The Sunday Telegraph guide to looking after your property : everything you need to know about maintaining your home

Buying and maintaining a home is the greatest item of expenditure in most people's lives, but disturbingly few of us know how to look after our property properly: how to decide what needs doing when; how to find a decent builder; or how to judge whether the work is done to the right standard. This guide, based on Jeff Howell's column "On the Level" in the "Sunday Telegraph", provides the answers.

With insider tips and knowledge, covering everything from boilers and builders to condensation, central heating, dry rot, damp-proofing, plumbing and woodworm, and using "Telegraph" readers' stories as case studies, it should be helpful to those who cannot or do not want to do their own maintenance, but who want to know how to maintain their homes properly by employing the right professionals at the right time.