Renovating Old Homes

Our bible for figuring out how our house works and should be maintained.

Our Review

While there have been a lot of bungalow-specific books we've enjoyed, no book has been more useful regarding issues specific to old homes than George Nash's book Renovating Old Houses. The book is published by Taunton Press, known for other high quality publications like Fine Homebuilding and The Not So Big House.

So far it's been valuable for helping us figure out how to do everything from fixing the smell in our basement to removing a load bearing wall.

What it has probably done the most is helped us to think of our house as a system (not just as the sum of it's parts). While it's true that construction and engineering have come a long way in 97 years, you can't always slap on a new [insert any product here] and assume everything will be better. Nash emphasizes how old houses are different in many ways, including how they circulate air, keep in heat and even stay standing. We never knew a balloon from balloon framing until we read this book.

Finally, Nash shares our own values for design integrity. While he doesn't address bungalows specifically, we know that his heart is with us and other bungalow owners trying to right the wrongs brought upon a house 'remuddled' one too many times.

In the end I'll steal the best endorsement for this book from a review from Amazon.com: "A must have resource even if you're thinking about the topic."