“Homebuilding Basics: Carpentry”, by Larry Haun

Haun, Larry. The Basics of Carpentry. Newtown, CT: Taunton, 1998. Print.

I LOVED this book.  By the time I was half-way through I felt like I knew Haun, thanks to his conversational writing tone.  By the end I felt as if I’d framed a house with him, with the benefit of his hints, tips, and humour all the way.  I know Taunton Press mostly for their magazines (“Threads” and “Fine Homebuilding”), and their books don’t disappoint either.  The photos and hand-drawn diagrams are all clear and illustrative.

There is only one chapter on finish carpentry, so Haun’s bias as a framing carpenter shows.  However, the book is worth reading if you are planning to frame any structure, even a garden shed – just the info on plumbing and straightening walls (when I thought they were done!) would save anyone time and grief when it comes time to start framing the roof.

I wanted to learn about how to frame floor joists, walls, second stories and roofs; and this book told me a lot of what I needed to know.  There aren’t a lot of alternative techniques discussed, but for a solid walk-through of Western stick-built framing, this is it.