Surface Preparation for Interior House Painting (ISBN 1933073616)

Great for Beginners and Professionals:
This book is really informative. Painting books are very vague when it comes to surface preparation but this book really lays out all the different methods, materials and step by step instructions on how to fix and repair all kinds of different surfaces. It helps you deal with water and mildew issues and is chock full of information relating to various wall fastners and other tricks and tools of the trade. Very strait forward and easy to understand, and complete with lots of photographs. A must have for painters, homeowners and DIY's!

How does the author sleep at night?:
This is the largest collection of safety warnings and repetition that I have ever seen. It appears that research for this book involved a trip to a hardware store and noting every warning label on paint cans, safety glasses, ladders, etc. The author excels at filling pages with fluff and avoiding any real content. About the time you think some real content might appear, he advises that if you are not knowledgeable with the proper procedures, hire a licensed drywall or plaster contractor. If all safety warnings and repetitive paragraphs were removed, actual content would easily fit on a postcard - but still not be of any value to even the clueless. I have never been more disappointed with a book. To think that I was excited to receive this book with such a promising title - awful. I suspect that the one good review (at the time of this review) was written by the author, publisher or friend.