North to Alaska

Saturday afternoon around in ice shack

2011-01-24T13:16:00.002-09:00

Spent Saturday staring at this. Couldn't ask for better company or weather really. Left with 1 Silver Salmon for all the effort. Good time.

Final fading daylight

2011-01-24T13:12:00.002-09:00

Walking the dogs along Moose Mountain at the last twinkle of dusk. Cellphone photo unfortunately.

Headed out on the trail

2011-01-24T13:10:00.007-09:00

Headed out on the trail
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Burbot set and dog musher going past on Tanana River

2011-01-24T13:10:00.005-09:00

Burbot set and dog musher going past on Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Ice tendrils on bluff along Tanana River

2011-01-24T13:10:00.003-09:00

Ice tendrils on bluff along Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Ice tendrils on bluff along Tanana River

2011-01-24T13:10:00.001-09:00

Ice tendrils on bluff along Tanana River
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

2 pm on the trail, sun low in the sky

2011-01-24T13:09:00.007-09:00

2 pm on the trail, sun low in the sky
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Moonrise on Murphy Dome

2011-01-24T13:09:00.005-09:00

Moonrise on Murphy Dome
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

frosty morning on snowshoes

2011-01-24T13:09:00.003-09:00

frosty morning on snowshoes
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Awesome light

2011-01-24T13:09:00.001-09:00

Awesome light
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Update on life in Alaska

2011-01-24T13:00:00.002-09:00

Long absence on here, but I wanted to keep moving along.

The house has come to the point of livability, moved in early November with just the sheetrock's 3rd coat of mud to do, along with priming and then painting. The best laid plans have come and gone and one wall is painted with 3 walls mudded. Priming has been a big plan but has yet to happen. Its tough once you move in and get situated. I think the break has been long enough though and will commence the project this week. Our little woodstove has been working steadily through the winter and has kept the place nice and toasty for the most part. The drawback is that in order to wake up to a warm house when the temp drops down to the -10's or below means waking up at 3 am to add some wood to the fire. A larger stove will be one of the plans for next summer along with a number 1 fueled Toyotomi stove to moderate and allow for some long weekends out without a freezeup. So far the coldest temps seen at the new place have been in the -30's and that was Saturday night. Most of the cold snaps in town have been down to the -40's and the Tanana Valley inversion has kept it up around -20. Saturday seems to be a fluke with a weather system blowing through and knocking out the inversion, but Sunday brought a warmup from -20 in the morning to +3 by the afternoon.

The supremely steep driveway has proved to be little trouble for the most part. Once snow falls, I plow and we drive on it without any problems. There was a horrific 3 day rainstorm back around Thanksgiving that froze upon hitting the ground and coated the driveway with almost 1 inch of solid ice. I tried chipping it, I tried sanding it, graveling, ice melt. Nothing made it budge at all. So, for a few days we parked at the top of the hill and walked through the woods. Then a nice snowstorm moved through, gave it a good coat of snow and it became drivable again. Who would ever have through that more snow would be the answer to a slick driveway.

This winter has passed pretty quickly so far. Lots of firewood cutting, splitting and stacking as well as skiing, snowshoeing and ice fishing to report. The past weekend was spent out ice fishing in a rented hut with friends on Quartz Lake all day Saturday and then hauling firewood up the hill about 60 feet all day Sunday. I moved about 1 cord worth of split birch logs in three stages up the hill. It was back breaking work and my arms and abdominal muscles are reminding me why its always best to pull the 8 foot logs up the hill then cut and split them where they can be pulled from instead of cutting them where they fell to wrangle together at a later time. Lesson learned. Now for the other 4 or 5 cords that still remain down the hill. I'll slowly chip away at them as time allows.

Started seeing seed catalogs in the mail this past week which is heartwarming. Its nice to think about a garden about this time of year, start planning and deciding what sounds good to grow. Haven't really figured out exactly where the garden area is going to be yet, but its becoming a priority sooner than later. Just need to figure out who I know has a box tiller attachment for an ATV that I can use in the spring to break up the ground and get it all ready. Potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, spinach, broccoli and whatever other random seeds sound good will be in the bunch. I'd love to find some sort of super hardy northern variety of hops that tolerates the Fairbanks season if anyone has any recommendations. Meat rabbits are in the agenda for the 2011 summertime so I have to get a plan together to build a hutch for them, along with a revamped chick coop for meat birds this time around. Having laying hens was a good experience, but heating them through the winter was real bear. If I ever dig a cave out of the hillside, I may consider them again where I can keep it climate controlled a little better and use the surrounding ground for insulating, but for now, its one season birds only.

Until something else happens worth writing about…
Thanks for reading,
-Justin

Mushrooms

2010-08-16T12:00:00.002-08:00

2010 has been a really good year for mushrooms in the Interior of Alaska. Enough rain mixed with enough warm days to produce quite a selection.
These are just a few of the ones I've seen lately.

new chimney

2010-08-16T10:57:00.003-08:00

new chimney
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

up the chimney 8'

2010-08-16T10:57:00.001-08:00

up the chimney 8'
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

chimney!

2010-08-16T10:56:00.001-08:00

chimney!
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

It was really hard to cut a hole in the roof, but it had to be done.

Vapor barrier going up

2010-08-16T10:55:00.001-08:00

Vapor barrier going up
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Our house

2010-08-16T10:54:00.001-08:00

Our house
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

View from the road of our hidden house down through the woods

All the doors and windows are in!

2010-07-25T09:28:00.005-08:00

Finally got a delayed special order in town. The windows and doors are done.

Tyvek wrapped, 2 windows and 2 doors installed

2010-07-25T09:28:00.001-08:00

Tyvek wrapped, 2 windows and 2 doors installed
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The hole up near the top of the gable end matches another one on the opposite side. We'll have big vents in there to let the roof stay cool, but this one stays open for now so I can crawl through to do the blow in cellulose insulation in a few weeks.

North Door

2010-07-25T09:26:00.003-08:00

North Door
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Nice tight seal on the doors.

South door!

2010-07-25T09:26:00.001-08:00

South door!
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Doors mean that we can lock up our stuff finally. Finally...

4x5 picture windows (where the garage doors will be later on)

2010-07-25T09:25:00.001-08:00

4x5 picture windows (where the garage doors will be later on)
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

4x5's IN! One day in the future, these will come out along with the 7x9ish wall panels we built them into and leave a garage door opening while the panels go on to be two walls of a treehouse. Good trees already picked out for treehouse with view.

Housewrapping

2010-07-25T09:24:00.001-08:00

Housewrapping
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Since we end up being an advertisement for Lowes with their housewrap, the least we can do is put the logo upside down.

Chrissy on the pneumatic stapler

2010-07-25T09:23:00.001-08:00

Chrissy on the pneumatic stapler
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Chrissy stapling while I held the roll of tyvek. We wrapped and wrapped and wrapped.

Metal roof

2010-07-25T09:21:00.001-08:00

Metal roof
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

One side down, still to come: gable trim, North side roofing and ridge cap.

pool

2010-07-25T09:20:00.003-08:00

pool
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The dogs took advantage of a pallet and blue tarp pool we set up for them.

Metal roof

2010-07-25T09:20:00.001-08:00

Metal roof
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Metal roofing going down. Lots and lots of expensive rubber washer screws. Something like .15c apiece. After this part is done, I'll be using the metal detector to find all the dropped screws to use on the roofing for our shed this fall.

Chrissy painting the soffits

2010-07-25T09:18:00.001-08:00

Chrissy painting the soffits
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Chrissy painted all of the soffits. My attention to detail (or an occasional lack thereof) led her to be the only paintbrush holder in the deal.

First panel

2010-07-25T09:16:00.003-08:00

First panel
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The metal starts going down. It was amazing how much this really tied the roof together too. Home becomes a solid piece now.

Eave and gable fascia

2010-07-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

Eave and gable fascia
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Eaves trim up

2010-07-25T09:15:00.003-08:00

Eaves trim up
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

South side eave trim is up and looking sharp.

3 sides down

2010-07-25T09:15:00.001-08:00

3 sides down
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Now to finish the East side and get moving on to metal trim.

Gable end fascia on west end

2010-07-25T09:14:00.001-08:00

Gable end fascia on west end
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

the gable end fascia board went up without any major problems, but was pretty awkward to hold in place for those first few screws. Most of this trim will be covered with metal trim when its all done.

Fascia up on North Wall

2010-07-25T09:13:00.001-08:00

Fascia up on North Wall
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

North side fascia board in place, ready to move to the southside and do the same thing with a little more understanding.

soffit view

2010-07-25T09:12:00.001-08:00

IMG_2276
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

soffits up, ready to put the eave on. Should have done this in reverse, but thats how it goes sometimes.

Soffit

2010-07-25T09:11:00.001-08:00

Soffit
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Started on the soffits, painted slate grey to match the roof. We're making a "cold roof" so the vents are to allow air to travel in and up over our blown in insulation allowing the roof to hold snow through the winter and not create ice dams.

outhouse stairs

2010-07-25T09:08:00.001-08:00

outhouse stairs
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

We built a set of stairs to bridge the treacherous hill to the outhouse. Next comes a railing for these and a rope the rest of the way down. Falling on the way to the outhouse should not be an option.

Window and door cutouts

2010-06-15T09:53:00.003-08:00

We are finally to that point in building where you can take a step back and look at what you have in front of you and begin to imagine what it might look like when its finished. Last night, we cut out the door and window openings and the place really took shape. I have included some low quality cell phone pictures that I couldn't resist taking because the building took on such monumental changes all in a matter of minutes.

The roofing underlayment is done now and we got some prices for our metal roofing. Looks like the roof along with the higher end stove pipe fittings is still going to come in under budget for us, which is a great thing right now. Fingers crossed that we'll be living in this place by September. The plan that is residing in my head is to see if we can get in here before we need to buy any oil at the rental cabin. It'd be great to be able to forego that expense.

Looking South and West from inside

Looking North East from inside

From the South West viewpoint

loaded up

2010-06-13T19:46:00.001-08:00

loaded up
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Our ride in. The junky little trailer, loaded down with about 300 lbs worth of fish made it along about 4 miles of rough trail before it finally gave in and a wheel fell off. We still had a mile to go, with the help of someone who was stuck behind us (narrow trail, trailer in the way blocking it) we were able to haul everything back to the truck.

dipnetting

2010-06-13T19:44:00.001-08:00

dipnetting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

dipnetting

2010-06-13T19:43:00.005-08:00

dipnetting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

dipnetting

2010-06-13T19:43:00.003-08:00

dipnetting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

dipnetting

2010-06-13T19:43:00.001-08:00

dipnetting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Putting the dipnet to work in a back eddy, catching salmon as they move upstream.

salmon on

2010-06-13T19:42:00.003-08:00

salmon on
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Joel dipnetting

2010-06-13T19:42:00.001-08:00

Joel dipnetting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

3 am and its quittin time

2010-06-13T19:41:00.007-08:00

3 am and its quittin time
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

decking completed

2010-06-13T19:41:00.005-08:00

decking completed
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Last sections

2010-06-13T19:41:00.003-08:00

Last sections
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Moving towards the center

2010-06-13T19:41:00.001-08:00

Moving towards the center
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

working our way up the north side

2010-06-13T19:40:00.001-08:00

shapes
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Starting the North side

2010-06-13T19:39:00.003-08:00

Starting the North side
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

plywood decking going on

2010-06-13T19:39:00.001-08:00

plywood decking going on
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Done

2010-05-23T23:32:00.001-08:00

Done
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

finished. A hard days work.

Now for some sheathing and to save some more money for the real metal roof.

wrapping up the last one

2010-05-23T23:31:00.003-08:00

wrapping up the last one
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

making sure everything is level before installing the lateral bracing

truss lifting

2010-05-23T23:31:00.001-08:00

truss lifting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

getting close to the end. Spent an entire day getting all of this worked out and in place.

truss lifting

2010-05-23T23:30:00.005-08:00

truss lifting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

We worked in batches of 4 (our jigs were only holding 4 at a time) and then we'd tie them in with bracing and move on to the next batch.

truss lifting

2010-05-23T23:30:00.003-08:00

truss lifting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:30:00.001-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Second truss in place, held upright by one of the jigs Chrissy and Alex made.

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:29:00.003-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

2 gable trusses in place

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:29:00.001-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

All of the trusses up on to the plates. First 5 are upright, second 7 are dropped so we can just slide them across and flip them up. It all worked out perfectly.

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:28:00.003-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

bracing the gable end truss from behind and using bungee cords to hold the subsequent stack in place.

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:28:00.001-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

This was a bit awkward. Lifting these things with a crane is the preferred method, but our soft, new driveway wouldnt allow it.

Garage construction

2010-05-23T23:27:00.001-08:00

Garage construction
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Both garage door headers installed now, all 4 walls ready to go. Trusses stacked and ready to be lifted into place.

last gable end truss coming down the drive

2010-05-23T23:26:00.005-08:00

last gable end truss coming down the drive
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

sliding them in

2010-05-23T23:26:00.003-08:00

sliding them in
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Big trusses. 34 feet long, 7 feet tall.

sledge and dog

2010-05-23T23:26:00.001-08:00

sledge and dog
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Only way to get these trusses down the hill was by hand. Joel devised a sledge of sorts so that we could both work together on one end and pull.

trusses in the air

2010-05-23T23:25:00.003-08:00

trusses in the air
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Its coming along

2010-05-23T23:25:00.001-08:00

Its coming along
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Trusses delivered from Fairbanks Truss

window insert

2010-05-23T23:24:00.003-08:00

window insert
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

For the time that we live in the garage, we're putting windows in place of the garage doors. Nice big 4x5 windows. We built the inserts so they can come out and then be used as walls for our future treehouse.

tieing the last wall in

2010-05-23T23:24:00.001-08:00

tieing the last wall in
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Joel and I pulling the final wall sections together

all the makings for fun

2010-05-23T23:23:00.003-08:00

all the makings for fun
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

3 walls, strong enough to stand on

2010-05-23T23:23:00.001-08:00

3 walls, strong enough to stand on
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

2 walls sheathed, 3 walls raised

2010-04-25T09:56:00.003-08:00

2 walls sheathed, 3 walls raised
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The South and East walls have now been fully sheathed. Last night Chrissy and I raised the North wall by ourselves (not the best plan yet). I'll put the sheathing on it today and finish up the three small sections of walls that go up for the West wall (the one with two garage doors.

New North wall, one door, one small window

2010-04-25T09:56:00.001-08:00

New North wall, one door, one small window
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

North wall with have a small window above the sink and a door near the back side. You can see a black pipe coming up out of the pad there, its a drain that we insulated last year that runs down the hill a bit. I am figuring we can hook up the sink and a small pump shower to it to save from having to empty a slop bucket all the time. We ran some string down the whole thing so we can pull some ice melting wire thing down through there if we need to. (Its a thermostat and jacketed wire made to melt ice out of gutters that seems like it may work for keeping this thing ice free @ -30.)

Almost a building

2010-04-25T09:52:00.003-08:00

Almost a building
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Three walls, well on our way to having a place to live.

checking level

2010-04-25T09:52:00.001-08:00

checking level
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

I obsess about making these walls level and straight.

built, ready to raise.

2010-04-25T09:51:00.003-08:00

built, ready to raise.
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

The compressor had a blowout just as we were about to shoot the last few nails into this section of wall. Took half an hour just to remove all the odd sized and style screws in the top to get inside it. Poor craftsmanship makes for poor products that break too easily and in this case, Bostitch cut some corners when they were making these compressors.

You can see the Garage Door headers on the slab there, monsters.

South wall, half sheathed

2010-04-25T09:51:00.001-08:00

South wall, half sheathed
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Since we raised this wall without sheathing (because it was so heavy with this giant header that spans three windows) we put the sheathing on horizontally. For what it was worth, this worked out pretty well.

nailing

2010-04-25T09:50:00.003-08:00

nailing
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

hardass

2010-04-25T09:50:00.001-08:00

hardass
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

nailing up sheathing made easy with pneumatics.

From above

2010-04-25T09:49:00.003-08:00

From above
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

putting walls together.

Cutting plywood for sheathing

2010-04-25T09:49:00.001-08:00

Cutting plywood for sheathing
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Chrissy cutting ply for sheathing the south wall. I love the wood grain mixed with the top half of the circular saw.

Getting into the swing of things

2010-04-22T00:18:00.003-08:00

So, its officially spring around here. Its been in the 50's and sunny during the day, even had a few days last weekend that hit 60 and 70 out at our property. Pulled the plug on the lights in the chicken coop last week and they are hovering around 57, night and day.

Great building weather is what it amounts to for us right now though, but unfortunately, this great building weather is being accented by 9 credit hours of school work. All of it wrapping up and coming to a head in the first part of May.
Chrissy takes a trip to Washington DC with her class next week and shortly thereafter I am headed back to the Bluegrass for a wedding. Once that all wraps up, its full steam ahead and this garage should be knocked out quick. With the exception of learning a fair amount more about electricity, I think we have most of the knowledge we will need to finish it up.
Our 34' roof trusses have been ordered and should be arriving in the next week or so, the plan is to get them raised before the middle of May and capped with plywood and bituthene so we can fend off rain with a real roof (of sorts) until we can afford the metal roofing that will finish it off.

Chrissy and I are both anxiously awaiting the day that we can start redirecting some of our hard earned money back towards ourselves. We have been living on a strict budget for the last year or so that would probably make most people cringe.

We'll keep posting photos as we take them and as we get more work done. Cant wait for the summer to come and wrapping up this project, lots of trips to take, stuff to see along with fishing and hunting to get out and do.
Back to studying for me, just needed a quick break to ease my mind.
-Justin

Two Walls we own

2010-04-18T00:18:00.005-08:00

Two Walls we own
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

A hard days work and some nice results.

Justin and Chrissy

2010-04-18T00:18:00.003-08:00

Justin and Chrissy
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

12 hour day. Nothing better.

Raising the south wall

2010-04-18T00:18:00.001-08:00

Raising the south wall
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Wall is raised, now time to negotiate it into place over its bolts.

East wall is up

2010-04-18T00:17:00.003-08:00

East wall is up
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

A real wall!

tightening the J bolts on the east wall

2010-04-18T00:17:00.001-08:00

tightening the J bolts on the east wall
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Wall is up, tightening down the bolts to hold it in place. Finally, a wall that starts to give an idea of what size this place is going to be.

Getting ready for lifting

2010-04-18T00:16:00.001-08:00

Getting ready for lifting
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Sill sealer is in place, J bolts have been cleaned of tape from last fall (to keep them concrete free) Ready for some heavy lifting!

Framing

2010-04-18T00:15:00.003-08:00

Framing
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Gunnar lounging while we're hard at work.

Photobomb

2010-04-18T00:15:00.001-08:00

Photobomb
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

I could see Chrissy taking these myspace style self shots, so I snuck into one. My expression is intentionally bizarre.

Grinning

2010-04-18T00:14:00.003-08:00

Grinnin
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Chrissy looking nice

Framing

2010-04-18T00:14:00.001-08:00

Framing
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Framing the South wall, big headers for lots of windows!

using dowel rods to move the east wall

2010-04-18T00:13:00.005-08:00

using dowel rods to move the east wall
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

This thing was heavy and too much to lug around so we started using dowel rods to roll it.

On our way out today

2010-04-18T00:13:00.003-08:00

On our way out today
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Baby moose the size of horses.

Plywood

2010-04-18T00:13:00.001-08:00

Plywood
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

Last sheet and the wall is done. Squared up and good to go.

sheathing

2010-04-18T00:12:00.001-08:00

sheathing
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

sheathing the east wall before its raised

Us.

2010-04-04T09:08:00.003-08:00

Us.
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

All nailed together

2010-04-04T09:08:00.001-08:00

All nailed together
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

1st wall, ready for sheathing. I picked up 12d nails instead of 8d for the sheathing which has about a $50 difference in cost. Rather than use the expensive ones, we decided to return them for the lesser ones and finish the sheathing in a few days.

Layout

2010-04-04T09:06:00.001-08:00

Layout
Originally uploaded by justinmaple

scattering the wall studs. We picked this wall to do first because it has no windows and no doors. Nice and easy.