A hands-on, step-by-step guide to properly maintaining your home

Your home requires regular maintenance to operate safely and efficiently. The expert advice in this second edition of Home Maintenance For Dummies can help you save literally thousands of dollars each year by showing you how to perform home maintenance yourself!

This new edition provides the latest tips on how to tune up your home and make repairs to every room of the house, from basement to attic. By combining step-by-step instructions and expert information, this practical guide gives you the skills to tackle everything from furnace tune-ups to leaky roofs. You'll also learn how to conduct routine inspections, keep major appliances running efficiently, and increase energy efficiency.

• Shows how to keep your home in tip-top shape, preserve its value, and avoid costly repairs
• Covers all rooms of the house, in addition to the roof, foundation, and exterior
• Explains how to keep all home systems and major appliances running smoothly
• Includes a seasonal maintenance schedule
• Provides the latest green maintenance options to help lower your utility bills

James Carey and Morris Carey have a radio show, a newspaper column, and a Web site, all called On the House, and appear regularly on CBS News Saturday Morning. They are also the authors of Home Remodeling For Dummies

If you've always wanted to tackle home repairs like a pro, Home Maintenance For Dummies, 2nd Edition is your ideal resource!

The book is well organized and has two main sections, indoor maintenance and outdoor maintenance. The book also includes nice graphical guides for those of us (me!) that need more than your basic instructions. Another great feature of the book are montly to-do's, to keep you on track throughout the year.

However, by far, the best thing about the book is it has saved me money! There are things outlined in the book that I thought I would have to pay someone to do, but realized how simple they really were and was able to do them myself!


Home Maintenance for Dummies   August 22, 2000
M. Kelly (Manhattan Beach, CA USA)
85 out of 87 found this review helpful

WOW! Who knew all the maintenance a house needs? The cleaning solution recipes are great, safe, and really do the best job. I have been slowly implementing a home maintenance program based solely on this book. It is easy to read and understand. Whether you are a novice or expert in taking care of your home and its appliances, you will learn alot from this book. It is not just about proper cleaning. It is about keeping your house and appliances looking their best and in working order for as long as possible. I give this book as a housewarming gift to all my friends who own a home.


The Best Ever   May 19, 2010
G. Sutton
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

Home Maintenance for Dummies is the best Dummy book ever. I have no aptitude for home maintenance and yet this book clearly explained matters in a way even I could understand. Well done!


Great for my purposes!   March 22, 2010
Jennifer (Wilmington, DE USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am a new homeowner, and this book has been a huge help for me. I don't intend to do many repairs myself, but I wanted a resource that would help me be more knowledgeable when talking to contractors, and it has been great for that. It also has a great maintenance checklist so you know what needs done & when.


Home Maintenance for "Smarties" !   May 19, 2010
Don Logay (Laguna Beach, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

As the former Editor-in-Chief of the top three magazines for the professional remodeling industry, I can say (with some degree of authority) that "Home Maintenance for Dummies" is the number one reference book that every home owner and apartment dweller needs to keep handy. The insights and pro tips offered by the Carey Brothers are spot-on info-wise and are based on decades of experience and "real" hands-on home repair work. Filled with easy to understand solutions and hundreds of suggestions to keep one's household running trouble-free, the "book with the yellow cover" will help you avoid having to use the dreaded "yellow pages" once its too late.