shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Powell's Q&A, Q&A | December 10, 2009

Sam Stephenson: IMG Powell's Q&A: Sam Stephenson



Describe your latest book/project/work. I've been studying the life and work of photographer W. Eugene Smith for 13 years. My first book (Dream... Continue »
  1. $28.00 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Ships free on qualified orders.
Add to Cart
$16.95
List price: $24.95
Used Trade Paper
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
2 Burnside Home Construction- General

More copies of this ISBN:

Better Houses, Better Living: What to Look for When Buying, Building or Remodeling

by Myron E Ferguson

Better Houses, Better Living: What to Look for When Buying, Building or Remodeling Cover

ISBN13: 9780965485616
ISBN10: 0965485617
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Only 2 left in stock at $16.95!

Staff Pick

I compulsively read this book cover to cover in two nights. The author is a retired engineer, and correct engineering design is his second career. Why live in a house that doesn't "work" properly? Beware of washing machines in the basement, trendy countertop basins, and bad register locations. Hundreds of photographs illustrate the pitfalls of the lazy builder. Better Houses, Better Living will forever change the way you look at your house.
Recommended by Carole R., Powell's Technical Books

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:


Better Houses, Better Living is the book that makes home buying, home design and home remodeling more satisfying than ever before.

Whether it's an existing house, a new custom house, a modular house, a do-it-yourself remodeling project or you're looking for home repair tips, you can have a better house.

Use our detailed house design elements covering everything from home electrical systems, home plumbing layout and home HVAC systems to functional kitchen and bath design, bedroom design and home security as a home buying guide, home inspection guide and a guide to better house plans.

When you know a good home design from a bad home design, you'll have an edge when buying a home, building a home or remodeling your home. You can get a user friendly home that's a better house to live in.

Review:

"A solidly useful and highly recommended resource, enthusiastically recommended for home buyers and home owners — when applied to the expenses of one's home, the insights gleaned here literally pay for themselves." Midwest Book Review

Review:

"Ferguson delivers schooled advice on things to look for when buying a home, and things to avoid when remodeling." Seattle Times

Review:

"[Ferguson] addresses both materials and function, which can be very helpful for people window-shopping before they build or remodel." BackHome Magazine

Synopsis:

Better Houses, Better Living helps home owners and home buyers by explaining the basics of home design and building from a user?s perspective. It clearly and succinctly details what makes a house "user-friendly" and a better place to live by focusing on practicality instead of just feeling and looks.

The book includes nearly 500 photographs that clearly show each element that is explained.

About the Author

Before he retired and moved to Oregon in 1990, Myron Ferguson spent his professional career as a telecommunications systems engineer. He helped bring satellite communications to the world, working on the first satellite stations in a number of countries on five continents. His education and decades of engineering work made paying attention to detail an inherent part of his way of looking at things.

In Oregon he quickly noted how things in his new house were not made for the home user, but rather for the convenience of the builder and subcontractors. User friendliness and function, which had been an integral part of his satellite communications systems designs, were not (and are not) a way of thinking for home designers and builders. This started his second career, an author and publisher of books for homebuyers. He has written two editions of Build It Right! and is gratified that the book has sold well so that he can say that "over 30,000 new homes are better because of it."

His forté is in the details. He leaves the "big picture" to architects and home designers who focus on how a house looks, its spaces, the flow and how it pleases the senses. He wants to help people get that better house that'll make living in it more enjoyable.

Myron wants to get his message of thinking of the home user through to home builders as well home buyers. And he urges the designer and architectural communities to incorporate this paying-attention-to-detail into their work for new houses and for remodeling.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780965485616
Subtitle:
What to Look for When Buying, Building or Remodeling
Author:
Ferguson, Myron E
Author:
Ferguson, Myron E.
Publisher:
Home User Press
Subject:
Reference
Subject:
Real Estate - Buying/Selling Homes
Publication Date:
August 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Dimensions:
10.10x8.52x.85 in. 1.95 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $5.95 Used Mass Market add to wish list
  2. $2.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  3. $18.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $2.07 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list
  5. $35.00 New Hardcover add to wish list
  6. $24.98 Sale Trade Paper add to wish list

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.