Essential Craftsman
by Scott Wadsworth · YouTube
Scott Wadsworth, a contractor with forty years on job sites, films framing, concrete, roofing, tool technique and jobsite judgment, including a multi-year series documenting one spec house from excavation through final finishes and punch list. The Spec House series is the closest free thing to an apprenticeship: it shows the order operations happen in, which is exactly what DIY renovators get wrong.
More resources on Home Renovation & DIY
This Old House Plumbing
Plumbing section of the long-running This Old House renovation brand, collecting step-by-step articles and videos on replacing faucets, toilets, sinks, and shower valves. Readers learn the tools, sequence, and common leak points for typical homeowner fixture swaps.
Building Science Digests - Building Science Corporation
The failure mode that turns a good renovation into a rebuild is trapped moisture, and almost nothing in consumer DIY media covers it correctly. Technical digests on wall and roof assemblies, vapour control, insulation retrofits, crawlspaces and moisture movement. Explains why assemblies rot, which matters before insulating or closing up a wall during a renovation.
Sal DiBlasi
A tile contractor with over forty years of installations demonstrates substrate prep, waterproofing membranes, mud beds, shower pans, flood testing and layout. Explains the reasoning behind each step and which shortcuts cause failures.
Code Check Complete, 3rd Edition: An Illustrated Guide to the Building, Plumbing, Mechanical, and Electrical Codes
Spiral-bound illustrated digest of the 2021 IRC, UPC and UMC plus the 2020 NEC, organised around the violations building inspectors cite most often. Covers framing, electrical, plumbing and mechanical requirements needed to pass permit inspection.
ICC Digital Codes - the I-Codes (free read-only access)
The International Code Council's official online library of the I-Codes, including the International Residential and Building Codes, readable free in a browser. Readers can look up the model code requirements behind construction and renovation work, then check them against local amendments.
This Old House
Channel of the long-running PBS renovation program, where licensed carpenters, plumbers and electricians work through repairs and whole-house remodels on camera and answer homeowner questions in short Ask This Old House segments covering tiling, flooring, plumbing and wiring.