March 16, 2007

Fine Homebuilding No. 186, May 2007 - Review

We really like getting Fine Homebuilding. The magazine is always at the cutting edge of new products and techniques, and the information is always presented in a clear and concise manner. It’s rare that they have a dud of an issue. This month’s offering, we’re happy to say, falls in the ‘non-dud’ category. In fact, it’s one of the better issues we’ve seen in a while.

The cover story is an instructional on building doghouse dormers. The article is overflowing with great pictures and the text is separated into an easy to understand step-by-step format. The drawings for this article are fantastic as well. To us, the most interesting part of the article to us is a tutorial on how to find all of the appropriate measurements using a construction calculator. We’ve used those calculators in the past and not only are they confusing and intimidating, but their manuals are usually pretty lame so this bit of coaching is particularly helpful.

This issue also contains a good summary of the current state of rot-resistant wood, a design gallery of interesting dormers, some thoughts on prefab foundations, and a great piece on making a parquet floor from wood scraps among other solid articles.

Accompanying this issue is a 24 page excerpt from Taunton Press’s new book, Unbuilding: Salvaging the Architectural Treasures of Unwanted Houses. Since we tend to salvage just about everything, we read the excerpt with interest and weren’t disappointed. It looks like Taunton Press has another great book on its hands

On top of all this are the always great letters, reviews, and tips and techniques. All in all, this is a great issue and we hope that, in the future, Fine Homebuilding continues to add the construction calculator tutorials where appropriate.

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