If you're really interested in Sears houses, I'd recommend Houses by Mail: A Guide to Houses from Sears, Roebuck and Company. It was written by a couple of my colleagues, Kate Cole Stevenson and Ward Jandl, and includes photos, plans and many other illustrations of most of the houses that appeared in the Sears catalogue. It's on sale at Amazon, link below.

An occasional forum poster, Rose Thornhill, has her own book, though I haven't seen it. Maybe she will post details.

Here is a link that might be useful: Houses by Mail at Amazon

Houses by Mail is a field guide, containing compiled images from the Sears Modern Homes catalogs.

My book (ahem) is "The Houses That Sears Built" and was published in 2002 and revised in 2004. It's the result of four years of research, and includes interviews with folks who built their own Sears Homes and contains massive amounts of factual info, original research, archival documents and more.

In 2004, I also published "Finding the Houses That Sears Built" which is a field guide to the 60 most popular designs, showing original catalog images (full size), together with two photos of extant Sears Homes.

After traveling all over the country, I found that while Sears offered 370 designs during their 32 years in the business, these 60 designs represent better than 90% of their sales.

I'm of the opinion that all these books (including Houses by Mail) have a place and that they're all important in learning more about Sears kit homes. My books don't replace HBM but hopefully complement it. :)

And I also want to mention that my friends Rebecca Hunter and Dale Wolicki will soon release a new book, a reproduction of a Sears Barn catalog, a wonderful addition to this field of research.

Rose

Here is a link that might be useful: The Houses That Sears Built

I'll have to check out a copy of Rose's book, yeah, yeah, I know Rose, don't go to the library, buy one, only 19.99!
I first discovered the Sears houses years ago and enjoyed many a lunch pouring over the plans in HOUSES BY MAIL . Not that I'm a particular Sears house fan, I just enjoy peering at old plans and elevations, call me kooky.
Anyway, it makes me think. The Sears, Aladin houses, etc were designed so that the common man, and woman, could afford a house of their very own. In great part they were a good, cheap house, and most folks would have said, some 40-50 years ago, " Oh, it's nothing special, it's just a Sears house."
Now you get people who are desperately hoping that theirs is a Sears and are truly disappointed when they find it's not. It's just a common old ordinary one of a kind designed house...sigh.
Funny how time changes things.

Sears no longer offers kit houses, but IKEA does! Link below (in Swedish) for their Bokloks kit houses.

Here is a link that might be useful: IKEA Bokloks

Hey Kennebunker, they were good houses. Sears homes were made with #1 Southern Yellow Pine framing members and all exterior wood was cypress (clapboards, corners, windown frames, etc).

Floors in the kitchen and bath were MAPLE (tongue and groove) and floors in the other rooms were white oak (occasionally pine).

BTW, I also love perusing old catalogs, so I'm a kook, too. :) That's how I got started in this unusual career.

Rose

My son lives in a Sears home..Just recently they did a major remodel, or overhaul, from basement to roof...They have lived in the home over 30 years.....

Me again...I'm back to my original ID (not mrs_h) after iVillage blew a fuse.

Rose, I wonder what it would cost to build a comparable home with those materials. They seemed built to last, especially when you compare the McMansions of today that are so chintzy. I can't imagine why people prefer those homes...but to each his own!

This would be my dream home, personally..or something very similar. Maybe a little bigger.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Good question, but there's really no way to know what it would cost to build a comparable home today because there are NO comparable materials!!

Sears Homes were built with first growth lumber out of virgin forests. We're talking the FORESTS of Louisiana, where trees grew slowly (due to lack of sunlight and competition) and because of the slow growth, the wood is very dense.

If you've ever had the chance to just FEEL THE WEIGHT of old lumber and compare it to the paper mache 2x4s of today, it's just amazing.

Sometimes, old house owners think their joists are made of oak because the grain is so dense and you can't drive a nail through it without predrilling the hole. But that's just good old pine!

I really, really, wonder what's going to happen to these McMansions in 50 years, after a little abuse, some absentee landlords, etc.

Rose
author, The Houses That Sears Built

I've been reading some 19th c. house books lately, and it's sort of funny in a way. The same complaints we have today about quality of workmanship, cost of lumber and even the quality of the lumber are echoes of the complaints they had over 120 years ago.

I'd hate to think of what folks from the 1870's would think of today's lumber. I have a pretty low opinion of it myself.

I can remember my father complaining about the quality of a good grade wood. His comment was something to the effect that his 1st boss wouldn't use 'this stuff' for crates.

Recently moved from a home we lived in for 25 years that had a Sears home wiring kit that was installed in the mid-twenties. Most of the wiring was still the original kit with additions added on over the years. While we lived there we did our own remodeling and added breaker boxes and up to code wiring to the new sections. Upon sale of the 5 bedroom, two bath, two and a half story, we had to inspect the wiring and were told everything was good, even the 1920's kit wiring.