Mike Holmes Make It Right
by Mike Holmes
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Book Summary Information
Author: Mike HolmesEdition: Hardcover
Published: 2006
ISBN: N/A
Publisher: COLLINS
Book Reviews of Mike Holmes Make It Right
Book Review: Excellent Resource
Summary: 5 Stars
Mr. Holmes' book is an excellent primer for homeowners who are contemplating buying or renovating a house. He places a lot of emphasis on planning through a renovation, focusing on all aspects of the house, not just the parts that are readily visible. He helps folk with all phases of the process, from selecting the right contractor to construction details like how far a toilet can get installed from the main vent and still flush properly. The mantra of the book and his philosophy is to 'make it right', so that the house will last a long time and make its occupants happy.
Having put our house through a 2-year renovation, I really enjoyed how Mr. Holmes takes a holistic view of the house - all aspects of construction are covered, from the foundation footings right up to the rafters in the attic. Mr. Holmes has an amazing set of hands-on knowledge that he distills into a short checklist at the beginning of very chapter, followed by a more detailed (and well-documented) description in the following pages.
Time and time again, I found myself nodding in admiration as Mr. Holmes nailed the many issues I have seen over the years looking at building, fixing problems, etc. You can tell how passionate he feels about his customers, all whom I bet are grateful for his services. Additionally, the many little details of this book are a wonderful collection of knowledge that otherwise require the reader to work through a shelf of Taunton "By pros, For pros"-series books (I have... but I can't help it, I love those kinds of books).
There are only a two issues I have with this book. Mr. Holmes espouses the use of cold-roofs instead of making the attic part of the conditioned space (i.e. hot roofing). There are a myriad of reasons to avoid going with a cold roof system these days, see buildingscience.com for a long list and exhaustive testing showing that cold roof technology is obsolete. But I suppose that Mr. Holmes is most familiar with cold roof systems because that's what codes required for the last 50 years. Another very small criticism is that the book is written using a lot of Canadian name brands. Well, that's great if you live in Canada, but the brands may be sold under different names in the US market or abroad. A better approach would have been to drop name brands and focus on the underlying technology (i.e. closed cell-polyurethane foam instead of BASF Airtite, etc.).
But these two issues aside, the book is an excellent primer for those who want to have their home last a long time with a minimum of issues. Getting the infrastructure right may not be as sexy as a granite countertop, Wolf stove, etc. but having the home heat and cool properly, not burst into flames, etc. is pretty nifty as well. His focus on the things that make a house work is a welcome perspective when most shows and books only focus on the bling factor.
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