Black&Decker's DIY Photo Guides to Home Improvement and Repair
We consulted a longtime 'putterer', family repair-person and now serious handyman with a roster of regular clients for opinion and review of two additional Black&Decker Photo Guides: Home Improvement and Home Repair.
We're not particularly interested in the more esoteric of home repair projects (replacing wall sheathing, troubleshooting blade wobble in a ceiling fan, servicing an electronic ignition furnace), but most of the projects in the 
Black & Decker The Complete Photo Guide to Home Repair: with 350 Projects and 2000 Photos (Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide) by Editors of Creative Publishing do represent tasks I'd be willing to tackle on my own. I come from a background where my father was willing to take on almost any task (having lived through the Depression he wasn't alone in that philosophy). Once, when my parents were on a cruise and I was home from college, the inevitable failure of a toilet to perform occurred. I called a local plumber and he laughed when he saw my father's handiwork: a splicing of copper parts to repair lift chains or wires, comparing them to a Rube Goldberg apparatus.
Fortunately, I'm married to a man who negates the need to call a repairman/woman in the majority of breakdowns. That doesn't mean that one day I might not have to face the inevitable — installing a new disposal, fixing a broken windowpane or renewing damaged wood in a deck. The Home Repair book has a number of entries on maintenance, a key precaution that many homeowners would be well to engage in, in order to save the repair fees: maintaining your dishwasher or water softener, maintaining storm windows and doors, and maintaining wall tile.
The Home Repair Guide tackles those projects that are less ambitious than the Home Improvement Guide and is more practical as a gift for the novice who needs to replace a damaged floorboard, parquet, ceramic floor tile or re-stretch loose carpeting. Our professional handyman points out that even if you decide not to tackle a problem yourself, an understanding and appreciation of what has to be done by an experienced handyman/woman or contractor could be informative to the point that you'll be able to estimate what needs to be done to complete the job successfully. This, in itself, could provide a starting point in deciding whether to hire a professional or begin an adventure in home repair.
Black & Decker The Complete Photo Guide to Home Improvement: More Than 200 Value-adding Remodeling Projects (Black & Decker Complete Photo Guide) by the Editors of Creative Publishing begins with an 'anatomy of a house' which familiarizes the reader with basic elements of home construction and remodeling.
For instance, "if your project includes modifying exterior load-bearing walls, you must determine if your house was built using platform- or balloon-style framing." Floor, ceiling, roof, permits needed, building codes, natural light, and universal design, for example, are sections of the anatomy, as well as working with drawings and construction plans. Safe practices are touched upon as well as the contents of a first-aid kit that should be prepared.
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