"Shows homeowners how to build up, expand, refresh and accessorize their outdoor spaces using the most contemporary techniques, tools, and materials while following the most up-to-date codes"--

This offering from the successful Build Like a Pro series provides complete in-depth information, step-by-step instructions, focused sidebars, and tips that add up to a professional patio or walkway project that homeowners will enjoy for years to come.

Love all of your masonry and concrete projects--knowing that you did them yourself!--with help from our experts. No projects offer more aesthetic or financial satisfaction than DIY concrete and masonry projects. Homeowners can routinely save thousands of dollars in labor costs by buying and installing materials that are readily available. This updated 4th edition of Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Concrete & Masonry includes traditional techniques for laying concrete, adapted to make them easy for ordinary homeowners, and also features completely modern materials and techniques, such as tumbled concrete pavers, acid-etching for colored concrete slabs, and important green paving options, such as rain-garden arroyos and permeable pavers. Several cutting-edge projects, like polished concrete countertops and stamped concrete walkways, are included in this book. An exposed aggregate patio, a reinforced concrete block wall, and the latest tools and materials for handling new products are featured. A completely new section on foundation walls shows you all the options, including the latest structural insulated panels, that are now more DIY friendly than ever. No homeowner or do-it-yourselfer will want to miss this chance to master the best methods to create lasting beauty around the house.

Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Patios gets a fresh update with the latest products, even more projects, and all-new photos. With all of the DIY-friendly products for backyard building available today, the only valid excuse not to build your own patio or walkway is that you haven't found the right guide for you. That's about to change. In Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Patios (3rd Edition), the expert editors of Cool Springs Press arm you with thorough, comprehensive information for virtually any patio or walkway undertaking you can think of. An extensive materials and design section helps you wrap your head around all the upfront planning, and the over 30 step-by-step patio, walkway, and landscape projects within are illustrated with detailed, brand-new photographs to guide your progress along the way. Whether you prefer more traditional materials--interlocking blocks and pavers, poured concrete, flagstone, loose gravel and mulch--or you want to be on the cutting edge of the industry with new artificial pavers, geogrid synthetics, and pervious concrete, we've diligently updated this guide to include it all. Finished with a new ending chapter that shows you how to fully customize your DIY patio or walkway, the inspiration inside Black & Decker The Complete Guide to Patios perfectly aligns with all the needs of today's do-it-yourself homeowner.

Offers design guidelines for building a patio, discusses foundations, posts, footings, and stairs, and presents a variety of designs.

Provides step-by-step instructions for the do-it-yourselfer on how to build such backyard or garden structures as patios, decks and porches, fences, walls, pathways, sheds and outbuildings, and accessories.

With clear instructions, tips, and step-by-step color photos for each project, this book takes the intimidation out of DIY solar builds. For those with more ambitious solar power plans, this updated edition contains information on outfitting your home with solar electricity collection systems and integrating them into your primary power supply system. Excitement about home solar energy is exploding, and DIY Solar Projects: Updated Edition sheds light on how you can get involved immediately.