Materials for Interior Environments

great shape

This is a standout book if you own a home or want to renovate it but want to know what kind of options are available.This book is a beautiful 400-page, softcover book. The book has literally hundred of descriptions of different kinds of materials, how the materials are used, strength and weaknesses of each. And, suggestions for placement inside a room (logistics).The chapters include:-- Part 1 Design Considerations --Ch. 1. Finish Selection and Specifications (pp's 3-16)Ch. 2. Sustainable Design (pp's 17-28)Ch. 3. Existing Buildings (pp's 29-40)-- Part 2 Interior Materials -Ch. 4. Concrete and Cement-Based Materials (pp's 43-62)*Cement*Terrazzo*ConcreteCh. 5. Stone, Masonry and Concrete Masonry Units (pp's 63-82)*Stone*Brick*Concrete Masonry UnitsCh. 6. Glass and Ceramics (pp's 83-106)*Glass*CeramicsCh. 7. Wood and Wood Products (pp's 107-132)*Solid Wood*Wood Veneer*Wood Panel ProductsCh. 8. Plaster and Gypsum Board (pp's 133-150)*Plaster*Gypsum Board*Glass Fiber Reinforced Gypsum (GFRG)Ch. 9. Metals (pp's 151-171)*Ferrous Metals*Non-Ferrous MetalsCh. 10. Synthetic Materials (pp's 173-190)*Types of Synthetic materials*Applications-- Finish Comparisons --Ch. 11. Paints and Coatings (pp's 193-208)Ch. 12. Fibers, Textiles and Leathers (pp's 209-236)*Fibers*Textiles*LeatherCh. 13. Floor Finishes (pp's 237-272)*Hard Floor Surfaces* Wood and Bamboo Flooring* Resilient Flooring*Soft Floor CoveringsCh. 14. Wall and Window Finishes (pp's 273-308)*Wall Finishes*Low Partitions*Wall Coverings*Glass Partitions and Glazings*Window TreatmentsCh. 15. Ceiling Finishes (pp's 309-326)*Ceiling Forms*Exposed Ceilings*Plaster and Gypsum Board Ceiling*Wood Ceilings*Suspend Ceiling SystemsCh. 16. Millwork, Casework and Furnishings (pp's 327-360)*Millwork*Casework*FurnishingsExcellent, excellent reference book.

This is an exceptionally good reference for anyone who is interested in interior design, is in the process of designing a house or other building to be built, or who wants to weigh the comparative merits and drawbacks of any materials they are thinking about using in a home they already have. Unlike a lot of such resources, this one is readable, both in font and in wording, and it is interspersed with illustrations and lots of color pictures so you can see what the various materials look like. It not only differentiates between types of materials but also provides information on the best applications to use them in. It is well organized, so you won't have trouble finding what you want when you want to reference it. It includes interesting examples showing how various materials were used in real buildings.Some of the greatest disasters in building construction have occurred because the wrong materials were used for a particular application. This book will give you the information you need to keep that from happening in your house or commercial building, and it will make it easier for you to make important interior design decisions as well, because you'll know up front what the tradeoffs of your various options are. Most people make decisions like these without any knowledge about how materials will perform; it's better to know up front so you'll be satisfied with the results.

With the hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of materials available to the architect or designer, trying to put them all into one book would be an impossible task. A choice has to be made between scope and detail, and in this volume, the author opted for scope. There are 550. Color illustrations in this book, and several thousand descriptions, but the descriptions are necessarily terse, and typically very basic- we are told, for example, that paint consists of pigment suspended in a binder. (Some of the descriptions do go into a curious degree of detail; does the designer rally need to know how Tin is mined?)This is more of a textbook than a reference book for professionals, and to that end it does a workmanlike job of describing the basics and providing a general catalog of a good many materials. Those looking for more detail and depth on the characteristics of materials and their uses will have to look into more detailed references or the ubiquitous internet references.

This is a great text for a Materials 101 course or for a DIY hobbyist interested in learning about interior construction materials. With a plethora of color illustrations and photos, as well as glossaries and lists of material variations, it's a better resource (and a more fun read) than some other materials books that I've encountered.If you're involved in an actual project, you will need to do further research on specific materials, as well as on building codes and legal requirements. This is more of an overview than a detailed reference. However, for a book like this to cover everything, it'd have to be thousands of pages long and would be out of date within months. This is one to keep on the shelf for the long term.

With millions of materials that can be used in interior design, it's impossible to write a comprehensive review of the subject. On the other hand, by being moderately selective, this book does an excellent job of providing a broad-brush overview of the subject. The expertise of the author is reflected in the choice of subject and the manner in which it is presented. The book is clearly written and illustrated with many pictures. As I said in the headline, it's an excellent textbook or a good overview for someone interested in the subject.Highly Recommended

correct book but the pages were stuck together, had to rip them apart. I expected to have a good book since I paid for a brand new book.