For the first time, the art and craft of creating concrete countertops is detailed, step-by-step. This invaluable manual will guide craftsmen through each step of creating a cast concrete countertop, from the careful process of measuring for a template, to building a mold, through casting and installation. Moreover, you will be inspired by a gallery of more than 60 color images that explore actual kitchens and baths featuring hand-crafted countertops. With more than 30 years of experience in concrete art and fabrication, artist Buddy Rhodes shares his skills and experience in this tell-all book. Most importantly, he shares the process he pioneered for creating the natural, stone-like pressed surface countertops that have become his hallmark. Additionally, he details techniques for hand-trowelled and polished countertop surfaces. As the popularity of concrete in home decor soars, this book will be an indespensable guide for any craftsman who hopes to make his mark in this expanding market. Amateurs alike will appreciate the intricate detail and the helpful hints that Rhodes includes in this comprehensive guide.

There are other manuals on how to build cabins, but W. Ben Hunt's is the only one that shows you how to build and furnish an authentic pioneer cabin the easy way, natural, using only hand tools and the woods around you. Our ancestors used logs and hand tools to build durable, dry, windproof, and protective dwellings; and they fashioned chairs, beds, and tables out of half logs, twigs branches, and bushes. In this day of power saws, lumberyards, and high prices, it's good to know that you can build in the same way.

Extending your home? New kitchen or bathroom? Planning to decorate?
If you're taking on a job like this you need to know three things - can you do it on your own; how long is going to take; and most important of all, how much is it going to cost.
This book tells you the answers. With simple-to-follow guidance on all your home improvement projects it tells you:
.the time the job will take
.the costs of the materials
.how difficult it's going to be
.and what a professional is going to charge to do it for you
.Make sure you get value for money
.Budget for your home improvements
.Do It Yourself or use a professional - helps you to decide

Colour Confidence will demystify the technical world of colour, as it helps empower you to live a happier and more colourful life. Including a blend of everything from identifying your perfect palette, to creating a harmonious colour scheme and accessorising to achieve that perfect colour ratio, this book will show you how to use colour to transform your life. Get inspired with expert tips and tricks to create a home that truly reflects your personality. Discover how colour can impact your space and mood. Jess will show you how to embrace darker tones, find the perfect white, and demonstrate how to successfully bring a cohesive look together; whether that is pastels, neutrals, earth tones or even brights – find your colour confidence whatever your style.

Includes a wonderful circular patio centered around a firepit, to a demonstration walkway that illustrates how to lay basketweave, running brick, and herringbone patterns, this book is the perfect resource for anyone who wants to undertake a great home improvement project. Learn how to lay the groundwork, study details for edging and popular paver designs, and finish up like a pro. A special chapter details the process of laying a permeable paving surface, an increasingly popular alternative in today's eco-conscious world. Clear photos detail every step in the process, and a gallery of more than 100 finished projects will inspire you to get to work. All you need is the muscle.

By combining proven and promising wind, solar, and other clean and renewable energy technologies, individuals, businesses, and communities can invest in equipment to produce electricity for themselves. This book explains how to reduce reliance on power companies, restore market forces, increase economic security, create jobs, improve efficiency, and reduce waste.For more than 100 years, electric energy has been a fundamental feature of human existence. It powers our tools, which helps us achieve our many individual and societal wants, needs, and goals. This comprehensive survey explores how electric power generation in the United States began, largely as a private endeavor, and quickly evolved into a race to capture and control its release to the people. The combination of wind, solar, and other renewable energy technologies, as proposed, enables people to restore their ability to independently generate electricity for home and business use.

Wiring repairs, replacements, and upgrades are among the most popular projects for home DIYers--and, potentially, the most fraught with risk. With an unerring emphasis on safety, wiring expert Steve Cory prepares homeowners for the most common situations they are likely to encounter and gives them the confidence to tackle their own home wiring projects. After introductory sections on understanding the residential electrical system and basic wiring techniques, projects include: replacing switches and receptacles installing lights and fans retrofitting under-cabinet lighting running cable and installing electrical boxes and more With quick tips throughout, this handy reference provides all you need to know to tackle any home wiring repair project.

This book captures today's hottest design trend for the home - textures, design, colors, and craftsmanship that evoke European ideals of a bygone era. Explore kitchens and baths rich in the fine details that characterize Provencal, Tuscan, and English country designs. Massive range hoods and brick hearths, faux finishes, rich natural stone, and tile provide polish and posh to up-to-the-minute home environments. Enjoy hand-carved wood, wrought-iron, and fine crystal chandeliers in spaces filled with the latest appliances and an abundance of workspace. The atmosphere is timeless, and these designs are certain to endure. This is an indispensable design guide for professional designers and discerning homeowners.

When you are building your own fitted kitchen cabinets, you are not just saving money. You also improve upon the materials & construction used in factory-made cabinets, and get exactly the sizes you want. And with the techniques that the author demonstrates and explains in this book, you can incorporate custom details in your cabinets to make them even more distinctive, e.g: arched doors, custom cornice treatments, oversize pantry cabinets and solid wood end panels. - Designing custom cabinetry to suit your space and budget - - Building drawers and doors in a variety of different styles - - Tools - Understanding wood - Design - Face-frame construction - Doors - - Panels - Building drawers - Base cabinets - Wall cabinets -Other cabinets - - Finishing - Hardware - Accessories - Installation - Countertops - * Taunton's Build Like A Pro series: expert advice from start to finish. * Any serious do-it-yourselfer can make his/her own fitted kitchen armed with the know-how in this fully illustrated book.

This comprehensive and classic text, originally published in the early 1900's, was written to assist farmers and mechanics instructors, and was the first book on the subject to deal exclusively with the operation, care, and repair of farm machines. Divided into six distinctive sections ranging from the preparation of the seed bed to harvesting, The Operation, Care, and Repair of Farm Machinery offers detailed information and instructions on how to use and care for dozens of different machines, including: Plows Harrows Tillers Spreaders Cultivators Sowers Diggers Harvesters Pickers Presses Mowers Binders Planters Pulverizers Loaders Drills Listers Rotary hoes

In 265 photos, this book provides all the knowledge you need to make the most of your space outdoors, creating landscape for recreation, gardens, and play that is also a safe, child friendly environment. Whether you choose to design the ideal setting for the neighborhood ping-pong tournament, create an imaginative space to inspire games for kids, or add splash-happy features to your pool, this treasure trove of backyard fun will show you how to do it right. The popularity of outdoor living is growing by leaps and bounds as ever-increasing numbers of homeowners look for ways to enjoy economical backyard environments. From croquet, bocce ball, badminton, and table tennis to horseshoes, corn in the hole, and ladder ball, families everywhere are getting outside to play. Why shouldn't you?

A dry-stack stonewall is a project that almost anyone can build, and it will last well over a century if built correctly. Like most projects, knowing all of the steps involved is critical to ensure a safe and solid job. This book provides thorough, step-by-step procedures for three projects using stones of various sizes from the smallest all the way up to boulders, with a focus on a safe work environment. Learn a system for planning a project, and proceed through all the steps required to completion. A gallery of wall images will inspire you to start stacking.

There is something about antique homes and their hard-working barns that captures the imagination. Maybe it's their pleasing proportions, maybe they remind us of a simpler time, or maybe we sense that these venerable old survivors that were built when our country was young have seen it all. But how many of us have bothered to listen to the stories they tell or tried to understand what makes them tick? This book reveals the essence of antique New England homes and barns-their history, the people who built them, why they were built that way, and how to restore them, piece by piece, without losing their character. Learn to identify architectural styles from different periods, how to strategize a restoration, and how to approach it systematically, from the timber frame to the floors, walls, and ceilings, windows and doors, wiring, finishes, and landscaping.

John Vivian tells you everything you need to know to build your own stone walls from start to finish. He covers everything from basic equipment and materials to building retaining walls, building in gates and stiles, moving boulders, and using lower-quality stone. Clear, detailed drawings show exactly what to do and how to avoid problems.

The Jarrold Joy of series of books comprise quotations and verses on a theme that include music, domesti c life, gardens and garden implements and food and drink. Th e books are designed to give inspiration and encourage thoug htful reflection. '

Every modern house includes flat concrete surfaces. Concrete features range from utilitarian sidewalks to garage floors to tennis courts made of pervious concrete so water won't pond on it. You don't need years of experience to build a good concrete floor, but you do need information. Until now, that information has been surprisingly hard to find. Learn all you need to know to plan and complete small concrete pavement jobs around the house. Included are footpaths, driveways, patios, sports surfaces, and indoor floor slabs. There is guidance for all the basics: ordering concrete, adding joints, curing, and more specialized topics including pervious concrete and exposed-aggregate finishes. The final chapter addresses things that can go wrong, and how to prevent and fix them.

The definitive guide to the design of environmental control systems for buildings--now updated in its 13th Edition Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings is the most widely used text on the design of environmental control systems for buildings--helping students of architecture, architectural engineering, and construction understand what they need to know about building systems and controlling a building's environment. With over 2,200 drawings and photographs, this 13th Edition covers basic theory, preliminary building design guidelines, and detailed design procedure for buildings of all sizes. It also provides information on the latest technologies, emerging design trends, and updated codes. Presented in nine parts, Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, Thirteenth Edition offers readers comprehensive coverage of: environmental resources; air quality; thermal, visual, and acoustic comfort; passive heating and cooling; water design and supply; daylighting and electric lighting; liquid and solid waste; and building noise control. This book also presents the latest information on fire protection, electrical systems; and elevator and escalator systems. This Thirteenth Edition features: Over 2,200 illustrations, with 200 new photographs and illustrations All-new coverage of high-performance building design Thoroughly revised references to codes and standards: ASHRAE, IES, USGBC (LEED), Living Building Challenge, WELL Building Standard, and more Updated offering of best-in-class ancillary materials for students and instructors available via the book's companion website Architect Registration Examination(R) (ARE(R)) style study questions available in the instructor's manual and student guide Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, has been the industry standard reference that comprehensively covers all aspects of building systems for over 80 years. This Thirteenth Edition has evolved to reflect the ever-growing complexities of building design, and has maintained its relevance by allowing for the conversation to include "why" as well as "how to."