Alaska Cabin Progress

[PlicketyCat]

Day Zero: As promised, I'm posting progress on our post-framed cabin we're building in the Alaska Bush. We were significantly delayed because of abnormal rain this summer which turned everything into a soupy muddy bog. But, we've finally got all the groundwork done and are ready to pour concrete for our foundation.

Here's a teaser pic of our gravel footings (remember, we can't dig or grade because of the permafrost, so these are going to be entirely surface piers!):



Check out our blog for more photos   YouTube is taking forever to upload, but there will be video soon!

[asy]

Hey NEAT Thanks! I'll look forward to watching the progress!!!

What's the plan for the cabin? Will it be a camping cabin? Will you live there permanently? If so, how many people are going to live there? Can you show us a floor plan?

Keep the photos coming please! I know how difficult it is to get them uploaded sometimes (sorry guys, holiday photos still coming from me) but they're always appreciated.

asy

[Stephen1]

It always nice to finnally start, especially if you've been waiting for a while.
What saw did you end up purchasing?

[D Hagens]

 Are you sticking to your original plans and design that you were talking about months back?
 Also how far do you think you will get as in do you think you will get to lock up before it gets too cold?

[pasbuild]

I though you changed your mind on the build, good to see your getting a start on it and look forward to the progress pics.

[PlicketyCat]

My husband and I (and our furry children) will be living in this cabin year round for several years while we get "the big house" built   The cabin is 16x24, with a gambrel roof which lets us have nearly 85% usable floorspace in the loft. We're building to the April 2010 plans -- first floor has 8x8 pantry, kitchen/great room, and tiny 1/2 bath under the stairs; second floor is bedroom, office, electrical system (off-grid, lots of batteries), and our 200 gallon water tank so we have a little bit of pressure and can have proper sinks again.

This cabin is post-framed with purchased dimensional lumber and strong-tie connectors -- I know, a sin, but I'll mill my own and do (more) proper joinery on the big house

We've got 3-4 weeks before our usual first snow, and we usually get about 3-4 weeks of warm-enough weather after that.  We should at least be able to get the two floors and the walls framed up in a couple weeks... the gambrel roof may take longer than we have since we're not the world's most experienced carpenters. If it looks like we won't make it before winter, the tentative plan is to move our wall tent up on the second floor and tarp everything in (maybe sheath the downstairs).  It won't be any warmer than last winter but it will twice the space!  But we are hoping to get her dried in completely before the weather really turns... we can always insulate (blown cellulose), vapor barrier and drywall the interior during the winter.

We had to put off buying the mill temporarily so we could buy the chipper and get rid of the fire hazard brush piles everywhere   But a friend has lent us their Alaskan CSM and it ROCKS!  We ripped down a couple of smaller beams to keep our current building materials off the ground and they look pretty decent. We'll definitely get the Big Bertha Husqvarna chain saw and higher quality ripping chain once we're milling for the big house.

[Stephen1]

My guess is you still have a lot of day lite left, so with any luck you should get it closed in before real winter arrives..
here is hoping you will have good building weather...

[PlicketyCat]

Day One:  we got 7 pads and 6 piers (of eight) poured before we started running out of daylight... and concrete.

Our first two pads:


End of the day:


We're level:


So, they may not be beautifully finished, but all our concrete work is plumb and level and that's all that matters. No one will ever see them under the house but me since I'm the only one small and limber enough to fit easily in the crawlspace 

[PlicketyCat]

Day Two:  No pics today since we're not doing any construction. Just going to haul more water up from the creek and run the metal shed kit and a few loads of materials back to the site (if our bodies hold out).  Then we'll run into the village and have a long soak in the hot spring tubs since both of us are seriously hurting from yesterday -- 1860 lbs of concrete will do that to you! 

One of our neighbors went into the city today and offered to get us a few more bags of concrete (country neighbors are awesome!).  So we'll be able to finish tomorrow and didn't need to waste a day making the trip ourselves.    Since the city is 4 hours away, any trips made leave the other person home working alone all day, so we didn't want to make a run until we'd gotten to a point where it was simpler framing work a person could by themselves.

Then we've got to move all our lumber and stuff back to site, assemble our shed, and construct the laminated sill beams (6x12 x 24 ft)... that should keep us busy this week while the concrete cures.  So, hopefully we'll be framing next week.

[Roxie]

It's fascinating to watch this come together.  Thank you for keeping us posted.   

[Stephen1]

I've discovered over the years, no one ever notices my mistakes except for me.

[fishpharmer]

Day One:  we got 7 pads and 6 piers (of eight) poured before we started running out of daylight... and concrete.

That's not the same as being a few bricks shy a load, is it?   

My apologies, I couldn't resist saying that.

The piers are looking good, no doubt a lot of hard work.

[Magicman]

Congratulations on a job well done so far.  You are right, things will start coming together once you get that foundation done.   

[Thehardway]

Plickety,

I assume you are able to take advantage of the extended daylight hours?  You are on a pretty tight schedule to be weathered in in 3-4 weeks with a two person crew.  I know the routine, work, grab a snack and drink while working and crash for a few hours then work again. Not much time to enjoy the scenery.  There have been times when I have felt like just sitting down and crying or giving up and I'm not a super emotional person. Lack of sleep, nutrition, and every muscle in your body aching does take its toll.  Hang in there, its worth it. You are to be admired for your persistence and positive attitude.

It's looking good.  That extra time on getting everything plumb and level will pay off as you go up. 

I may have the opportunity to get to Kenai, Alaska in July next year.  It is a life long dream of mine to see Alaska so I am excited.

[submarinesailor]

I may have the opportunity to get to Kenai, Alaska in July next year.  It is a life long dream of mine to see Alaska so I am excited.

Do you need someone to carry your baggage??

Bruce

[jdtuttle]

Great start on your project. Just curious about something. Building on the permafrost do you have trouble with footing movement in the spring thaw? Looks like you'll be comfortable with that floorplan too.
jim

[PlicketyCat]

I sure am a few brick shy of a load   If I wasn't, I would have stayed in my mini-McMansion in the Seattle 'burbs with grid power and hot running water

We've got about 16 hours of daylight right now, but neither of us can work that long no matter how much caffiene we pump into our systems.  But we usually work a few hours in the morning, take a siesta, work a few more hours in the afternoon... on and on it goes.

We've got almost 8 weeks until we absolutely must be dried in... I think we can manage that if we hustle. I designed her to be super simple to put up. Really, it's only getting 2 sill beams laminated (3 ea 2x12), installing the floor joists and planking, put up the 8 posts, duplicate the lamination process to create the header beams, then joists and planking again. We could stop right there for the winter and just stick the tent on the second floor and tarp everything if we had to. But we do hope to get the rafters up and the roof on even if we don't get the shingles down. The wall infill frames aren't technically necessary on the first floor since the posts are 8' oc and the sheathing with span it; then we could tip the wall frames in from the inside if necessary since they aren't load bearing. We don't need the porches by winter either, so we can eliminate those if it comes to it.  Seriously, I designed her like a Lego house on a 2/4/8 grid so we could slap the frame and shell together with minimal cuts and fussing, and delay a few modules if the weather turned on us.

We will have some amount of normal frost heave in the spring and fall with those surface piers. That's the big reason that we have permanent leveling jacks installed between the piers and beams -- they give us 3" of play in either direction on each pier.  As long as we keep the permafrost frozen, it really shouldn't cause too much movement. That's the reason didn't clear the insulating vegetation layer, didn't dig in the posts (they'd melt the ground and "drill" themselves in), have at least 18" of crawlspace to let the cold air flow, and have 12" of insulation in the floor (about R-40) to keep the house from heating up the ground. Don't think we'll get too much lateral movement on the footers, the house should be heavy enough to keep them in place and we're going to have cross-tension wires and earth anchors to keep the piers from skewing and collapsing (um.... like our tent platform did.. woohoo our own personal earthquake!!)

[PlicketyCat]

Day 3:   Trapper got back from Fairbanks with our concrete, so we got the last pad and 2 piers poured. removed the frames from the rest and they're looking good. Some of the piers settled down 1/16" or so when they cured, but whatever... that's what the jacks are for, right?! Everything is still plumb, level and square and that's all that counts!

We hauled another load of gravel back to build up a base on the mulch to erect our metal shed. Unfortunately, the forest ate our rear brakeline on the trip down, so the truck is out of commission until our "express" delivery replacements show up... no UPS or FedEx out here, and "express" through USPS in the bush is touch-n-go since the mail plane only comes 3-4 times a week and big packages sometimes end up stuck in the Fairbanks depot until there's room.  That puts a slight damper on us getting our building materials back to the site, but we'll manage with the ATV somehow in the meantime.  We really need to get a proper trailer for it one of these days!

But in any case, we now have a foundation!! Once we get the jacks installed we can start framing 

No pics or vid today because a big storm rolled in while I was cleaning up and I had to double-time it back to the tent to avoid being drenched.   So much for our "less than 16 inches of annual rainfall"... we've already gotten well over that in just the last 3 months!! Freaky weather, man!

[PlicketyCat]

Day 4: We're having some sort of wildlife visitation that's freaking out the dog. Not sure what it is, but we decided to stick close to the tent today just in case. I'd hate to be back at the cabin site and have our tent ransacked and our kitty become something's tasty snack    I'm not feeling so great today anyway, so taking this opportunity to get our tools in order and lumber loads sorted out to start moving down to the site.  It's progress, just not active progress

On a positive note, talked to the lumberyard and they will be delivering our last load of materials on the 10th. It's mostly the drywall and t-111, so that gives us a little time to get some good dry storage set up.  If Heaven smiles on us, we may even be framed up by then and can store it under a real roof... doubtful unless the replacement brakeline gets here, but maybe.

[Shotgun]

Plickety,

Not certain if you have porcupines  there, or not, but T-111 is porcupine dessert. Just thought I'd mention it.

Norm