Before starting a new improvement or repair project – no matter how small – taking a few minutes to read instructions is often a good idea. Even if you’ve made the repair in the past, looking over owner’s manuals or reading home-repair books can refresh your memory.

Three do-it-yourself guides that make good investments for homeowners are: a repair encyclopedia, which covers hundreds of repairs and maintenance tasks, and separate manuals for specific plumbing and home wiring repairs.

Popular Mechanics, Ortho and Black & Decker publish excellent home-repair encyclopedias. Several are available at Amazon.com. “Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-To” ($24.95) is a thorough guide to hundreds of common household repairs.

The Taunton Press (www.taunton.com) has several series of how-to manuals. Two series – “Idea Books” and “For Pros By Pros” – elaborate on specific repair and remodeling practices, from wiring to plumbing to siding.

The folks who make the “For Dummies” series of books, Wiley Publishing, have come out with a line of home-improvement kits for specific tasks. The first kit, Wall & Ceiling Repair for Dummies, is less than $20 at ACE Hardware stores starting in May, and includes materials and bilingual instructions (English and Spanish) for repairing interior surfaces.

Other excellent repair series are by Creative Homeowner (www.creativehomeowner.com) and The Home Depot (www.homedepot.com).