Home improvement you can trust

The Internet has certainly revolutionized the way we gather information. From remodeling our homes to protecting ourselves from fraud, there's an incredible wealth of product and technical information that's just a mouse-click away.

As you've no doubt already learned in your wanderings about the Web, some of what's out there is extremely useful, and some of it's not. In fact, some of it borders on the downright dangerous. So when you're surfing, know your sources. As you find sites that you know have practical and reliable content, bookmark them for use in the future. Beware of sites that are obviously just passing along information from other sites, often word for word and without regard for copyrights.

Here's a random sampling of interesting Web sites that are full of useable information you can rely on. Some of these are government sites, some are nonprofit organizations, and some are commercial sites. But even the commercial sites are ones that have reputable products:

APA --The Engineered Wood Association: Formerly the American Plywood Association, this group now oversees just about anything having to do with engineered lumber and sheet goods. There's a wealth of information here about plywood, OSB, engineered beams, you name it -- and lots of free publications available for download or by mail.

National Wood Flooring Association: This is a very nice site on wood flooring. It offers a lot of information about different types of wood floors, wood floor maintenance and repair, wood floor design, and even reclaiming and recycling wood flooring materials. It's designed to promote wood flooring, so it's slanted in that direction, but it's still a good source of information.

Building Online: This is a big commercial site that's been around for quite some time. It's basically a search engine, which connects you to just about any type of home improvement material or information source that you're likely to need. It's a great place to find the names, addresses, phone numbers and Web sites of companies and organizations for a wide variety of different building materials.

Federal Citizen Information Center: This is a very large site, full of an amazing array of information published by the federal government. At the left of the opening page, there's a menu of choices. Click on "Housing," then "Home Maintenance" to get to an area full of brochures and other information. The 36-page booklet called Energy Savers, about weatherization and other energy-saving tips, is one good example that's free for downloading. ...CONTINUED

All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, in part or in whole, without written permission of Inman News. Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright law.