I wish I had time to read every post that was ever made on this site.  Lots of stuff to dig up. Grant in Jacksonville, AL

Tim's Forum Posts: 6
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Refining plans/budget

Posted to NorthPoleHome by Tim in Anchorage, AK on 2/12/2010

Well, I'm still chomping at the bit to get building but we're still in scrimp and save mode since we'll be building this with cash only.  Since we're 350 miles away and I have another two years until I can retire from the military, there isn't much I can do right now but study construction methods, surf forums like this, refine the budget, hammer out exactly which materials we plan on using, and seek out deals on tools/supplies. I may try to volunteer as an apprentice to an electrician or plumber this summer just to pick up some practice on two trades I'm only a little experienced in so I can do my own later. The summer of next year I'll have enough cash to put up the shell. The plan is to put the shell up summer/fall 2011 and retire spring 2012 with all summer to finish it.

By my budget/savings forecast we'll have enough cash to build a weathertight shell with water, septic, power, insulation, siding, and masonry heater. This summer we are going to install our own septic tank/field and have the well drilled. As much as I'd love to put in the crawlspace foundation, I'm leery of doing anything this year that can be damaged by time or weather. Frost-jacking is a problem up here.

Our engineer is finished with the final plans, but is having trouble printing them out so I don't have them in hand yet. I'll be using advanced framing techniques as much as possible to not only save on lumber but to maximize the thermal efficiency of the exterior wall. I'm also putting 2" of  EPS foam on the outside with 1x3 strapping to attach the fiber cement siding to. I snagged a deal on the EPS, 106 4x8 sheets at only $12 each!  In order to eliminate almost all penetrations in the vapor barrier, we're strapping the exterior walls inside horizontally with 2x2s every 2' O.C. to run/mount all the electrical and fill the 2' gaps with 1 1/2" EPS (I got 50 4x8 sheets of these for $10 each). This should get me about an R-35 wall with the R-21 batts in the stud bays. I figure the added cost of the extra insulation/strapping is about two to three years' worth of heating oil, which ironically is more expensive in Alaska than the lower 48. Anyhow, just giving an update so my journal doesn't go stagnant and get deleted.

Tim

Excavation/gravel base

Posted to NorthPoleHome by Tim in Anchorage, AK on 9/19/2009 5:44:39 AM

Well, this summer we had a contractor finish the excavation to match the footprint.  He excavated to solid gravel at 4'.  Then he brought in and packed 2' of gravel to raise the elevation a bit since the area I'm in is all flat and next to a marshy plot. I wanted to be 1' higher than the neighbor because they had 4" of water in their crawlspace during record rainfall last year.

Photos

Base for footers.

Base for footers with shop in background.

Making a base to work from

Posted to NorthPoleHome by Tim in Anchorage, AK on 3/9/2009 9:37:52 PM

Here's a few pics after the hole was dug for the foundation. I also built a 12x20 shop to work out of when construction is in full swing.  The shop will be my woodworking shop when the house is finished, and as last resort, temporary residence until the house is livable inside. 

Photos

Excavation progress	Our workshop ready for roofing.	Since this will eventually serve as my wood shop, I took the time to insulate and put up an vapor barrier. Building the shed was good practice for my rusty carpentry skills.

Planning stage

Posted to NorthPoleHome by Tim in Anchorage, AK on 11/19/2008 12:14:05 PM

This will be our future home in North Pole, AK that we will start building in summer 2010.  We have already bought, paid for, and cleared the land ourselves.  75% of the excavation is completed also.  I put the driveways in myself and built a 12x20 workshop on the property as a base to work out of during construction.  I will be putting up pictures of the current progress soon.

We plan on building the house as energy efficient as reasonably possible to keep operating and maintenance costs low for the lifetime of the house.  By installing a masonry heater, radiant floors, extra insulation, triple-pane windows, and solar panels we hope to drastically reduce our dependency on oil as much as possible.  Natural gas is not an option in the area and the power company uses oil to generate electricity.  Still considering boiler options. We've snatched up some end of construction season clearance deals as we seen them to help save on overall costs.  So far we picked up 2,200 sq ft of Kahrs' Linnea engineered hardwood flooring for $2.99 sq ft. It's $4.90 in some stores. We also purchased many quality lighting and plumbing fixtures at deep discounts at the local box stores.  Hopefully I'll be able to locate my pictures soon and post them.

Photos

Front rendering of the house. We bought plans from Donald Gardner and we're pretty happy with them.	1st floor reversed We're installing a masonry heater in place of the traditional fireplace.	2nd floor reversed
Rear of house reversed