Building the Alaskan Dream

[akdreamin]

This is a house that has been over four years in the making.  I found Country Plans about 4 years ago and started looking at the Universal 2-Story as the house that I would build.  After ordering the plans and making several modifications, most notably the garage, I started construction on the house.  It took almost 20 months to complete construction.  I did all the work (exceptions: sitework, septic, well concrete/gypcrete, electric service entrance) with the help of friends with trades experience.  I spent approx. $115k on materials, subs, beer and pizza.  I tried to make it as environmentally friendly as possible.  I built it with R-30 walls and R-72 attic.  It has radiant floor heat.  I tried to use FSC materials when available.  There are also many water and electric saving features as well.

[akdreamin]

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I am still trying to figure out how to add them.

[MountainDon]

Hey there akdreamin.

This may be of help...    http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3512.0

It's a photobucket tutorial so depending on where you have the photos it may or may not help. But a photobucket account is free and works great for posting forum pictures.

[MountainDon]

The trick, no matter what hosting srvice you use is to use the correct link... the one that begins with [img] is the one you need.

Copy that, paste it in the topic message

[akdreamin]

ED: inserted spacing between photos; slight resize for those with smaller displays - MD

[MountainDon]

Nice looking work!

Are the operable windows casements?

[akdreamin]

Yeah, the windows that are operable are casement.  About half the windows are operable.  All are triple pane with fiberglass trim.

[MountainDon]

I love casement windows. No other window seal like they do, other than fixed, non opening windows. Triple pane are worth it, IMO, for the extreme cold.

3/8 or 1/2 inch air spaces? Low-e or not? Just curious. Here in NM double pane is all you see with low-e being the norm in new windows.

All our windows here in the suburbs are operable, although most of the time they are closed tight.  If it wasn't for the need of fire exits we could do with fixed.

[Sassy]

Beautiful home!  Congratulations - you've done a great job 

[Redoverfarm]

Great looking place.  I would say that the scenery has changed somewhat since this was taken with snow?

[glenn kangiser]

I see you mastered the pix.  Great.  Looks nice.

[akdreamin]

Here are some interior pictures.









ED: spaced photos - MD

[akdreamin]

The windows have 3/8" spaces.  I went with Fiberglass trim because it doesn't move with the temperature like vinyl does.  Allows the cavities to be filled with foam.  Even with triple pane windows and HRV, ice still builds up on the glass at -50.

[ScottA]

-50 is a tad too cold for me but your place looks great. I need one of those loaders. Looks mighty handy. 

[MountainDon]

Nice looking open spaces. 

[akdreamin]

I have the plans in pdf if someone knows of a way to post them.

[MountainDon]

Email them to me. Just click the little envelope under my avatar

[akdreamin]

Here are some in-progress photos.


This is the first photo I have.  My first photos sank to the bottom of the ocean with my laptop during a ROUGH halibut fishing trip.




I took a month off of work to do the framing.  After 4 weeks of 14 hour days, this what I accomplished.  In addition to the 330 hours I put in in that month, I had about 200 hours of help from friends.




Upstairs, the radiant tubing is covered by 1-1/2" of gypcrete.  It creates a nice uniform heat.  Foil was installed on the underside of the subflooring and R-19 between the joists, which can be seen in the next photo.




The mud and tape of the drywall was the biggest pain in the butt of the whole project.  I would definitely pay someone to do that on future projects.  My original plan was to do a skim coat for a flat wall, but after my inept attempt at taping, I went with an orange peel texture.

[chatycady]

Very, very nice! I love the bump out area of the second floor. Can hardly wait for more pictures!

[ak_meli]

Beautiful house! Is that in that in the Fairbanks area? Hope you are staying warm! How are the windows right now?

I am amazed at the price you build the house for with prices of building materials right now.

I have some dumb questions. What are FSC materials? Green materials? Where do you buy those in Alaska?

Thanks for posting! It really is an inspiration. 

[akdreamin]

Just an update after my first winter in the house.  I went through 530 gals of heating oil over the past year.  Not too bad, especially when the prediction for #2 is $5/gal+ this coming winter.  At that rate, it will cost about $2600 to heat next winter.  I have friends who are looking at potential heating bills of $10,000 or more in older, less efficient homes. 

What are you guys and gals paying to heat your homes?

[considerations]

About 100/month in the winter.  But I hardly count, its a 5th wheel, the walls are thin, but its only about 25' long. I use propane, solar and a Honda gen when the battery bank wanes for lack of sun. Plus, since there is only me, I just leave the pilot light on on the water heater.  It fully heats the tank twice a day. Just enough to do dishes after dinner and take a shower in the AM, or vice verse, as needed.

[Redoverfarm]

It is really hard to determine with mine.  I have a heat pump (electric) ,propane furnace and a standing soapstone woodstove.  My electric probably does not vary from winter to summer(AC) so without the heatpump in the winter I really couldn't honestly say.  But the propane assisted with the woodstove I burned approximately 140 gallons (averaged over the last two years) per year. I burn't approx 3 - 4 full pick-up loads of wood.  Except for my time the wood is free.  The electric usually runs about $100 month averaged. The weather is probably not that harsh here as compared to your location but it still is winter in the mountains with temps that drop below 0 for extended periods of time.  Yeah and last winter was mild compared to some we have had. Oh it heats about 2750 sq ft.

[martyv]

That looks like a great house.  I think you can probably stop the icing on the windows if you monitor the humidity in the winter.  I am not a builder but I sell a lot of homes in Alaska.  The biggest cause of icing on the windows is high humidity in the house.  It is common to get high humidity in our well sealed houses in the winter because who opens the windows when it's 50 below?

Ideally you should see no condensation on the windows in a well built house like yours.  You need to exchange the humid air in the house for the dry air outside.  Just get a humidistat and monitor it.  Think about this...if water is condensing on the windows where you can see it, it is also likely condensing somewhere inside the walls where you can't see it.  If that happens you have a good chance of getting mold.

[akemt]

Just another hello from one Alaskan to...two others!  I like the pictures...especially the table.  I've had a few that style myself!    Enjoy!