Customer Rating: 
Summary: Where's the detail on using rebar in concrete?
Comment: This is one of two books I purchased with the expectation of finding some detail on rebar design for monolithic slabs. Both books fall short in writing or displaying even the most basic design for rebar in a slab (see my other review on a similar book on working with concrete). This book does a little better job in showing how to make and use concrete forms.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for people who like to do things right the first time
Comment: This is good for even advanced people as it gives little trade sercerts for stronger walls. Its a good book and a must if you are doing concrete work yourself.
Customer Rating:
Summary: no help
Comment: I bought this without reading the reviews, it was a mistake. I am designing an addition and need a clear guide from forms to finishing. This isn't it. As meantioned, it is a collection of articles. While informative, there are major gaps in coverage and I am no more ready to design my foundation than before. There is more useful info on foundations in the framing books I purchased.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointment
Comment: This book lacks the details for someone who is looking to actually do the work themselves. As mentioned in one of the other reviews - this book is just a composite of magazine article. Typical of magazine articles - shallow with little substance.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Just a compilation
Comment: I have a couple of other books in the "for pros by pros" series and they are great. I was disappointed in this one, however. Rather than a guide that started at the beginning and followed a logical progression, it was merely a compilation of articles from Fine Homebuilding. They were each good, but several mentioned that "space limitation prevent me from expounding on..." While this is true in a magazine, it shouldn't be the case in the book.
Also, with so many authors, there was a lot of contradictory information. In one "chapter" the author showed exactly how to (and how not to) use rebar. In a subsequent "chapter" another author was shown using rebar in precisely the way the first author said was incorrect. This went on throughout the book. How do you know who is right?
And while the book was published in 2003, some of the articles were from the early 80's. I was hoping for a chapter on laser layout, but there was no mention of a laser anywhere in the book. (But plenty of instructions to use water levels and transits.) It wasn't a bad book, just not what I was expecting after the Plumbing and Electrical books were so good. A better use of money would be to purchase a one year subscription to the Fine Homebuilding online archives - it's a great resource. It has everything in this book, along with thousands of other articles.
