Garden Home Builder

At a time when housing costs and interest rates have put the Australian dream of owning a house beyond the reach of many people, Bob Rich and Keith Smith show how even the most impractical person can learn to build their own home. The authors were not originally skilled craftsmen and they use their personal experiences, successes and failures to explain the building and design processes to beginners. Their approach is practical and analytical, but their language is straightforward and dynamic. The book covers a wide range of topics including: how to be your own architect and create energy efficient housing designs safeguarding the house from bushfires, cyclones and floods footings, floors, roofs, doors and windows mudbrick, rammed earth, stone and weatherboard walls building skills such as measuring, sawing, hammering, bricklaying and glass cutting information, advice and personal experiences from a variety of other builders

More than 1 million viewers in Canada watch Mike Holmes’ television show, Holmes on Homes, every week. Thousands more see him at his personal appearances and visit his website, looking for advice on renos-gone-wrong. Mike Holmes is Canada’s most trusted contractor, a crusader with a mission to expose botched renovations--and now the author of a bestselling book that has shipped over 60,000 copies in its hardcover edition. Mike has taken his professional expertise and tell-it-like-it-is style and turned it into the guide no homeowner should be without. Make It Right walks readers through a renovation from start to finish, from the process of finding a reliable contractor to understanding the legalities of renovation. Mike explains the inner workings of a house, covers the most popular reno projects and describes the most common pitfalls. Packed with informative sidebars, checklists, diagrams and photographs, all showing what to expect from contractors and tradespeople, and how to keep every reno running on time and on budget, Make It Right is the book you need to read before you plan a renovation. Be smart. Take charge. Get it right the first time.

Whether you're planning to build something important like a new chook house, or something simple like your dream home, Natural Home Builder can help with a little inspiration, encouragement and some fresh, wholesome ideas. Natural Home Builder has become established as Australia's favourite annual guide to learning how other people are designing, building or specifying natural homes. These are real-life homes in harmony with their natural surroundings, sympathetic to their natural and recycled building materials, and creating a relaxing and harmonious atmosphere for their owners. Yes - it is possible to use natural home building techniques in Australia without breaking the bank, or destroying our native forests, or polluting the atmosphere with tonnes of Greenhouse gases. Learn how other people are taking the steps to create inspired, exciting and attractive homes that refl ect their individual tastes, and their commitments to treading more lightly on the Earth. This is volume four of Natural Home Builder and - like the previous volumes - is sure to appeal strongly to anyone who understands that they don't need to live in hot, stuffy boring boxes made of ticky tacky.