The Golden Flannel Awards

Short, succinct, clear articles about almost every home improvement topic. Don is far more than just a web guy: he's written over 30 books on home improvement, too.

I've already blogged about how surprisingly good Family Handyman is for dispensing home remodeling advice.

Emphasis on "surprise," because this site is owned by Reader's Digest. A very middle-of-the-road advice spot, Family Handyman has excellent graphics and crisp writing--though all in all, it could use more human faces and personalities attached to it.

Bob Vila long ago--like, 20 years ago--gave up This Old House (you knew that, right?) and is now an industry called Bob Vila. He's also the front man for Sears, Lumber Liquidators, and other blue-chip companies.

As you might expect, The Bearded One really excels with videos--scads of videos on his site, and all quite good. Downside: his site tends to be very slow, due to the heavy graphics. Great information, but you'll need to wade through muck to get to the gold.

One of my favorites. This is a stellar source of information, mainly geared to professional builders (remodelers welcome, too) or for DIY'ers who want a more serious take on the issue.

In recent years, Taunton's has dispensed with many of their airs and has come down (almost) to the level of real people.

Yet Taunton's didn't get the memo about how the Web dispenses free info. There are only a limited number of free articles, and they are more of an attempt to push you through a paywall (i.e., paid membership). On the other hand, the new-new-new trend on the horizon with other sites is to start charging readers. So, maybe Taunton's is a super cutting edge site, who knows?

Definitely worth a look, though.

Tim Carter--all hail the king. King of what, though?

Well, search for anything related to home remodeling (maybe how to mud your walls while hanging upside-down?), and you can bet Tim's got an article on it. Tim has always been a force in web remodeling advice--practically since the day they began laying the Interweb tubes. About 2 years ago, Tim cranked into high gear with a full-scale remodel of his website and by cranking out search engine-friendly articles in unbelievable quantities.

Tim's an accessible guy, one of the few people I know who takes the time to respond to comments on his blog. Heck, he even keeps up with his YouTube comments. Goodness gracious, when does the guy sleep?

Sometimes an award winner has one feature that shoots them straight to the top. And with This Old House, I have just one thing to say: Home Inspection Nightmares.

Buried deep in this otherwise ordinary home improvement site is a gem of a feature. Home Inspection Nightmares features photos and frank comments from home inspectors who manage to find all sorts of travesties to make your hair curl...and to make you feel a whole lot better about your own home remodeling skills.

Don't let its pre-millennium graphics fool you, Hammerzone has got to be the most hands-on, "real" home improvement sites. Who knows, maybe the low graphics are part of the appeal. I kind of like the style.

For any wavering DIYers out there, Hammerzone will be intimidating. Hammerzone covers a lot of the heavy stuff like house siding and foundation work that other sites do not cover.

Best thing is that the owner, Bruce W. Maki, keeps his ego out of the whole enterprise. No slick photos of him looking all tough and bro-like: just the core stuff, man, that's all.

Indispensable if you're remodeling a house.