About the Author

Henri de Marne is among America’s best-known and most-trusted experts on residential housing. For the last 40 years, homeowners through the U.S. and Canada have relied on his weekly syndicated newspaper column and his blog at www.henridemarne.com for advice and information to maintain, repair, upgrade, and enjoy their houses.

He began his construction career in the mid 1950s, concentrating on all aspects of residential construction, repair, and remodeling. As a skilled researcher, holding a master’s degree in arts and sciences and with an avid curiosity, he accumulated a vast store of knowledge in order to solve the myriad problems besetting the average homeowner.

In addition to his column and blog, de Marne has contributed the first chapter of the Consumer Reports book Preventive Home Maintenance, and was senior consulting editor of the Readers Digest book New Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual.

He serves as an expert witness in construction cases, and as a consultant for homeowners, architects, engineers, builders, and condominium associations. As a member of ASHI (American Society of Home Inspectors) he inspected homes for prospective buyers until his retirement from the profession. He has taught courses on home inspection to the real-estate and appraisal industries, arbitrated construction disputes, lectured construction-industry groups on building techniques, and has written numerous articles for builders as a contributing editor of the Journal of Light Construction.

His column, “About the House,” began in early 1974 in the Washington Star, which was at that time a large-circulation afternoon daily in Washington, D.C. The column was syndicated nationally in 1982 by United Features Syndicate (now Universal Uclick), and has appeared ever since in newspapers throughout the U.S. and Canada, under the title “First Aid for the Ailing House.”

In that time, he has provided thoughtful answers to countless thousands of questions posed by his readers. It is hard to imagine a single question about houses that hasn’t been raised and responded to, in plain language that the average homeowner can understand.

For this book, he has sorted through the extensive archives to choose the material that will be most useful. He has edited the answers whenever appropriate, for the organization of the book and to bring all information up to date. The result is a valuable resource for homeowners, enjoyable for browsing through, yet organized to make it easy to find information whenever it is needed.

His column continues to be featured in many newspapers, while his blog, at www.henridemarne.com, reaches a rapidly growing audience in the U.S., Canada, and worldwide. If you have a question you would like answered in his blog, write to him at aboutthehouse@gmavt.net.