UPDATED: Profile Photo Contest
Updated September 28, 2009 – 3:51 p.m. (EST)
User ShelleyStallings was deemed our winner after a random drawing was performed. Congratulations, Shelley, and enjoy the DVD-ROM!
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What do you want to see in video and online?
Post a comment with your answer, and update your profile photo on FineHomebuilding.com and you could be the lucky winner of our soon-to-be-released 2009 Fine Homebuilding Magazine Archive DVD-ROM.
Share your thoughts
In the comments section below, please tell us about the themes you’d like to see covered at Fine Homebuilding.com. What topics are most important to you? What would you like to see covered using in-depth video features?
One of the greatest aspects of combining a print magazine with a strong presence on the internet is the ability to go directly to readers and pose the question: what would you like to see us cover? We’ve received some great feedback concerning our “There’s a Better Way” and “Build Like a Pro” video series, and we’d like to continue on that path, with your help.
As an added twist, those leaving comments should do so using a new profile image, or “avatar.” We’re getting a bit bored with the same old grey box silhouette images that so many of you have associated with your profiles. So for the next ten days, if you post a comment using a creative new avatar, you’ll be automatically eligible to win a copy of our soon-to-be-released 2009 Fine Homebuilding Magazine Archive on DVD-ROM.
How to Update Your Profile Photo
To update your avatar, go to your “Manage Profile Page” and upload an image using the “Change Your Profile Image” box (highlighted at left). Remember, profile photos can be no larger than 4MB in size and 4,000 pixels in width, and no smaller than 400 px. wide.
To get your creative juices flowing, have a look at these links to a variety of avatar resources that will help you create your new image:
Shrink Pictures
The easiest method available. Upload any photo and this program creates an avatar. Our site uses photos that are 150 pixels wide.
Face Your Manga
This site is pretty wild. Upload a photograph of yourself and become a cartoon.
Simpsonize Me
For a more humorous approach, turn yourself into a Simpsons character.
Or be creative and upload your company logo, an image, or an icon that represents you.
Fine Homebuilding Recommended Products
Fine Homebuilding receives a commission for items purchased through links on this site, including Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs.
Reliable Crimp Connectors
Affordable IR Camera
Handy Heat Gun
Upload a new profile photo into your user account and post a relevant comment below for a chance to win a copy of the 2009 Fine Homebuilding Magazine Archive on DVD-ROM.
View Comments
I'm not eligible to win, but I'll go first. What about a Discovery-Channel-style video series on amazing homebuilding projects...
I like it when the magazine speaks to professionals on a professional level. DIY'ers should be welcome, but the magazine should NOT be directed to them, on their level. That is a mistake that will turn professionals away faster than a stop-work notice from the building department! And really, by focusing on professionals, the DIY crowd will be enticed by a peek into the pro's world, they won't be turned off.
I'd like to see more remodeling articles - dealing with the plethora of challenges one faces in dealing with tying in new work with older homes. Also, more bang for the buck - high impact remodeling projects on a shoestring budget.
I like carpentry articles - tricky framing challenges, hanging a door in a difficult or unusual situations, site-built finish details, etc.
Also, a primer for contractors - a series of articles explaining basic plumbing theory, basic electrical theory, basic insulation theory, basic air conditioning theory, basic sheet metal work, etc. - but directed at the professional contractor, not the DIY'er.
Most of all, I'd like to see craftsmanship revived as a virtue worth striving for. Every issue should showcase examples of consumate cratsmanship - whether current or past: carpentry, sheet-metal, even plumbing, electrical, and ducting can be done with care and craftsmanship.
r.e. the website: the gallery needs to be set up to take more than 5 photos per entry. Also, set it up so your software resizes pictures for web use, don't make us tediously resize every photo we're trying to post! And when someone posts a comment to us, how about an email notification, to keep it current. Not like, Oh, someone posted a comment on my gallery listing 3 months ago - I just noticed!
And how about a reader's video section - where we can upload "how to" videos of our own. And dump that "beverly hillbilly" banjo music, and silly "better way" monologue at the start of each of CM's tips videos.
BTW - kudos on a great website, love the video tips, love BT, love the gallery contests!
How about an "esoterica" column - each issue features an aspect of homebuilding that's not widely known. But to keep interest in the fine art of homebuilding alive, this column would discuss interesting facets of construction that are little known today. Like roof-cutting, building a door, building a wood screen door, building a window, site-built cabinets, etc.
Huck- If all contractors were as Professional, Affordable & Timely as you than Lowe's & H Depot wouldn't exist and DIY'ers like myself wouldn't need to read FHB.
I DIY'ed a Demo & Rebuild of my own 2,600 Sq Ft "New" House
and alot of the knowledge came from reading FHB for last 15 years.
Its a thousand times better than any of the post war shacks that my wife & I grew up in.
I cancelled my subscription over the F Sprinkler article.
There is a fast growing screw you attitude against a guy trying to work on his "own castle" and I am sick of listening to it.
Think more people or less in near future will be forced to be DIY'ers due to finances?
Stormando - Do I detect a little sarcasm? =)
So...as a DIY'er, wouldn't you prefer a magazine that presents the professional approach? Isn't that what you're after as a DIY'er? I'm not aware of the attitude you mention, not on FHB at any rate. I have heard of it on certain plumbing forums.
I'm a DIY'er on my own home quite often, and like you, have benefitted tremendously from FHB. As a DIY'er working on my own castle, I love the professional insights I get from FHB, and from BreakTime. I also love the video tips.
I have no idea why a fire sprinkler article would be so offensive -care to elaborate?
If more people are forced to become DIY'ers as a result of the economy, will there be a need for a professional journal for them to turn to, as they strive for professional results?
So...How about that shiny new avatar?
Huck -See Sprinkler Comments
In my mind, any Taunton Press publication is a great source of inspiration as well as technical information and I consider the money and time invested in pursuing them well spent.
Personally, I think FHB does a great job of covering topics at a professional level, yet communicating so clearly that typically a reasonably skilled DIY'er can understand. Professional contractors need not fear a FHB educated reader will put them out of business as more often that not the articles help this DIY'er understand the complexity of a particular building condition and support my decision to hire a Contractor to the work.
Anyway, keep up the good work, Taunton press. I particularly like your use of videos on the Internet to help illustrate key ideas. I never really understood the value of a riving knife until I watched your latest video. Thanks!
FineHomebuilding.com has been there for me through tough and tougher. I wouldn't trust anyone else. Great work guys.
As a furniture maker and home renovation DIYer, I find the insights and information in Fine Homebuilding (and Fine Woodworking) invaluable for all my projects. And the tool reviews have helped me choose the best tool for the job at hand. Thanks and keep on printing...
The articles in FHB provide the ideas and inspiration for almost all the projects I do. The wide range of topics from upgrades to repairs, remodels and new construction gives a wide range of useful knowledge. The articles I like the most are the ones in which creativity and design ideas are more "out there". The unusual approaches to either solving a problem or designing a structure or project. FHB photos and illustrations are among the best there is in this field. More articles on energy efficiency and sustainable products would be useful to me.
I would like to see more "how to" videos and online demonstrations that teach the use of SketchUp. As a design professional, I see SketchUp as becoming the ultimate standard almost everywhere CAD is applied in the home building trades. I use it as a design tool to help clients visualize spaces and to assist me with the construction of complex designs. It is a useful tool, worthy of more topic discussion.
Also, as a professional I would enjoy seeing or reading about the business side of our trades. How to keep paperwork organized, how to stay on schedule, how to work around weather, architects, subcontractors, and tough clients. Copious amounts of time and money can easily make for fine homebuilding, but how to get by without much time and money... or how to get more out of the client.
Thanks for the great work so far!
In honor of my 49th birthday a couple of days ago, I added the phone of 'my' tractor. When people asked how I felt about getting 'older' I said just as long as I am still younger than my tractor, I'm OK. Thats a 1958 JI Case 310 Crawler loader. I've been driving since about 1972. Yes, I was 12 then.
As for site content. I think I have watched everyone of the 'There's a simpler way' I think we are always trying to work 'smarter and not harder' and those tips help allot.
I could use some tips on how to keep mice out of my stuff. I did a good job making my house mouse-proof, but they are all over the stuff in my shed, in my car, and they totally busted my aunt's water heater. And that reminds me how do I put a new water heater on a screen porch? It used to be a bathroom but my aunt changed it to a screen porch without considering that electric appliances don't do well in the rain. It was the table top kind so it lasted a pretty long time. I've heard about water heaters that can be mounted on the wall with brackets. Maybe getting it up off the floor and farther up towards the ceiling would keep the rain off of it. It won't do anything for the mice though. They go up a wall like squirrels. Should I try cramming steel wool in all the crevices and openings? If anybody is an expert in this they should definitely do an article.
1) Living in a Hot-Humid climate, an article on the energy usage (both heating and cooling) of construction with insulated floors over ventilated crawl space with microclimatic amelioration at vents by continuous foundation plantings versus slab on grade with earth fill bermed up 3-4 feet.
In other words, is traditional versus the passive energy conservation of earth massing better and in which climate locations.
2) Comparative configurations or detailing and life-cycle costs of surface bonded masonry construction to provide base interior and exterior finish integral with structural wall construction versus wood framing with fiber reinforced cement siding and wallboard interiors. The focus would be on labor savings and costs of air and moisture barriers implementation in the two different construction types.
3) Heating and cooling systems and strategies for transitional seasons where simple ventilation with natural historical empirical methods can accomplish the needed sensible comfort amelioration without heating or cooling from fuel oxidation or cooled compressed fluid expansion and whether this results in energy savings.
I tend to read most articles, but seldom watch videos. I don't know what kind of time commitment I need for a video, but I can always skim an article and pick up where I left off if I get interrupted.
For electrical wiring, many of us have to pipe conduit, so articles using Romex aren't very useful.
Why not include some of the off-brands in tool comparisons? Even though you may think they are unprofessional, many buy them as throwaways or for job sites where theft is an issue.
Some of the tool tests could be more scientific. For example, I would love to see a test on miter saws where you put a tension gauge and a dial indicator on the blade to see how much side-to-side deflection there is. Why not get a decibel meter and measure how loud those tools are?
More of us are using CAD or drawing software for even basic layout drawings, and spreadsheets for job planning. Perhaps some articles on that would be useful.
I must confess I let my paper subscription to FHB lapse. Some of the articles were too basic, many had great info, while others were too esoteric. It's a big challenge to provide a mix of articles that interest everybody. I feel FHB's strength has always been the great illustrations and useful tips and techniques. Also love the tools reviews, but they need to be more brutally honest, advertiser dollars be damned.