Barns, Sheds & Outbuildings: Complete How-To Information Design Concepts for Ten Buildings

This book provides a thorough review of the building techniques that go into constructing a variety of outbuildings, with clear illustrations and very good detail. Following presentation of the techniques, it provides plans for a number of buildings. As a homeowner with intermediate skills, I found this book extremely useful, and I'm looking forward to putting my new skills to work on my new shed.

Co-authors John D. Wagner and Clayton DeKorne's Barns, Sheds And Outbuildings: Plan, Design, Build provides everything to know bout adding a new barn, shed or garage to a property. Over 800 photos and illustrations aid in the process, from choosing an appropriate design for needs and placement to step-by-step photos of the actual construction process. Competing titles focus on options more than construction techniques and tips.

Even though I have been a "do it yourselfer" for many years and have done many refinishing projects in houses I have never built a structure as large as a 14 foot X 18 foot x 11 foot high Saltbox machine shed from basic lumber. The sections on Basic Framing, Roof Framing, and Closing In contained enough detail to be very helpful. I also looked at the Wiring and Plumbing section even though I have completely wired a new house and partially wired other houses. While I would want other sources with more detail I thought the section had some good tips. Overall, this is a really good book and would use it in conjunction with other more specific Creative Homeowner books such as House Framing, Plumbing, and Wiring.

This book isn't just about barns and shed; it's about proper building and framing practices for any type building. Sure, you can use what you learn here to build barns and shed-- and there are very complete plans for some lovely projects in the back of the book-- but you could just as easily use this book as a guide to building an addition on your house, or for framing a roof. The illustrations are fantastic; clear, concise, with good captions. The writing overall is very clear and understandable. I recommend this book highly to anyone doing any type of building.