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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $19.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Whether you want a storage structure, children's playhouse, art studio or workshop, you can learn how to design and build the ideal shed for any yard with this Popular Mechanics guide. You'll learn how to site, plan and choose durable and attractive materials. There's easy-to-understand information on carpentry and structural anatomy, from installing a foundation to nailing roof shingles to framing a window. This book also includes a final chapter with shed designs that will help you get started building your own structure. Become a citizen of Shed Nation and enjoy your property to its fullest.

There are innovative plans for building several sheds, each with a different practical use, as well as contributions from Popular Mechanics readers who share their own designs.

The sheds include:

• Small Is Beautiful: A 6’ x 8’ shed with solid framing, plywood sheathing and cedar siding. It’s big enough to hold a variety of tools, but won’t dominate the backyard.
• The Groundskeeper: This 9’ x 13’ shed with a spacious layout and a crisp, no-frills design is ideal for the beginning DIYer.
• The Big Red Shed: This handsome shed is a multipurposer’s dream; a 10’ x 12’ tool shed combined with an 8’ x 10’ open bay that’s great for firewood or tractors.
• Classic Colonial: A stylish, multipurpose garden shed with decorative trim and architectural accents. Includes a 12’ x 12’ general storage space, 4’ x 12’ potting area, and a small loft for seasonal storage.
• The Greenhouse: Complete instructions on purchasing a kit greenhouse in a variety of sizes (7’ x 9’, 8’ x 16’, or larger) allows for a big-league growing season.

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Here's a mammoth resource that belongs in the library of everyone who owns a garden. It's a colorful treasure trove of the best backyard projects ever, from decorative to functional, from walls to walkways. Providing solutions to every possible garden problem, this book furnishes comprehensive coverage of all planning stages: design, technical considerations, tools and materials.

Transform your yard into a beautiful oasis by making attractive and practical garden features using a wide range of materials. Whether you need more rustic seating or want to accent your perennial beds with a flagstone walkway, there's a perfect design here to fulfill your needs.

Need to enliven an ordinary setting? A garden floor can do the trick. Follow the instructions for making one of brick, ornamental gravel, stone or concrete. Want to define a space? Add a beautiful pathway. Find out how to put up a fence for extra flair, or choose one of 30 garden seating ideas, including a trestle swing. How-tos, photos, drawings, and patterns make construction easy.

Complete with hundreds of stunning color photographs, The Big Book of Backyard Projects will enable you to add function and style to your outdoor areas.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $22.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

Every woodworker will want to own this colorful, information-packed, mammoth resource for weekend crafting. It's filled with 150 classic projects, and features an introductory section that walks readers through the various planning stages. It's all covered: selecting the right wood, working with patterns, gluing and finishing. Novices can effortlessly make simple mirrors, shelves, clocks and jewelry boxes, while those with slightly more advanced skills can try the small cupboard, blanket chest or side table. For outdoors, there are whimsical weathervanes, whirligigs, plants stands and trellises. Some of the sweetest items are just for kids, such as animal pull toys, wheeled cars, puzzles, a winged rocking chair and vintage-style doll accessories. Every project includes finishes or surface decoration options, plus drawings and patterns.

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From treehouses to prefabs, this book presents sustainable, micro-green living at its best. Micro Green delves into the concept of compact living and demonstrates the possibilities of living with less while maintaining a rich life. As sustainable architecture becomes mainstream, many architects and designers are using technology and wit to experiment with what it means to be green, and the results are both effective and enthralling. The rustic treehouses, airy domes, and recycled-scrap structures of Micro Green are presented through vivid photography and detailed building plans, and display a range of environmental influences. Here living spaces are carved out of hillsides, trees rise through decks and floors, and walls melt seamlessly back into the surrounding woods. Though many of the homes chronicled in Micro Green are unique in design, their economical size and ingenious interior spaces are the epitome of practicality and illustrate an acute understanding of compact living and its potential for rural, suburban, and even urban ecosystems. Small in both carbon and architectural footprint, the dwellings in Micro Green have large implications for the global movements of eco-consciousness and sustainability.

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CLEARANCE ITEM. PREVIOUS RETAIL PRICE WAS $12.95 AVAILABLE ONLY WHILE SUPPLIES LAST!

To the green and crafty kid, vintage LP covers, empty tissue boxes and broken umbrellas are not trash -- they're treasures!

Written in a teen-friendly style, ReMake It! presents 95 cool eco-smart projects -- like turning an oatmeal container into a super-cute tote or creating a picture frame from an old pair of eyeglasses. Step-by-step instructions, plus a Stitchionary and fantastic full-color photos of each project, make it easy and fun to get creative …with stuff that's FREE!

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Build your way to a more self-sufficient lifestyle with step-by-step projects for backup and supplementary utilities -- including independent water, heat and electricity -- growing and storing food, raising small livestock, beekeeping and more. Many of the projects require basic materials available at your everyday home center, but this book also provides valuable DIY resources for solar, hydro, greenhouse and gardening needs.

This book will help you build security with utility backup systems and become more sustainable, resulting in less dependence on city systems for basic needs. Whether you have a city plot or simply pots, this book includes all of the information needed to plan, build and succeed with greater self-sufficiency.

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This definitive manual marks the birth of a new vernacular for the 21st century. More than 400 color photographs and step-by-step instructions guide you through the building of anything from a garden shed to your own woodland house. This practical ‘how-to’ book will unquestionably be a benchmark for sustainable building using renewable local resources and evolving traditional skills to create durable, ecological and beautiful buildings.

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Discover why geothermal heat pumps are the most energy-efficient technology for heating and cooling, and how all homes (new or retrofit, in hot or cold climates) can use this reliable, silent, non-polluting way of extracting free energy from the earth.

Contents include:

• Geothermal system options, including open-loop, closed-loop and DX configurations, using horizontal and vertical earth loops
• The importance of finding a qualified contractor
• Costs, tax credits and payback issues, plus calculating increased home values
• Who is using geothermal energy, including the author’s firsthand experiences, home profiles from around the country as well as an overview of commercial/institutional projects
• How solar electricity can be used to power the system, plus other future trends
• Unraveling the science and technology of geothermal heat pumps (GHPs)
• Understanding GHP performance standards, ratings and warranties
• Comprehensive appendix with helpful resources (such as manufacturers and associations) and a career section for those interested in entering the field.

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Housing is a fundamental human right. For most of human history, our homes were built by hand from whatever local materials were available. However, since the Industrial Revolution, most housing has become little more than quickly constructed, mass-produced, uniform boxes. At the same time, the invention and standardization of the 30-year mortgage and our ever-increasing reliance on credit has come to mean that most of us never own our homes outright.

Housing Reclaimed is a call to arms for nonconventional home builders. It examines how technological advances, design evolution and resourceful, out-of-the-box thinking about materials and efficiency can help us meet the challenge of building affordable, environmentally friendly, beautiful and unique homes. Focusing on the use of salvaged and reclaimed materials, this inspirational volume is packed with case studies of innovative projects including:

• Phoenix Commotion — working together toward low-income home ownership through sweat equity and 100% recycled materials
• HabeRae — revitalizing neighborhoods by creating urban infill using modern technology and sustainable and reclaimed materials
• Builders of Hope — rescuing and rehabilitating whole houses slated for demolition