Builder’s Library: Remodeling Planbook

Architectural Plans for Adding On or Remodeling by Jerold L. Axelrod (McGraw-Hill, 1992; 800/722- 4726). Hardcover, 71/2×91/2, 335 pages. $26.95. If renovation is your bread and butter, you may have yearned for something like a planbook. Oh sure, there are plenty of “How To” books filled with all the ins and outs of designing and detailing. And plenty of TV programs, including the popular This Old House. But nothing like a planbook. The idea of a renovation planbook has always seemed impractical to me. How could you systematically show all the possible types of renovations, linked up with all the possible types of existing houses? The combinations must be infinite. And yet, haven’t you done similar projects over and over? Aren’t there patterns in kitchen remodels,