A shallow dip into the home-remodeling pool

IF you want to undertake a home remodel but have no idea how to get started, here’s one way to proceed: Type “remodeling” into an Internet search engine such as Google and spend about two weeks reading everything you can set your eyes on.

Or you could pick up a copy of “50 Plus One: Tips When Remodeling Your Home” by William Resch and get a sampling of pertinent information in a couple of hours.

Want to know the issues in creating a home office? Health and safety on the job site? Doing part of the work yourself? Seeking arbitration? Going green? Resch has done a lot of thinking on these topics; also, apparently, a lot of Internet research.

Despite its title, the book is not really a compilation of tips per se. Instead, it consists of 51 chapters, four pages each, broken down into four sections: the challenge, the facts, the solutions and resources.

Chapters include “Neighbors and Noise,” “Windows and Lighting” and “What Is Hot in Attic Remodeling?” The final chapter, “The Celebration,” is an oddity, sharing recipes such as sausage-and-egg casserole that you can prepare for an open house when the remodel is finished.

The book is one in a series from Chicago-based Encouragement Press that includes “50 Plus One: Tips When Hiring & Firing Employees” and “50 Plus One: Greatest Sports Heroes of All Times.”

While the cover of “50 Plus One: Tips When Remodeling Your Home” states that Resch is a contractor and builder, the inside bio says that he is a project manager for a millwork company and that “he has been in the general contracting and millwork industries for more than 20 years.”

Indeed, the information in the book does not seem to come from a savvy contractor with insider knowledge, and the only first-person anecdote is about a bad experience Resch and his wife had hiring a contractor many years ago.

The book’s cover also promises to reveal which projects bring the most return on investment, but that information is elusive.

Although the book brings up a lot of issues you should think about, the chapters themselves are rather shallow. The biggest letdown is the chapter on hiring a contractor, which is the point in a remodel when homeowners often fail. Resch uses most of the chapter’s four pages for a list of horrors to avoid and to tell you of his aforementioned bad experience, then devotes a few paltry paragraphs to telling how to find a good contractor.

Nothing is mentioned of professional certifications (such as certified graduate remodeler or certified aging-in-place specialist) that contractors might have to distinguish themselves above all others in their area, or memberships in peer networking groups (Business Networks or Remodelers Advantage) that help remodeling companies fine-tune themselves.

Still, the truly uninformed homeowner will benefit from the vast number of remodeling issues raised, and the book can help you with decision-making: Remodel or not? Do it yourself or hire a contractor? But once that is established, you should look for a more comprehensive book to get you further along your remodeling journey. That or turn on your computer.