The Very Efficient Carpenter: Basic Framing for Residential Construction (For Pros, by Pros Series)

Rating:
Summary: Should be able to frame a house using this book.
Review: If you have a basic knowledge of how to use tools, you should be able to frame a house using this book. If you can't get it all from the text, you can order three companion videos from Taunton Press that show you, step by step, how to frame a house.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful, but ignore his stud location advice.
Review: Not being a builder I was looking for a practical book to assist in building my 24x36 shop. This book has a lot of good stuff and you can tell that Larry "has been there". I went by the book on almost everything. I wish I had ignored his advice on stud location. He says it is not neccessary to maintain the 16 oc from end to end when you hit interruptions like doors and windows. He says you can simple start the 16 oc pattern over and not sacrifice structural integrity. I agree, but you catch heck when you sheath your walls and it would be better to have a stud under every 16 oc ceiling or second floor joist. He does say that for sheathing or dry wall reasons one could argue for maintaining the 16 oc the entire length of the wall, but he sorta of minimized it and said you can save on stud cost. Being a beginner I followed his advice to the tee. I will now go back and put in extra studs at 4' oc to accomodate my siding. Ignore his stud location advice and you will have a very helpful book on framing.

Rating:
Summary: Helpful, but ignore his stud location advice.
Review: Not being a builder I was looking for a practical book to assist in building my 24x36 shop. This book has a lot of good stuff and you can tell that Larry "has been there". I went by the book on almost everything. I wish I had ignored his advice on stud location. He says it is not neccessary to maintain the 16 oc from end to end when you hit interruptions like doors and windows. He says you can simple start the 16 oc pattern over and not sacrifice structural integrity. I agree, but you catch heck when you sheath your walls and it would be better to have a stud under every 16 oc ceiling or second floor joist. He does say that for sheathing or dry wall reasons one could argue for maintaining the 16 oc the entire length of the wall, but he sorta of minimized it and said you can save on stud cost. Being a beginner I followed his advice to the tee. I will now go back and put in extra studs at 4' oc to accomodate my siding. Ignore his stud location advice and you will have a very helpful book on framing.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding reference and guide
Review: This book fills an important gap; it's neither too basic nor is it a structural or architectural engineering text book. I would recommend this book to anyone who's interested in remodelling or building by themselves, or even just curious about how their house is put together. This book does such a good job documenting and explaining the framing process that I would also highly recommend it to anyone who's having a house built.

Rating:
Summary: factory work "rules"
Review: This book is a companion to a series of tapes and is best used as a beginners guide to framing 'factory' style. I like Mr. Haun's style and his book is well layed-out to show one how to frame with his system. He has done a great job of putting it together in a precise and clear fashion. I find that in today's world of custom homes the material is dated and better suited to one who is building only once or a novice that wants a "looksee" at what it entails to build a home. But for that it is a very good book and I would recommend the tapes as well. If you want to build in todays' environment find a licensed contractor with a commitment to training their employees and get some structural engineering classes as well.