Recommended books--The Taunton Press

[MikeT]

I was looking for a better book on home wiring than the one published by Home Depot (although Wiring 1-2-3 was recommended by some folks and has been okay on some things), and I once again came across some books by the Taunton Press.  These folks publish Fine Homebuilding magazine and publish an ever growing line of books.  For visual learners like me, these are terrific.  I just purchased the 3rd edition of Wiring a House.  For my money, the $25 gives a very solid basic background on the essentials of wiring a house, from the importance of good grounding, to the meter socket and service panels to the stuff just prior to the outlet specific stuff--more than just a weekend remodeling stuff that is in Wiring 1-2-3.  And for that stuff, there is another book, called Wiring Complete, again published by Taunton.

A few weeks prior, I purchased Taunton's Trim Complete.  It gives a very good overview of trim options and how-to's for windows, doors, wainscoting, and ceilings. 

I think that these books, among others, in addition to the helpful hints here from the pros (and the semi-pros) make for a terrific combination.

Best,
mt

[n74tg]

Our local library has a book on electrical that I swear by; it's that good.  It's called "Electrical Wiring Residential" by Ray C. Mullin, based on the 2005 NEC, it has lots of good drawings and pics, but equally important (to me) the text descriptions are particularly good.  It even has a set of pull out plans for a fictional house.  It's about 600 pages long, so it might be fairly pricey.  I think the publisher is Thomson Delmar Learning. 

Don't worry about the 2005 NEC part, an electrician friend says they only revise the code every 3 years, and the 2008 revisions have just (in the last month or two) come out. 

[MikeT]

I think I saw that book as well and leafed through it and almost bought it.   If it is the one I am thinking of, it appears that is it used to educate (prospective) electricians.  Each section has questions at the end, a la a text book.  Again, I am so visually oriented, it really helps to have good pictures. 

mt