New House Handbook is Guide to Home Building and Remodeling.

A new publication, "The House Handbook: Guidelines for Building or Remodeling Your Home," is available from MWPS (MidWest Plan Service).

Twenty engineers and housing specialists at universities across the United States wrote the book. Ken Hellevang, a North Dakota State University Extension Service agricultural engineer, is a contributing author for chapters on foundations and utilities.

"The handbook is an excellent reference for people purchasing, remodeling or building a home," Hellevang says. "'The House Handbook' is written for use by homeowners or building professionals, and as a textbook."

The 224-page publication discusses everything necessary to build or remodel a house to make it affordable, attractive, convenient, efficient, healthy and adaptable to changing needs throughout the owner's life. Dozens of drawings, plus black-and-white photographs, accompany clearly written explanations.

Topics the handbook covers are:

* Making the decision to build or remodel

* Locating and working with needed professionals, such as lenders, real estate agents, builders, kitchen and bath designers, and landscapers

* Selecting a building site

* Evaluating and selecting materials, including insulation, windows, siding and roofing

* Making analytical decisions about individual areas and rooms, such as kitchen, bathroom, bedrooms, laundry and home office

* Making choices for important, but often underplanned, housing components, such as the foundation, entryways, hallways, stairways, doors, storage areas, and electrical, mechanical, environmental, water and sewer systems

Each chapter lists additional resources, including Web addresses. View excerpts from the handbook online at www.mwps.org/stores/mwps/files/NewsReleases/housesamples.pdf.

"The House Handbook," publication MWPS-16, may be ordered from MWPS for $30 plus shipping and handling. Place orders online at www.mwps.org, by e-mail at mwps@iastate.edu, by phone at (800) 562-3618 toll-free or (515) 294-4337, by fax at (515) 294-9589 or by writing MWPS, 122 Davidson Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011-3080.

MWPS is an educational publishing consortium consisting of 12 U.S. Universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It has its headquarters in the Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department at Iowa State University. MWPS has provided science-based, peer-reviewed, low-cost and free information and building plans to agricultural professionals, agribusiness people and homeowners since 1932.

NDSU Agriculture Communication

Source: Ken Hellevang, (701) 231-7243, kjh-eng@ndsuext.nodak.edu

Editor: Ellen Crawford, (701) 231-5391, ecrawfor@ndsuext.nodak.edu