The Complete Idiot's Guide to Finishing Your Basement: Illustrated (Complete Idiot's Guide to)

Rating:
Summary: Not Helpful
Review: I have just started a "finish my basement" project. This book was not helpful. I am glad that I purchased other books as I haven't even used this book at all. It is extremely elementary and gets into things like what a finishing nail is. I found the other books to be much more helpful in actually helping me know what to do to start the work.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth the money
Review: Luckily I rented this book from the local library and didn't buy it as it is truly worthless. I am as green as you can get when it comes to home remodeling and this book didn't provide anything a novice could use. There are many other books that go into much more detail that are worthy of buying.

Rating:
Summary: Very helpful how-to
Review: This book does an excellent job of stepping you through a basement finishing project. It provides help on every step, including some basic electrical that a novice like me can do. If I had one complaint it would be that the pictures are not in color, and some of them are rather small, so when I was looking for ideas on planning the basement, this book wasn't very helpful. However, it's a great help in assessing what needs to be done if you'll be doing some or all of the work yourself.

Rating:
Summary: Too superficial to be helpful
Review: This book is long on generalities but completely lacking in specifics. There are MUCH better books out there if you are looking for a DIY gide - the Sunset book is fantastic (and has color pics!) has all the same material as this book but also includes comprehensive treatment of the different jobs involved and inludes step-by-step instructions with detailed pictures to actually help you along. This book includes none of that and I can't really think of a single reason to purchase it with better books on the market. The Black and Decker guide to general home improvement is also good.