Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Finishing Basements: Projects and Practical Solutions for Converting Basements into Livable Space

This book has some really great photos to look at and get ideas from. I would remind anyone that buys this book that it is primarily for newer homes or homes built after 1980 and on with the newer building codes and specs. I mean most of the instructions and photos are based off of those types of homes, so if you have a older homes with a wet or leaking or humid basement that was built before 1980 or 1970 then this book is not going to help you a whole lot. The finish ideas in this book are very good with excellent instructions and steps to follow that work but only on the newer built homes. The methods or ideas for correcting or fixing your humidity or leaking water or wet basement problems are not addressed in this book and you will need to seek out other sources that do. This book is very good at giving modern finish ideas for how to frame in walls, load or non-load walls, step by step. It also is very good at showing how to install bathrooms in basements that are the same as in this book otherwise you will have to seek other sources for help. The photos of demonstration are excellent, the book shows. This book also shows you what type of tools to use on your projects in the basement, it also gives very good planning steps and ideas, along with how to estimate your material needs. The best thing about the book is that it is very good with showing how to finish out a room or new bathroom or whatever type of room you decide to build or finish out in your basement, it also gives tips and ideas about the most basic of codes for building which is good. I would definitely recommend this book to others and I am glad I bought it, for I got out of it what I needed and wanted, many good ideas with excellent photos and instructions for basement work.

I was very impressed with the range of information found in this manual. I even used it with my local community building person and corrected him on some of his building code assumptions. It turned out that the building codes sited in this book were correct and his "shoot from the hip" assumptions were not. This one is a keeper!

A very good book. Lots of pictures, detailed lists and explanations. My only criticism is that it does not cover some minute points that I, as a beginner, want. Just as an example: does the edge of the drywall ceiling sheet abut the wall or slide in over the top of it?

Works well

Good for ideas and general concepts but not sufficient detail to learn techniques or step-by-step for any phase of basement finishing.

Great for more than just basements! Gives me the confidence to take on any project around the house- repairing squeaky stairs, installing an egress window, hanging drywall, etc. Much better than trying to decide which YouTube video has the best advice or trying to find a WikiHow that explains the principals of home improvement in a way that can be applied to your specific house.

This book is very basic. It's so boiled down for beginners, in the end the book seems to target readers who probably shouldn't be doing the tasks in this book anyways. You'd be better off hiring a contractor than attempting this stuff yourself. The Black and Decker electrical book was decent though.

This how-to book is okay and had a lot of reference material in it that I found useful however the one from Taunton's is better. I'd still buy it again, but needed another book to supplement some of the material that it is missing.