs, architectural plans and a glossary of building terms, BOB VILA'S COMPLETE GUIDE

Author Biography: Bob Villa was the original host of PBS's famed television series This Old House and is star and producer of Bob Vila's Home Again, currently in its tenth season and syndicated on over 150 stations nationwide. He is also the author of many books on building, repairing, and renovating houses, including This Old House, Bob Vila's Workshop, Bob Vila's Tool Box, and numerous guides to historic homes throughout the country.

SYNOPSIS

"People spend tens of billions of dollars on residential remodeling every year. The goal of this book is to enable you to get the most for your remodeling dollars."

-Bob Vila

Bob Villa was the original host of PBS's famed television series This Old House and is star and producer of Bob Vila's Home Again, currently in its tenth season and syndicated on over 150 stations nationwide. He is also the author of many books on building, repairing, and renovating houses, including This Old House, Bob Vila's Workshop, Bob Vila's Tool Box, and numerous guides to historic homes throughout the country.