Straw Bale Homes - Advantages of Alternate Construction Methods

Let's face it. This planet is in a crisis. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. To create the energy we needed to sustain our modern comforts, we've polluted our atmosphere with countless gasses that will eventually warm the planet. A major part of this is the energy we squander heating and cooling our homes which is produced using fuels that emit greenhouse gasses. The solution is simple. Build homes that use less energy.

Earthen homes are at the top of the list. These are also known by the name of earth ships. Problem is that a majority of the living area on an earth ship is subterranean and doesn't meet many fire codes for egress as I understand.

One other is the chord wood house. This is also an excellent choice and I don't believe there are many downsides to this method except it's walls are nothing but firewood logs cut to length and put together with mortar like a brick house. I say it's a downside because we really need to save as many trees as possible. No, I'm not a tree hugger sorta guy, I just know that trees are the one element of nature that, if left alive, will scrub many of the bad gasses out of our atmosphere.

So then we come to building homes out of bales of rice or wheat straw. The straw is something we have been actually throwing away as waste in this country for years. Yet when put together as wall units, produce a very high restivity factor of R-39 to R-52 with a wall thickness of 14 to 16 inches. Wow, the common house built in America today using standard building methods is generally R-13 to R-19. R or resistivity is a number measuring a material's resistance to heat flow. R stands for resistance. Anyway, there is over double the difference in how much heating and cooling these walls can contain. Less energy used, less greenhouse gasses spilled into the atmosphere.

Once the walls are up, then the home is wrapped with a fabric that allows moisture to exit but not enter the walls and then is covered in about one inch of cement. These structures are as beautiful as they are functional. Even better is that only 20% or so of the structure is lumber so trees are saved. The cost is probably 50% less than standard construction methods and they last for ages. There are straw bale buildings in my area of Tennessee that have withstood the elements for well over a century.

Tim Davis is an Architectural Designer who has been in drafting and design since the late 1980's. He teaches Architectural Drafting over the internet at http://homedesign.8m.com, draws House Plans professionally at http://customhouseplans.8m.com and offers Free Strawbale House Plans at http://customhouseplans.8m.com/strawbale

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_J._Davis

My Ebook Titles and Websites

How to turn a barn into a home.
http://draftingservice.us/barnhomes/
Gives a breakdown of what would be needed to convert a Barn into a Home.
Ebook

House Plan Drafting 101
http://homedesign.8m.com
Architectural Drafting Class over the Internet. Covers Single and Two Story home plans.
Online Course

Learning to Draw House Plans in a No-Nonsense Way http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/
Architectectural Drafting Class taken from House Plan Drafting 101 in Ebook format.
Ebook

Received Text Ebook Directory
http://receivedtext.org
Directory with various ebooks and various topics
Website

Mechanical Drafting 101
http://draftingservice.us/m101/index.htm
Complete Mechanical Drafting Class. Offers free mechanical drawings for download.
Ebook

Architectural Details
http://homedesign.8m.com/details/
Architectural CAD symbols for use in Residential Drafting.
Downloadable DXF files

The Parsons Corner Ministries
http://parsonscorner.org
Biblical question and answer site. Includes message board.
Christian Website

Drawing a Simple House Plan on a Drafting Board
http://draftingservice.us/101boardlessons/
Free Architectial drafting board lessons
Ebook

Finding a Suitable Barn to Convert Into a Home

There is a trend lately to find unique and affordable housing and many have turned to converting a barn into a home. In my area of East Tennessee, there are some fine examples of this including the one I converted.

It's needless to say that there are many barns in various shapes and sizes all around. A vast majority are in bad shape. Please don't make the mistake of buying one that is labeled a unique fixer upper opportunity. Don't fool yourself. If a barn has gotten into the shape where the siding boards are starting to fall off, unless you're buying it for parts, my suggestion is to leave it alone. By the time the boards start falling off the sides, there's major flaws. The main trouble would probably be that the horizontal beams are rotting and the fasteners are turning loose.

The best candidate for remodeling would be one that was painted on the exterior walls and roof. This means that it was at least maintained to a certain degree by it's owners over the years. If your barn has some age on it, it would probably be best to first find all the areas that have been effected by weather or urine from the livestock that was kept in that barn. Animal urine sometimes has a high acid content and anything that has been contaminated with it really needs to be removed from the structure.

Look especially in the loft areas where hay may have been stored close to the outside walls. Chances are there may have been some rain water that had soaked in through the hay bales. This is where you will find most of any rotting of the floor boards. Take a look at the underside of the roof. If you see pinholes and sunlight coming through, water can also seep in. You'll either have to replace the tin roofing where you find these holes or dab the holes with a tar patch and then coat the roof with a fibered aluminum paint.

Inspect the interior walls and see what types of columns are used in your barn. 99% of all barns in the US are post and beam construction. If your posts are buried in the ground, check and see if there is any type of rotting. Older barns will probably not have pressure treated wood in their construction. If your barn is built with a wide open floor area, you are most certainly going to have to build masonry piers inside to support your floors and walls and also find a way to tie the existing walls into the new support system.

Check to see that the horizontal beams are not loose or if there is rotting between them and the columns. Look at the top plates for rot from water damage. If your columns are mounted on a rock or cinder block, check the bottoms of the columns for rotting.

Consult your local building inspector to make sure you can get the proper permits if needed. In my part of the country, building permits for remodeling are not required if you are in the county but your local codes may be different. It would be a shame to buy the barn only to find the powers that be will not grant the necessary permissions.

When I first began my project, all I had to work with was the old, empty barn. Being an old structure it was necessary to examine the entire building to make sure there wasn't any type of structural flaws. Thank goodness there was only one place that had to be bolstered. The inside front left corner was starting to slide off it's foundation stone. I solved that problem by hooking the column to my tractor and winching it back into place with a come-along. Then I built a buttress beside the column to keep it from moving again.

Tim Davis is a veteran Architectural Designer who also teaches architecture and drafting over the internet http://houseplandrafting101.com . He has just released an Ebook entitled "How to Turn a Barn into a Home". The info page for updates on this ebook can be found at http://draftingservice.us/barnhomes

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_J._Davis

Web Promotion with Message Boards

Search engines have change their methods considerably in the way they index sites. It's no longer just submit your URL then expect a flood of visits to your site. These search engines are wanting meaningful content and relevance to their links. I agree whole heartedly with their decisions at being more selective. Why? Quite frankly relevance eliminates confusion and promotes order. Because of this choice by the search engines it is now a whole lot easier to find specifically what you are looking for when you search.

And search engines are paying a bunch more attention to message boards and forums for relevant content. The reason is that these sites are where the more indepth discussions on subjects are taking place. And being such are a great opportunity to give your site the exposure it needs.

The way that you can receive search engine attention is as follows:

1. Find message boards who's subjects are similar to your sites content. If you have a website who's subject is marketing, find a message board related to marketing. If your sites subject is ebooks, find a board who's subject is ebooks.

And once you've located that particular board with that particular subject, register and take part in the discussions so that you can build a reputation as someone who is knowledgeable in that particular area. The search engines usually spider and index these boards daily and your post on the subject will be picked up by them.

Make sure you use an avatar with your account. Maybe a picture of yourself as this gives your posts a bit more substantiality.

2. Once you have established a number of posts on that board, look at the rules of that particular forum and see if they allow custom signatures. A signature is an area where you can post a little about you and what you do. It also shows up on every post you make in that message board and as a result, also in the search engines. I need to caution you though, do not go overboard on your signature. In other words, simply make mention of your site and the link to it. Do not try to openly advertise your product on the board. Many boards consider this as spam and will most likely get you banned.

3. Create your own message board and invite others to come and discuss your subject. I just recently did this myself and am now in the process of getting members. This puts the promotion in your hands. I does mean a bit more effort on your part but the rewards can be tremendous.

The forum I mentioned in this article is located at http://receivedtext.org/forum/ and is wide open to use if you would like to try the same method. I plan to write an article later on the subject of promoting your own message board.

Ebook Research and Marketing with Message Boards

A little brainstorming to find out more about what the public is looking for in an ebook subject. General suggestions on communicating with prospective readers.

So you have an ebook and you are wanting folks to know it's there. What do you do? Well I've been an author for several years now and have written articles, courses, and ebooks on subjects like architectural and mechanical drafting, humor, church history and government, bible version comparisons, charity, etc. I've been around the bush a couple of times. And of those times over the years, I've dealt with numerous techniques of marketing and researching to find out what people are interested in for subject matter. Problem is that I feel there must be more ways to communicate with readers for more ideas.

I believe I've come across an idea that a handy tool in research. Being an author, of course I have my ebooks in as many directories as I can. Just recently I opened my own ebook directory where I advertise my various titles along with other authors works. The one thing I hadn't tried was to create a message board or forum and attach it to my ebook directory. With this method I can invite visitors and authors of the books listed on my directory to discuss the books themselves and even get ideas for future ebooks.

I already know this method works because interactions on my support board for the drafting lessons, I periodically ask my students on the board what they think of different subjects and ask them what they would like to see next in a course. Many gladly respond with their own ideas and thoughts. Matter of fact they are pleased to be a part of the process.

One of those conversations went as follows and originally wasn't aimed at research. This particular student was just asking a question about one of the lessons:

Me - Thanks. Would you believe by the way that you are the first in 2 years that actually let me know they found the window missing??? Now what does that tell us?

Student: Tim, Yow! I'm not even gonna venture a guess! Now I'm almost afraid to mention that I reached the point in Lesson #7 where the center beam for the floor joists should be 12"...

Me - Man, you are right on top of it. Continue to enjoy. Hey, help me out with something, will ya? I have a few projects in the works. If you don't mind, which do you think would be the most popular or interesting?
The projects I have on the drawing board right now are:
1. Creating construction drawings for a strawbale home
2. Converting a barn into a home
3. Mechanical drawing on a drafting board
4. Machine Shop Drafting 101
5. Industrial drafting 101
6. Survey and Topographical Drafting 101
7. Creating construction drawings for an earthship

Student - These are some very interesting ideas! If I were to pick from your list, I'd probably go in this order:
1. Survey and Topographical Drafting 101
2. Industrial drafting 101
3. Machine Shop Drafting 101
These for the possible future earning potential for students, but for me personally, I'd like:
1. Creating construction drawings for an earthship
2. Converting a barn into a home
3. Creating construction drawings for a strawbale home
That's because of my "Mother Earth News" way of thinking, I do believe!

Then another student joined into the conversation with the following:

Other Student - I would like to see these choices from your list, in no particular order...
mech drawing on a drafting board
machine shop 101
industrial drafting 101
survey/topo draft 101
also if you may consider input... i would like to see a few 101's directed toward indust mech sytems, electrical, boiler plants/chiller plants, hvac etc... just my $.02....ya get what ya pay for...lol

Anyway, I thought I'd share this tidbit with you. Just by including the public in suggesting topics can give you a wealth of information.

The forum I mentioned in this article is located at http://receivedtext.org/forum/ and is wide open to use if you would like to try the same method. The drafting lessons the students I quoted were taking is at http://houseplandrafting101.net

Understanding Mechanical Drawings

A mechanical drawing is defined as a scaled illustration of a subject machine or mechanical part, or construction drawing of a fixture, product, or furnishing. It is a precision drawing, produced with the help of instruments, such as compasses, triangles, T-squares, etc., on a drafting board, or entirely in a Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) program.

Mechanical drawings are often produced in a reduced or enlarged scale of the subject so that definition of the parts and components can be easily defined. (ie. scale: 1 inch equals 2 inches, etc.)

A mechanical drawing will many times feature a fully assembled subject so that the concept of the subject can be more easily understood to the one reading the drawing. These are sometimes drawn in an isometric or 3d view to give more of the idea of substance and space to the subject. Then the subject itself is broken down into it's individual parts so that these can be clarified by dimensions and notes for fabrication in a machine, metal fabricating, or wood shop.

Mechanical drawings are use in fabricating things like steel beams and columns for building structures, automotive and machine parts, woodworking projects, reference drawings included with instructions for assembly, etc.

Ancient mechanical drawings can be traced back to ancient Egypt and were known as infographics. These either told a story or illustrated a process and were mostly carved in rock or drawn on papyrus. The more famous historical mechanical drawings came from the preindustrial era and were illustrations made by men like Leonardo Da Vinci.

Tim Davis has created a very complete course on learning to draw mechanical drawings in a CAD program at http://draftingservice.us/m101/. You will also find some woodworking plans on this site that are free to download.

Woodworking Plans

Searching around the internet you can come up with plenty of woodworking plans like tables, desks, birdhouses, bookshelves, dog houses, doll houses, etc. So how do you know if it is a good plan? Well, no matter the type of drawing, a good, usable drawing has a few things that you should look for:

1. Are the dimensions and notes readable if drawn by hand? There are some pencil drawn illustrations out there. Some good, some not so good and unless the drafter took care to make his lettering plain, there could be a problem as you try to build from it. The drawings should very clearly show dimensions and notes in such a way that it leaves no question as to how they relate to the subject.

2. Do all the views of the drawing look like they belong to the same piece? In other words, the quality of the projections will many times tell you if there was thought put into the design or if somebody was just doodling.

For instance, say you have a table top that measures 24 inches by 36 inches but the top looks like a square instead of the rectangle it should be. In other words, it's disproportionate. This can really cause confusion. Actually, the best drawings were drawn in a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program or on a drafting board with some controls over the images.

3. Is there a cut sheet attached to the drawings? A cut sheet takes the project apart and illustrates the various parts of the piece with specific dimensions for each piece. This is very important as it will cut your trial and error time down to a minimum.

4. Not always necessary by the way, but did the one making the drawings give specific notes about what types of fastners and glues to use? How about special joints needed to make the project sturdier. This is a big plus.

5. The really good drawings have an exploded view that shows parts placement. This is where the drawing is made in an isometric (3D) view with the parts out just beyond where they fit together. Another good example would be a finished photograph that shows most or all of the thing you are building. This helps you get a better feel for the overall project.

Hey, there are very few plans that are perfect. Whenever a human hand is involved in the creation of something, you have to expect some omissions or errors from time to time. But sloppy drawings can inspire sloppy end results if left unchecked.

Tim Davis has created a very complete course on learning to draw mechanical drawings in a CAD program at http://draftingservice.us/m101/. You will also find some woodworking plans on the site, free to download.

Making your own Woodworking Plans

If you are like me, I'm constantly finding things to build in my wood shop. Wood working is by far one of the most rewarding hobbies I know of and I can release a weeks worth of stress in one evening in the shop.

And searching the internet you will find a wealth of project plans free to whoever wants to download them. But sometimes there are projects I'm wanting to build that can't be found over the net. My solution is to create my own plans from whatever research I've done on the subject I want to build. One of my professions is that of drafter. A drafter (used to be called draftsman) is someone who draws mechanical and architectural plans professionally, so at least I'm qualified to do the task.

One of the things I wasn't able to find plans for was a water wheel. I own a farm and wanted to pump water from my spring to the barn without installing an electric pump. So I researched online to get all the facts, decided what size wheel would work in my spring, and started making a prototype drawing. After a few days drawing was able to come up with not only the water wheel but the braces and stand and also the pump frame to mount on the bottom of the stream.

From these drawings I was able to also build cut sheets for each part of the wheel and then start fabricating. Within a day or two I had a functional water wheel. After you build a concept drawing, you can dissect the drawing to come up with all the parts and their dimensions. That's by far better than using the old trial and error method many attempt in the shop. And the wheel works fantastic by the way.

Tim Davis has created a very complete course on learning to draw mechanical drawings in a CAD program at http://draftingservice.us/m101/. And if you want a free copy of the waterwheel plans and a drafting table plan, go to http://www.parsonscorner.org/pcimunity/showthread.php?tid=676

Barn Home Conversions

Although not a new method of building a home, barn conversions are becoming more and more popular these days. The problem facing most families wanting to convert a barn into a home is the lack of know how involved in it.

It's needless to say that there are many barns in various shapes and sizes all around. Many are in bad shape. Please don't make the mistake of buying one that is labeled a unique fixer upper opportunity. Don't fool yourself. If a barn has gotten into the shape where the boards are falling off the sides, unless you're buying it for parts, my suggestion is to leave it alone. By the time the boards start falling off, there's major flaws. The main trouble would probably be that the girts are rotting and the fasteners (nails) are turning loose.

When I built my home from an old centennial barn, there wasn't even a handful of books and reference websites available on the subject. And when I talked with contractors on the subject, the most common response I got was a blank stare. Fortunately I was able to talk to some barn builders that had been in the trade for decades and were willing to share ideas on how it could be done.

One of the most daunting tasks was to repair the weather damage and remove the layers of dirt that had accumulated over the years. My particular barn was used to shelter horses and a few milk cows.

There are two methods of converting a barn.

The first method is to use standard residential construction practices, essentially making the barn into a standard construction home. Nine times out of ten after this type of renovation takes place, the barn no longer looks like a barn but looks more like a stylized residence. And the cost with this method sometimes exceeds standard residential construction.

The second method and the one my wife and I chose to use, employed the same materials the barn was built with. I went to the local saw mill and bought rough sawn boards to make up the interior walls and floors. Even the doors and windows were hand built with this type of method. We just made sure the house was well insulated and all the cracks were closed. This method saved us thousands of dollars and kept the charm of the old barn intact.

Tim Davis is a veteran Architectural Designer who also teaches architecture and drafting over the internet http://homedesign.8m.com. He is currently in the process of writing an Ebook entitled "How to Turn a Barn into a Home". The info page for updates on this ebook can be found at http://draftingservice.us/barnhomes

What Does Not Make a Good Sales Page

Have you ever been surfing around trying to find a piece of software, ebook, certain type of service you need to promote your site, or whatever? Sure you have. Or at least many of you have. So you find something on Google that looks interesting and click on it. So what do you find more times than not? You find some sales page that goes on and on and on with nothing really describing the thing your after but you read why you should buy this particular product or software.

You my friend, have found somebodies super duper SALES LANDING PAGE!

Check this out!

A. This page is so long that your scroll control on the right of the browser looks like a dash.

B. Many of the key words are double the size of the surrounding text, bolded, and colored red, green, or blue.

C. Entire paragraphs are center justified. Not that's just wrong and hard to read too!

D. Paragraphs or phrases are repeated over and over again.

E. One third of this 14 foot long page is testimonials that can't even be verified as real people.

F. Entire Sentences In Some Places Have Every Word Capitolized. EVEN WORSE IS A SENTENCE THAT IS SCREAMING AT ME IN ALL CAPITOL LETTERS!

G. And then there are more "quotation marks" than an interview transcript with president "Clinton" after the impeachment hearings. To me that's like someone speaking in a normal tone of voice, and then when they want to really get the point across, they grab a megaphone and yell it in my ear.

H. Finally when you get to the bottom of the page you don't even find a price until after you click on the "Buy It" button.

Holy Smokes, if you are planning to make this type of sales page, I'll have to be quite honest with you neighbor, I usually close the browser or hit the back button when they cross my path. My time is valuable and I really don't want to waste it having someone trying to sell me something that most likely isn't even one tenth as good as all the hype on the page. You guessed it, I even hang up on telemarketers after politely saying no thank you. For crying out loud, if I wanted to buy something, theres a department store just around the corner from me.

Why? Well for one thing, it's insulting to the average persons intelligence. When I buy something online, my interest is usually directed to the page that has a one or two paragraph description of the product and I can see the price within a small amount of scrolling down the page. When I'm looking for something, I usually have an idea of what I'm after and don't really need to sold on buying it. I even like maybe a nice picture of whatever it is I'm buying to give me a sense of substantiality.

I created a sample site at http://www.freewebs.com/parsontim/index.htm for an example.

Tim Davis is a Baptist pastor, trained Architectural Designer, and Web builder/programmer who has been building Architectural and Christian websites since 1995. He also has several ebooks published: "House Plan Drafting 101, Learning to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense Way" at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/ and "The Almost Forgotten Church" at http://parsonscorner.org/almost/

PRESS RELEASE

The Parsons Corner Internet Ministries
722 Rocky Mount Rd, Athens TN 37303
www.parsonscorner.org
www.customhouseplans.8m.com

Phone– 423.649.0244

Tim@parsonscorner.org

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mike Valles
Office: 423.746.4489

New and Unique Ebook Directory Opens

Athens, TN October 20, 2008 - A new Ebook store is open in town! Tim Davis has just opened the Received Text Ebook Directory for business and wants you to know that he carries some new and unique Ebooks. These are not being sold anywhere else, and there are also some free Ebooks, too.

One such Ebook, called House Plan Drafting 101, Learning to Draw House Plans in A No Nonsense Way, teaches the reader how to draw their own house plans. This EXE Ebook is a complete low-cost course enabling you to actually draw usable house plans for your own dream home. It works with CAD software and shows you how to draw floor plans for both a one-floor rancher and a two-story home. Various views are taught and it includes instruction on how to draw foundation plans, elevations, front, side and end views, basic electrical, and more. Since Tim Davis is a professional house plan draftsman and has personally taught many how to do this, he wants to offer this new Ebook form to the market to help them to save money by enabling them to do it themselves.

Another unique Ebook, also written by Tim Davis (who is also a pastor), is called The Almost Forgotten Church, and it deals with the modern movements that are influencing and infiltrating many churches today. This Ebook focuses especially on how many Baptist churches are drifting away from the high standards and position they have long held to in the past. This results in letting go of this God-given high position and exchanges it with the practices of the world, which have long been kept out, but now is creeping in to destroy its effectiveness as light. Of course, such a trade-off is not without a heavy price tag.

Another unique online book shows you how to get started effectively with article marketing. This electronic book teaches you how to formulate traffic grabbing articles that bring the traffic you want to your Web site. The E book is called Harnessing Article Marketing Power, written by Mike Valles - a writer who writes tons of articles for others and knows what works. Techniques are also revealed that show you how to write a powerful Bio box that makes people want to click to go to your Web site.

Received Text Ebooks is now open for business. Ebook authors are invited to submit your Ebook and you can sell from this Web site. This Christian Ebook store, however, will limit titles to those that are not offensive to the public in general.

What about the unique name? It comes from the name of the English text (Received Text) from which the King James Bible was translated in 1611 - the greatest text of all time.

Keywords:

free ebooks, ebook store, ebook, ebooks, pdf ebooks, electronic book, e book, exe ebook, house plans, houseplan, floor plan, floorplan, humor, Arts, Automobiles, Bible, Business, Cooking, EBook Publishing, Education, Health, History & Church History, Language, Marketing, Self Improvment, Woodworking

Beginners Guide to Understanding a Set of House Plans

Depending on how much detail your builder or local building inspector requires, the minimum set of plans should include the floor plan, exterior elevations, foundation or basement plan, and a roof plan drawn to scale.

Just so you'll know, a scale is nothing more than a shrunken ruler so that 1' -0" (12 inches) is now 1/4 inch long as far as your drawing is concerned. So here then is an example. If we use a scale to draw an 8' line. in reality the line is only 2 inches long on the paper in real life.

So let's see what's included in a set of plans:

A Floor Plan is a view of a house that would be seen if you were to take a knife and slice the house to see the walls, windows, doors, etc. from the top about mid ways down the walls. This is also called the dimensional plan. Most all floor plans are drawn at the scale of 1/4" = 1'- 0". It should include all the dimensions (measurements) of the wall, window, and door locations, door and window sizes, stair locations, room labels, locations of exposed beams, cased opening sizes and locations, bathroom layout showing sink vanity, tub, and toilet, kitchen cabinets with appliances & sink fixtures, and construction notes.

Some floor plans include the electrical symbols showing the receptacles, light switches, light fixtures, ceiling fans, cable connections, telephone jacks, and meter base locations. These can be included in the dimensional plan but many opt to have it on a separate drawing.

The Exterior Elevations include all four (4) views of the home which are front, left, rear, & right drawn also at 1/4" = 1' - 0" scale. The are some plans that have the front elevation drawn at 1/4" scale and then the left, rear & right at 1/8" = 1' - 0" On these views are notes about what type of siding or veneer, the roof pitches (angles), grade locations, finished floor & ceiling locations, and a roof plan showing the house from the top view. The roof plan is usually drawn at 1/8" = 1' - 0" scale or 1/16" = 1' - 0".

The Foundation or Basement Plan is the same type as the floor plan showing wall types, footing sizes, floor joist or truss locations, support beams, pilasters or piers, and ventilation vents & openings. The foundation or basement plan is also a dimensional type drawing. Most of these plans are drawn at the scale of 1/4" = 1'- 0".

If the plan is more detailed, then we would see sectional details showing the wall and roof construction of the home, HVAC plan, plumbing plan, and cabinet elevations. Even more involved plans would show the types of mouldings, pediments, & trims in greater detail.

Tim Davis is a veteran Architectural Designer who teaches a full course in Residential Drafting with his new Ebook, "Learning to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense Way" at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/ . He also has several ebooks out on similar subjects that can be found at http://receivedtext.org including a free ebook on Drawing a Simple Floor Plan on the Drafting Board.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tim_J._Davis

The Creation of Your First Ebook

Practice makes perfect. Maybe you would want to start off easy. One of my first ebooks was on notes I had made about bible versions. I had already written an article on the subject and also had lots of research notes with sources. Article + Notes + Sources = A New Reference Ebook. On the same token, after that I had compiled a whole heap of jokes which, after I built a HTML frame set, became a joke book in ebook format.

I tried an experiment last year with an ebook. I was an architectural designer by trade before I went into the ministry full time and had quite a bit of knowledge in the house plan drafting field. Aside from a full blown drafting course I had created some years back I made a course in drawing a simple house plan on the drafting board complete with illustrations. I compiled it into an ebook and gave it away as freeware. Man did it ever get downloaded. So much so that it overwhelmed the bandwidth on that particular website. I may even put that rascal back online now that I have a bigger site with more bandwidth.

One of my best sellers is an ebook on how to draw house plans, called House Plan Drafting 101, How to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense way. I'd already had this online in HTML format for years as I mentioned in the previous paragraph. I spent hours and hours proofing, checking, and refining it until it became a complete course. The website became massive with all the downloads and navigation needed to complete the course and the drawback to it was the amount of time needed online to complete the course. The solution? Compile it in ebook format so that there was one download for the student and all the resources were contained in the book. This way the student didn't have to be online all the time to learn.

To sum this up, you probably already have some of the material needed to write your first ebook. You just need to remember what you did with it and polish it up.

SAMPLE SALES PAGE AT: http://www.freewebs.com/parsontim/index.htm

Tim Davis is a Baptist pastor and a trained Architectural Designer & Web builder/programmer who has been building Architectural and Christian websites since 1995. He also has several ebooks published: "House Plan Drafting 101, Learning to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense Way" at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/ - "The Almost Forgotten Church" at http://parsonscorner.org/almost/ - "Humor on the Christian Side of the Fence" at http://receivedtext.org/humor.htm and "Bible Version Comparison" at http://receivedtext.org/bible.htm

Steps to Publishing Your Ebook in a No Nonsense Way

This article wasn't written to tell you how to write or compile your ebook. Shoot, there are more ebook cover & compiler programs out there than you can shake a stick at on the net. What I'm hoping to do here is get you on the right road to letting folks know you have an ebook.

Here's the deal. There are some of the so called guru's out there telling you that you really must start with a publisher. Well, I don't disagree except that reviews take a long time to complete and you probably aren’t getting any younger. You're most likely wanting to get your information out there and start earning a dollar or two in the process.

So here's what I suggest:

Get yourself some web space. If you haven't got two pennies to rub together, start with a free web hosting service like Freeservers.com or Freewebs.com. If banner advertising bugs you and you have a couple of bucks to pay every month, they'll remove the banners so you don't have to look at them.

Most all of these types of services have a member control panel that you can edit your site with if you haven't a clue how to do it yourself. Build a one page website. If you don't know how to build one yourself, there are plenty of hosting companies that offer a website builder with their package. I created a sample site at http://www.freewebs.com/parsontim/index.htm for an example. Also, if you have a program like Microsoft FrontPage or know how to use a word processor, you're a step ahead.

Make sure you have a gif or jpg book cover on the page. It'll give the potential customer a feeling of substance. Get one of those ebook cover makers I mentioned earlier and build one. Or if you are good using a paint program, go for it. This is important.

Along with the image, place your ebook title right next to the book image. Make the title at least double the size or make it bolder than the rest of the text on the page. Then a brief description of your ebook. Maybe even a sample chapter to give them an idea of what they're getting with the entire ebook.

If it's a free ebook, emphasis should be placed on the word Free. Just don't make it too bold. If the book has a price, place it plainly on the page along with a method of payment like a PayPal button. PayPal and services like them are as handy as a hay rake in a freshly cut field. They offer an instant payment option that makes life simple.

On your page, make sure there is an email link so folks can ask questions. Not doing this makes customers uneasy. Would you want to buy something from someone who didn't want you to even know how to email them? No, you want your customers to trust you and see you're willing to communicate with them. I often times even put a postal address on the page along with a phone number.

Meta Tags are another important feature of your page. Do a search for META TAG builders on your friendly neighborhood search engine. Along with tools to build these very important tags, you'll probably find helpful hints on how to add them to the code of your page. Just to be sure, look up a free website optimizer on the web to see if they have any suggestions that would improve your pages appeal to the search engines and directories.

So once your site is up, you'll want to start advertising. First place to go is to the free search engine submission sites like submitexpress.com or freewebsubmission.com. Also manually submit your site to ebook directories like OnlineEbookDirectory.com or ReceivedText.org who will link directly to your ebooks website.

Once this is done, then you can start the task of submitting your ebook to all the other ebook sites. Try submitting your ebook to software sites if your book is an executable file. Make sure you also get a Google Blog and post some short articles pertaining to your ebook. That'll really get you some exposure.

Tim Davis is a trained architectural designer and web builder/programmer who has been building Architectural and Christian websites since 1995. He also has several ebooks published, including architectural drafting courses called "House Plan Drafting 101, Learning to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense Way" that you can find at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/

4 Reasons Why It Is A Good Time To Build Your Own Custom Designed Dream Home Now

Waiting to see what the economy is going to do is one way to waste your time. Another way to spend your time, though, is to take advantage of the situations around you and build your own custom home. Many things right now make it an excellent time and opportunity to enable you to be in your dream home before long.

1. Home Loans Have Great Interest Rates

By now, most everyone is aware of the fluctuations of the housing market. Those fluctuations, however, have actually brought about an excellent opportunity to get about as low of an interest rate as is possible. Not only that, but lenders are looking for people with good credit to extend a loan to. Even better may be the fact that the government is cracking down on loan companies that are less than honest. This could help you get a better deal. Altogether, it means you could get a really great financial package to start building after you select your custom house plans.

2. Many Custom Home Designs Are Available

Your custom made dream house does not need to follow the more traditional designs of everyone else's house. There are many different styles of homes that you can choose from, and many of them are much lower in cost than your traditional styles.

Custom home designs could include the straw bale home, the earthen home, barn conversions, cordwood, stone, and others, too. You certainly have the freedom to choose a unique style to match your own tastes if you want. You can also put into your home any special features you want, as well.

3. Building Material Costs Are Not Getting Cheaper

Building your own dream home now gives you a better opportunity to get the lower prices. While no one knows what will happen, things are rather looking like prices are not going down anytime soon. It will not be long before gasoline prices will drive building materials prices sky high.

Some custom homes may actually be far less expensive than you might think. One of these is the straw bale home. This design could enable you to save up to 75% of a traditional home and it will last much longer than one, too. This style can give you lower heating and AC costs, as well as lower maintenance costs, too, saving you money for years to come and keeping its value up, too.

4. Construction Crews Are Ready

Let's face it, there is not a lot of new home construction going on right now. This means that it should not be hard to get a good contractor to build your home. You could probably even get it built rather quickly because homebuilders are looking for new design homes to build. Even better for you, though, is that they will not be rushed to complete your job so they can go to the next house as quickly as possible.

Contractors will be glad to see you coming - and you may even get a better deal on your new custom design dream home than you thought possible. All you need to do now to get started on your dream home plans is to talk to a designer.

By Tim Davis. You are invited to learn more from an experienced home draftsman of over 19 years who has drawn many hundreds of custom home plans for satisfied clients. Visit his Web site at Custom House Plans and learn more about how he can design your unique dream home for you. http://customhouseplans.8m.com/

He also teaches a course on drawing house plans Learning to Draw House Plans in a No Nonsense Way. This is in Ebook format at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/

Do You Want to Draw Your Own House Plan?

Great idea, it sure saves money. Also eliminates the middle man. Those architects and designers can get expensive. I've heard that some designers can charge up to ten dollars per square foot for simple drawings containing a floor plan and exterior elevations. Now that is a chunk of change. If you are going to do it for yourself, you're going to need to know how. Below are just some of the things needed to know to draw a simple ranch style home.

So what do you need to know to draw your own house plan?

1. You need to know how to lay out your Floor Plan. The floor plan is the template for your entire set of drawings. From the floor plan show where we want our electrical, tell how big our rooms are, note our window and door sizes, etc., so this is where we have to begin. Sure you could start with the exterior views but that would limit our interior of the home to what the outside looks like. Not a good idea! The house needs to be functional first and look pretty second out of necessity.

2. You need to understand the mechanics of a well designed kitchen. A kitchen is a place where the homemaker spends a majority of their time. It needs to be comfortable but functional. This area consists of a Sink area, Cooking area, & Food storage area. The best layout for a kitchen is one in which the least steps are taken to reach each appliance. This is called the working area or working triangle. A good working triangle doesn't exceed 12 to 14 feet all the way around.

3. The builder of the home would sure appreciate knowing where the walls, windows, & doors are located exactly. They would also like knowing door and window sizes, not to mention anything else special that is on the plan. That's where the dimensions and notes come in handy. You need to be able to create a dimensional string and groups of notes that are not confusing.

4. The Electrical Plan is very important to you as it gives you the opportunity to customize the home to your power and comfort needs! On the other hand, it is not always needed. What I mean by this is that any electrician who has taken a test for his or her license knows what is required electrical service by code. Chances are that they have already wired quite a few residences and barring any special needs or preferences can do the job without this plan. Always be aware though!!! Certain states require that you be a licensed Architect or Electrical Engineer to do Electrical plans. Be sure to check with your local building inspector to see what your limitations are! This will definitely save you some headaches down the road.

5. In standard construction, at least in the South Eastern United States, houses are built on Masonry Foundations or Basements. A foundation is the part of the home that anchors it to or keeps it from settling into the ground. This knowledge is a must in completing your plans.

6. What about how the exterior is going to look? It is no small matter if you are wanting to convey the idea of how the finished product is going to look when construction is complete. What is it going look like when its built? How to determine the best roof pitch, do we use brick, siding or rock?

7. Folks, I defiantly don't believe in mind reading! Neither does to typical contractor! If there is anything special you are wanting to build into your house, how is the builder to know unless you show them? You can make all the notes you want to on your plans and elevations but the message of how you want the house constructed may not always come across. That's why you need to understand how to draw details.

8. Then there is the task of finishing your drawings and not letting goofs and slip-ups get out the door. You need to understand the most common mistakes made by people who draw house plans so you can look out for them!

9. Last but not least in drawing your house plans is to know how to print them out and in what format and size.

My name is Tim Davis and I draw architectural plans for a living. I also teach others how to draw plans in a virtual classroom on the internet called House Plan Drafting 101 at http://homedesign.8m.com - And also in EBook format at http://homedesign.8m.com/101ebook/
Above are the basics I teach in that class.