Adding on: How to Design and Build a Beautiful Addition to Your Home

If you're thinking of adding on to your house, and plan to do some or most of the work yourself, there is no one book that will tell you everything you need to know. You'll want several, because one author will do a better job of explaining framing, and another will do a better job with trim, and another with plumbing, etc. You should consider this as one of the books you use. This isn't really a renovation book per se, but is specifically targeted at putting an addition onto your house. This book walks you through each of the steps you'll be taking, from design and project management, to foundation, framing, roofing, plumbing, wiring, HVAC, insulating, drywalling, and finishing. To help make the process more clear, they cover an actual addition to a house ("the project"), and provide plenty of drawings and photos as they work on the job. Their addition contains most everything you might be considering for yours, but they give extra detail on some things like dormers that they didn't use in their design. Some things here could be better, but I've seen lots worse. The project addition is a real plus, because you can follow everything from the groundbreaking to the final coat of paint, and see everything that happens inside and out along the way. If you're finishing a basement or attic this won't help you as much as you'd like, but if you're building an addition, you should pick up a copy.