Cabin House Build

We are building a cabin style house designed maximize efficiency, comfort and affordability. It's inspired by traditional Alaska cabins, with good heat convection, shared windows, and a beautiful pitched roof.  In just six weeks, go from a footer in the ground to a fully insulated shell.  We are planning to sell or rent this house when we are done.  We hope that the techniques we share will inspire others to build their own homes too.

Cabin House Build Episode 1: Design and Floorplan

Housing costs are rising faster than wages - making it more and more difficult for people to own their own homes.  Up here in Alaska, where heating oil costs are also rising, we have to compensate by super insulating our homes - driving up the cost even more.  It's hard to afford a decent home these days.

Jacob and I had a chance to buy a burned house a couple of years ago, and this year is the year for us to build a house on the existing foundation.  We plan to

Read More

Cabin House Build Episode 2 - Wall Framing, Floor Framing

We are building a simple house in Alaska.  To keep costs down without sacrificing energy efficiency and square footage, we simplified the design.  The floor plan is compact, but well planned.  We are hoping to create a home for resale that is more affordable upfront and over it's lifetime - heating a home in Alaska can be so expensive.

Last week we got started by finalizing the design, building the foundation, and creating the main floor system.

This week, t

Read More

Cabin House Build Episode 8: Siding

This week, we installed siding on the exterior. We choose a panel siding to keep the cost down and also to get that vertical siding look. We love how it turned out, but there are drawbacks to using this type of siding. If you are planning on installing a similar siding, consult with the manufacturers install guide to help you install it right.

Here's the video of our progress this week

Thank you for watching.  You can watch the entire series here: http

Read More

Cabin House Build Episode 9: How We Build and Finish Wood Ceilings

We are building a small, simple cabin style house in Alaska to sell.  We hope the end result will be an affordable, efficient, low maintenance home, that does not lack on comfort and style, for one family.

Roofs are a big deal.  Since heat rises, having a well insulated roof is essential to heating a home efficiently.  Roofs also add the greatest character to a home - both inside and out.  We love building exposed timbered ceilings for these reasons:

We

Read More

Cabin House Build Episode 11: DIY Kitchen Cabinets

Tutorial/template links as mentioned in the video:

Shelf Help Configurator to Design Your Own Kitchen Cabinets Base kitchen cabinets Wall kitchen cabinets Installing Drawer Slides Installing Concealed Door Hinges Easy way to do Crown Moulding

Pin for Later! 

Read More

Cabin House Build Final Walk Through

We've been working on a small, simple, cabin style house in Alaska for resale.  It's finally done and we are so excited to share with you the results in our video walk through:

{"preview_thumbnail":"/sites/default/files/styles/video_embed_wysiwyg_preview/public/video_thumbnails/fJKh0Fs2AhQ.jpg?itok=fEXxwDvD","video_url":"https://youtu.be/fJKh0Fs2AhQ","settings":{"responsive":1,"width":"854","height":"480","autoplay":1},"settings_summary":["Embedded Video (Responsive, autoplayin

Read More