This Old House Guide to Building and Remodeling Materials

This is really a very nice ready reference guide to select the proper materials and know the options in in lumber, roofing, insulation, plumbing & electrical supplies, & c. It's got really nothing to do with the TV show, but is a fine general reference. The only problem is that it is getting really out of date as technology changes. Unfortunately, it looks like while Vila is (allegedly) the primary author, somebody else owns the copyright and it wears a This Old House branding. He was a couple hosts ago and they've long since parted ways... seems like little chance this will ever get updated. Pity.

This book provides lots of information on common and less common tools, materials, and supplies for doing anything to or around your home. It was an invaluable reference as I was planning a large addition to my home. Anybody who owns a home should have this book. Not only does he give tons of illustrations, but he also provide text on a lot of home subjects giving hints about how to do many tasks and tradeoffs between using one thing over another. I hope he has a new one in the works.