Alaska Cabin Progress

[Thehardway]

You missed one question,   what is your backup if central inverter fails?  Straight generator?

so many questions so little time.....

I get the whole UV thing and it makes sense but not sure why you see DC wiring as any more expensive than AC.  You have very short curcuit runs and for just  a few lighting circuits with low amp draw, 12 ga wire is more than sufficient.  All you would need to do is designate a couple of your 14 or12ga romex circuits to a separate DC panel, install a couple DC breakers and connect direct to your batteries.  you already said your lighting circuits would be separate from your receptacles and I agree with this reasoning as well, I have done likewise.

Most campers and travel trailers are wired like this, lighting and fans on DC and a couple AC circuits for appliances etc. A junkyard trailer would yield the needed DC breaker panel and breakers.  12v incandescent bulbs are easy to get and give off good light and 12V fluorescent can also be had.  You can even use car headlights for outdoor flood lights.

I have been looking at micro inverters  (Enphase in particular) instead of central inverters for a couple reasons, the first is if a central inverter fails, (and they all will at some point) you are done.  Microinverters are modular, scalable, eliminate the single point of failure, and use smaller, cheaper wire.  If one fails you still have several others to function on until you can get a replacement.  I don't know how far you are with your solar setup and batteries but you may want to consider this option...  You may already have several reasons this is not beneficial as it seems you do a great job searching things out and planning.

I am thinking about doing my octogon house using either AAC blocks or a true Orson Fowler Octogon style using wood forms filled with rammed earth/gravel mix.


About your driveway dilemma, have you considered a corduroy road made of trees on a built up road bed?  Down here in the coastal swamps of VA they ditch along the roads and use the removed dirt from the ditch to elevate the roadbed. The ditches can be quite deep. There really is no place for them to drain to since it is all pretty much at sea level.  Its just a matter of cut and fill to get the roadbed up high enough that it drains off.  Corduroy would distribute the weight and eliminate the rutting during the soggy seasons.  I assume you have a surplus of small trees that could be used as you clear the land...

 

[jim king]

About your driveway dilemma, have you considered a corduroy road made of trees on a built up road bed?

I have built a fair amount of corduroy roads here and then covered them with 6 inches of dirt and they work well.  The dirt on top is to save the kidneys.

[PlicketyCat]

Inverter failure -- we have main & 2 spares (2kW all) or we can go straight from generator (we have main & a spare). Plus we have two portable mini-inverters (one for the truck and one for the ATV) that we can use direct off a 12v SLA or auto batt if necessary (or pull our AGMs out of the 24v wiring config if we're really desperate).

If you have short runs from the DC supply to the DC fixtures, the wiring isn't that expensive. But you need thicker cable for DC than AC, especially for longer runs... if all you had on that circuit were a few DC LED lights and nothing else, you could probably get away with 8 or 10 gauge wiring, which is still more expensive that 12 or 14 gauge for AC (and you could run more than just a couple lights on that circuit if you need to -- the two floor outlets behind the bed are backed off the the overhead light above the stove for instance).

With a small cabin and a super-simple wiring plan, DC lights and AC outlets might not cost you much more or make the wiring and breaker box too much of a hassle. Parting out a dead camper you get for cheap/free would certainly save on the costs. And being able to use auto parts is great if you have a straight 12v system... ours is 24v (reduces size of cables and reduces transmission loss), so that's not quite as beneficial. We wanted ease of use and maintenance, as well as ease of assembly, so we decided to stick to one wiring system (except for a couple emergency lights).

However, we are using our old 12v SLA batts for "portable" stuff, either straight DC (a couple under hood shop lights for now) or using one of those nifty portable AC mini-inverters with a croc-clip/ciggy-lighter adapter. That worked great when we had a house guest who needed lights and AC for his CPAP machine since the cabin isn't electrified yet. We just hooked up the SLA to a standard battery charger from the generator during the day, clipped the shop light and the mini-inverter assembly to the batt and he was good to go all night.

Central vs. distributed is always a sticking point. Central is easier to assemble and maintain over the long term, but distributed is more redundant and easier to extend. I'm into hybrid approaches myself, and making sure to design redundancy and extensibility into a central system via distributed units as necessary. We have a few areas that we're planning as distributed/standalone systems due to distances or seasonality... like the freezers, electric livestock fences and the pump house. The freezers are DC and will be wired to their own standalone panels since we only need them in the summer for that purpose and it reduces the chance of over-generating in the long summer days, but then we can swap those panels into the main bank in the winter for extra power generation for the house AC system with the long winter nights. The fences and pump house will have their own panels/turbines, chargers and batteries since the fence is portable and the well is going to be at least 100 feet from the house (probably more to be safe).

Do what makes sense to you and what's easiest for you to work with short & long-term... just make sure you document somewhere how everything is hooked up and works if you don't use standard industry wiring just in case someone else has to take care of your place Never rely on your memory or rattling of quick verbal instructions (especially not with electrics!!!).

Monolithic wall structures lend themselves well to non-rectilinear shapes that's why we're considering cordwood, vertical log (because we have skinny trees, if they were fatter we could go horizontal), straw bale and cob. We'd think about concrete too if there was any reasonable way to get large quantities out here. Rammed earth and earth bag is also an option if you have the right kind of soils onsite (for us, digging is BAD because of the permafrost).

We've been maintaining corduroy over the nastier spots on the main trail to keep it marginally drivable. So far, only our off-road truck handles it well... everyone else who tries driving back runs away screaming . Corduroy can be a problem with our glacial silt/clay mud and requires a lot of maintenance unless you can put down geotextile under it. With almost a half-mile of driveway, that's a lot of geotextile! We don't have a lot of workable soil/subsoil up here because it's frozen... and digging frozen soil is hard and BAD around anything you want to stay stable since it lets too much of the soil thaw out in the summer which then heaves like a mother in the winter. Roadside ditches can actually heave above the level of the road bed in winter here, and most need to be Ditch Witched every year or two.

We do have a gravel pit just up the road with several grades of fill sizes, so we can use that to build up a decent base or cover over corduroy base... but again, it's best of you have geotextile underneath. Our biggest issue is getting that much gravel back here to our driveway and cabin site since we refuse to foot the bill for converting the entire main trail to gravel road first (we're fighting with some stingy/selfish neighbors about splitting the costs equally) and most of the dumpers won't come down the trail (even with corduroy), so we're limited to one pickup bed of gravel at a time and as many yards as we can afford to purchase the permit for from the state every year

[PlicketyCat]

Here's a pic of what we have to deal with...

 



(view larger)

Once you punch through the vegetation mat on the muskeg there is nothing underneath it but liquefied silt during breakup. It's not typical mud, more like quick sand. You'll keep sinking until you hit some still-frozen ground beneath. The more thaw that happens, the deeper you sink unless you can find a gravel bar beneath or can keep the permafrost from thawing or can put down wide enough geotextile so your road "floats". Corduroy and gravel are a temporary fix unless you put down textile because they will eventually sink into the muck and get swallowed. Bedrock is nearly non-existent at any reasonable depth since we're in a glacial river drainage valley.

[jim king]

That looks like a logging trail in the Amazon.  How did it get way up there ?

[PlicketyCat]

Freaky thing is that 2-3 weeks ago, there was about 3' of snow right there! It's always worse when it warms up too quick and the snow melts too fast in one or two areas to drain properly. Any area that has been cleared warms up faster than the surrounding soil since it doesn't have any shade, but it also freezes faster/deeper in the winter because it doesn't have any insulation... logistical nightmare!!  That's why we only clear what's absolutely necessary and don't dig if we can avoid it at all!

[PlicketyCat]

A common sight during breakup:

 

[jim king]

Plickety:

You must be just down the creek from me.  So far away but so similar.

 





 
 

[PlicketyCat]

Woohoo!  We're far enough from the river and our piers are high enough above grade that I doubt we'd flood up to the windows here (knock wood), but we've gotten snow up over our sill plates many times

Jungle -- Tundra... must just be places with "un" in the name

[mad murdock]

Tundra is just a frozen jungle.  When it warms up the bugs start to flying and the muck gets deep.  At least there are no Anacondas or Jaguars in the Great Land.   Great progress on the cabin.  Plickety, do you have any southern exposure on your place? or is it all permafrost?  The property that we had in the haystack area (above the Chatanika R.) was mostly southern exposure with birch and willow, only a few spruce trees, pretty good drainage, But that is still quite a ways south of where you are.

[PlicketyCat]

Nope, no Anacondas or Jaguars up here; but then no Wolverines or Grizzlies down there

We have plenty of southern exposure, all we have to do is clear trees. The permafrost is discontinuous, so there are many parts of the property that aren't frozen, and clearing the trees will eventually melt some that are but those areas will be mushy for about 2-5 years while they thaw and drain. Of course, a cold winter with little snow can refreeze a cleared section because there isn't enough insulation, or make a previous non-PF section freeze up... if it stays frozen more than 2 years it's PF again. That's the cool thing about discontinuous PF... it's always on the move.

I have friends who just bought property up on Haystack at the top and will start building the end of this month. They're leaving Louisiana Saturday morning and hope to be in Fairbanks by next Friday. I think they're smoking something thinking they're going to get all the way north and all the way through Canada in a week with a UHaul and a pick-up with trailer; but I wish them the best on their journey!!

Actually, Haystack is almost parallel with us, but it is a hundred+ miles east and at a much higher elevation (we're only at about 500 ft here). Biggest issue with us being so cold in comparison (even with all the sun) is that we're in the valley between the two mountain ranges and the two rivers... all the cold settles in and we get the funkiest weather .

[fuzzybear]

Plickety Cat, I know all to well about punching through to moss into the soup. It looks like the frame kept it from totally sinking. I bet you could reach under the tires and not even be close to anything solid.
   I carry a jack all and a couple of end slabs with me all the time.  If you have a mill close you can lay down end slabs at least 8' long and make a road over the swamp area. This works great for quads and trailers. We used to pull about 2000# of load on a trailer with the quad across a long distance.  If you distribute the weight evenly across the area you will never have a problem.
  If you are planning a road through there you will have to find some way to redirect the water through there or no matter what you put down will not last. The muck just sucks up anything you  put in. When you do manage to drain the area it will drop a lot. then you can just run white channel over it and never worry again.
  Just think it's light out til after midnight now and it's up again by 5am.   now if it would just stop going below freezing at night.  Have fun and enjoy.
FB

[PlicketyCat]

Yeah, if there hadn't been a load of 2x6's on that trailer she would have been gone. The banded lumber acted like a raft and we were able to shove some 4x6 posts under the tires through the muck and get the Hi-Lift jack under it to break the suction while we used the ATV winch to pull it out onto some plywood. We did lose one of those posts down there though... it'll probably pop back up sooner or later when we least expect it .

We're hoping that when we excavate the pond and put in trenches and culverts (if needed) it will divert most of the surface water into that during breakup. The pond will essentially become a huge dry well for all the melt water. That would make a HUGE difference in the integrity of our driveway.

I'll check our local sawyer and see if he has any slabs he's willing to part with cheap. If he doesn't we can always pick up a bed load from the mill in Fairbanks... they like us, so we might get a deal/steal. We do have some dodgy pallets down in a couple of the really bad places which are wide enough for foot and 4-wheeler traffic at least, but it looks like the truck might be staying up by the road for the next couple of weeks.

Sun is out and up for most of the day, but the minute it starts going behind the trees the temps drop drastically and we're still frosting and the muck ices up at night. Oh well, better than last spring when it was hot and we got all the forest fires and then all the rain the rest of the summer. I'll take a cool spring and slow melt over forest fires any day!

[Holmes]

Hope you have moved out of the tent and into the cabin. Have a happy, healthy 4th of July.  Holmes

[PlicketyCat]

Happy 4th t you Holmes and everyone else.

We had delays with hanging the drywall in the loft because the lift didn't work for the gambrel angles and the poofy blown cellulose insulation and irregular lumber made it less than easy to manage with just the two of us. Now, we're back with heavy rains, so all the wet is causing some issues with the drywall mud just NOT drying! I doubt any paint or polyurethane would dry either  

So, no, we're not in the cabin yet... but getting closer

[oklalogdog]

My brother and I spent two weeks in Alaska in 1982.  It was the last week in August and the First week of September.  I was in my 30's then.  We just flew up there, rented a vehicle, and went where we wanted.  We camped out mostly and caught salmon until we honestly didn't have strength left to lift the pole.  It's a fantastic and wild country and I've always wanted to return but have never been able to.

Good luck to you with your project and feel all warm and fuzzy over the fact that you live in one of the most beautiful and undisturbed places on Earth.

[mometal77]

One post I like looking back on.  Hope to see some new photos sometime.  And how things are going.

[Qweaver]

I had woodpeckers attack my painted T111.  They made quite a few holes and finally gave up when they were not finding bugs.