A Cabin Anyone Could Build | Start To Furnished | Alaska Off-Grid

When I was 17 I saw the documentary Alone in the Wild and decided that I, too, wanted to move to Alaska and try to

build

a

cabin

. The only problem was that he wasn't an asshole. I was just a kid living in the suburbs with absolutely no construction experience, but I didn't let that stop me. I moved to Alaska and 10 years later I had my land and had fumbled around for my first

cabin

, but now it's time to

build

a new cabin and this video is dedicated to all the dreamers who want to do the same. I hope this video inspires you, but enough talking, let's build the cabin.

This would be a small cabin, 10 x 12 with a 4 foot porch, that will serve as a bunk bed when visitors come to stay. and a good place to record music too for newcomers to my channel. I want you to know that all the music in my videos is completely original and written by me and Forest Wilson, the guy who is helping me right now, in fact, all the music. it's recorded here in the cabin and some of these tracks were even recorded in the cabin we're building now. I decided to use pair blocks instead of Sona tubes, there is no need to drill into the ground when it is such a small cabin and the adjustable brackets on top of the dock blocks make it easy to level after having the m foundation.

The beams are 4X 8X 16 and pressure treated, leaving approximately a 5t gap between the dock blocks depending on how the chamber is positioned. Up here sure makes this beam look uneven, but I always trust my level instead of my eye. Well, the next step was the floor joist. For this I use 2x6 and again, technically pressure treated, you don't need pressure treated lumber for the floor joist, but I figured with all the extra moisture coming out of the ground it would be worth the investment. One has the zooms. I'm sure some of you will notice that the edge of the wall actually sticks out from the end of the studs.

This is called a channel lever and a little channel lever is allowed as long as it does not exceed the width of the beam running through it, so this is a 5.5 inch beam, so it was 5.5 inches of projection on the beams. A lot of people have pretty strong opinions about Insulating the floor and I decided to use closed foam board and I did it for two reasons: rodents and humidity, over time the moisture coming up from the floor will

start

to ruin the fiberglass and then squirrels and other small critters will enter. There, I break the fiberglass and make a nest out of it.

I guess there are ways to prevent that from happening, but for me it's easiest to use styrofoam and leave it a day after putting up the insulation. I put a layer of reflective bubble wrap on top. On top of everything, this can help keep down thermal bridging, which is cold air moving through the studs and onto the floor, it also helps add an air barrier and just a little more insulation, as In 2 days the foundation and subfloor were complete. Now it's time to move on to the walls. I'm using 2x4 studs 16 inches on center. Oh my cabin is completely off

grid

which to me means you live off any kind of utility

grid

including electricity so I run my cabin with a small 2000 watt generator, that generator then connects to a ecoflow power station that stores the energy and then I can use it without having to run the generator.

I don't know how other people do it, but I always make sure I have my doors and windows purchased before I

start

framing that way. I know exactly how big my rough openings need to be. It's nice to buy a lot of new materials and not have to worry about it, but windows and doors are something I'll always get used to. Because they are so much cheaper than buying new, people now always ask me if I use blueprints or some type of blueprint to build the cabin and the answer is no. I just think about exactly how I wanted to look and then I went. and I learned all the basics of framing.

I spent a lot of time with a calculator and pencil trying to figure out exactly how to put this together. That's cool, look at this. I've been very lucky to have a couple of friends come. And help me with a lot of these steps, but siding is one where you really need an extra set of hands to help you hold the plywood while you nail it. Could you do it yourself? Well, sure you can, but it definitely is. It helps to have an extra set of hands, well yes, for me, the lining is one of the most fun parts for a couple of reasons: one, you start to get a real idea of ​​what the cabin will look and feel like once it's done. is built, the other thing is that it really firms up the walls and starts to give good rigidity to the entire structure.

I wanted this cabin to have Ved roofs, it makes the interior much larger and just feels like cabins, to be able to do that you have to use a ridge cap. rafter, if you don't have something structural for the roof rafters to hang from, the walls will lean over time, especially when there is a heavy snow load on top. This beam is 4x1 with a length of 16 t. I spent a lot of time worrying about how I was going to climb it, especially doing most of this alone, but luckily for me, the guys were here the day I needed to climb.

This is the first time I've framed on a ceiling in my main house. cabin. I just bought beams and put them in there, so it was definitely a big challenge for me. I did a lot of research and talked to a lot of different people about how they do it, but the more people I talked to, the more I realized that there were just a hundred different ways to do this. I ended up calculating everything based on how high my ridge beam was, how far the span was from the walls, and what angle I was going to cut it at after a After much consideration, I decided to go with a 512 roof pitch.

No It's steep enough that you can't walk without a rope, but it's steep enough to shed snow, especially with a sheet metal cover. However, there have been winners that I have seen even 1212 roof pitches still holding the snow load here, we have a lot of snow so far this year, we have already had a 10 foot drop in the cabin, so I'm glad to I ended up using 2x8s for the ceiling joists. that also adds extra space for insulation. This is one of my favorite shots I've ever captured. You see Norman jump into the cabin hoping for help with the rain and looking so confused as to why he was still getting wet.

I would try to put him inside the main cabin but he refused. He would always want to be by my side. Oh I wanted this cabin to look as rustic as possible so I decided to drop a couple of dead spruce trees and use them as my porch posts, now that the projecting supports were ready I was finally able to attach the last couple of beams and finish with the roof frame, after that it was over the blockage. I know many of you are probably wondering where his wife is. Well, she has been. On the Kenai Peninsula, I see we have another cabin there that she has also been doing projects on all summer, but today I was lucky enough to have her come and help me finish the roof, a layer of tar paper on top of it. the roof terrace. and it can be a big help in keeping the water out if you notice that we always wear long sleeve shirts with hoods on to keep the bugs away.

This summer we had horrendous mosquitoes and they were just an absolute pest while we were trying to build. so having the M Stang off our neck and out of our ears was a big help. I absolutely hate cutting sheet metal so I made sure to design my roof and overhang to be the right length, just put an 8T piece in there and that's it. Done once we had all the panels ready, put the ridge up and nailed it, it was a big weight off my shoulders to have that roof finished, having the cabin weather tight really gives you some time and you can relax and not worry about the water. come in and ruin the frame with the roof and all the framing done, it was time to add a layer of tyvec, this acts as a great wind layer for your cabin as well as a way to keep water out of the walls and I used a bead of silicone around the inside edge of all my vinyl windows, technically you're supposed to take the tyvec, cut it and fold it so no water can get behind the windows and then behind the TYC, but I have such big overhangs in my cabin I decided I wasn't going to worry about it, I framed it too short, that's going to suck, yeah, I screwed up pretty good on this one.

I didn't take the width of the subfloor into account when I framed the door. Many people have asked why you didn't cut the bottom of the door. The problem is that the door is inside what is called the jam, which is the frame that holds the door and cannot simply be cut away. Removing the bottom part of that, but not without taking it all apart and then somehow resting and re-stapleting it, which would have been a huge pain in the butt, talk about pains in the butt, putting this triple pain 4x4 window in by my account turned out to be Unfortunately, strength is one of my weaknesses and lifting this really heavy window open was beyond my capabilities, so I had to get creative and find a new way to achieve it.

Windowing in cabin building is all about problem solving and this was a problem I was glad to have solved. Yes that's fine. The next step was the wiring. I asked my friend Mason to fly in from Washington State and help me wire the cabin we are in. old high school friends and after high school he became an electrician and has been working on large high rise buildings for the last 15 years. I wanted the new bunk to be connected to the main cabin electrical system that way I

could

power everything from a single source, so we dug a 60 foot trench and ran a piece of RX from the breaker box in my old cabin to the new bunk bed.

That way, I can also turn the lights on and off from the little cabin inside my main cabin. For the overhead lights, I decided I wanted a couple of outlets in there so people

could

charge their phones or plug in a cup of coffee. We also put in a couple of outside outlets and ran wire for a porch light and ceiling reflector. one oh, with the cabin fully connected, it was time to start the insulation. Make sure you put some type of mesh over the blocking so that no critters try to climb up to the ceiling.

What I'm using here is pretty thin but it's made of metal so I hope it keeps them out. I used R15 fiberglass installation for the walls and R 21 for the roof, although my roof rafters are 2x8 and could hold a little thicker insulation. I decided to scale it down a bit, that way I have some airflow over the insulation without having to install baffles last week it got down to -40 here in the cabin and this little bunk stayed nice and warm if this was going to be a more full time cabin, I probably would have gone with 2x6 walls and beams that way I can get a lot more insulation just like I did on the 2x6 walls and beams of my main cabin with R21 in the walls and R38 in the ceiling, okay , I love the warmth of wood, I love chopping wood, I love burning wood, I love sitting by the fire, I love listening to it crackle and I love the nice dry, radiant heat that a wood stove produces, but for this little one cabin I decided to go. with a vented propane heater and I did it for a couple of reasons, the first is that a propane heater takes up a lot less space than a wood stove and in this little cabin every inch counts, the other thing is that I didn't want to have to have guests worrying about running a wood stove and let's be honest not everyone is very good with a wood stove and the chance of burning this little place down is much less if they only have a propane heater to turn on when they are there I found this little heater Used 10,000 BTU Empire at a pretty good price and the nice thing is that it doesn't require electricity to run so if the power goes out the heat stays on.

Many people think that propane heaters remove too much moisture but that is only if they are not vented, the vented ones give off a nice dry heat, many people joke about tyvec being the official sighting of Alaska and there is a myth that says that If the tyvec is still displayed in your cabin you don't have to pay taxes because it is an unfinished structure, well let me tell you that is not true, the way it really works is that the taxes are based on the percentage of the structure that It is complete so if you have 98% of the structure complete you will have to pay 98% of the taxes and that is what equals approximately 2%, so there is no point in having a really ugly building on your property to save 2% of your taxes, not only that, but TYC degrades in the sun, so if it sits idle for a couple of years your tyvec will be pretty much ruined anyway and honestly it doesn't evenI don't even want to start with the property taxes, it seems like a robbery to have to pay property taxes all.

The way out here in the middle of nowhere, but unfortunately I don't make the rules, but the state does enforce them. I was able to get a lot of rough cut wood from a local sawmill and at a pretty good price it is also what I used in my large cabin and all the other outbuildings on the property, not only is it a great sighting but having a lot of stuff is really nice. I have used it for many projects. I built stairs. I used it to finish my woodshed. other little things, so I recommend having these things on hand.

It's always a good day at the cabin when Forest shows up. He's been a huge help in building the whole cabin and we had a lot of fun talking and choosing tunes, we even had the chance to record a couple of songs after we finished working, good guy, almost done, almost done, hello just I couldn't have been more pleased with the look of the cabin with the sighting turned on in my first cabin. I did a real hack job, there are big gaps everywhere and I just thought about trimming and covering everything, but now I take my time to make the right cuts and no trimming is necessary after laying the subfloor.

I started with the floors that join together. I would love to use real hardwoods, but I don't have the budget or skills for it. A cool trick I discovered is that many big box stores will sell you these things for a much cheaper price if the boxes they come in are broken. I was very lucky. and someone with a forklift had accidentally opened four or five boxes of this stuff, so I bought it for next to nothing. I think I can safely say that fall is my favorite season in Alaska, the trout fishing is phenomenal, you can start hunting for mosquitoes.

They're gone and the leaves are absolutely beautiful, but the arrival of fall also means that winter is right around the corner, so this year I sacrificed a lot of those fun activities and kept working on the bunk bed where to install the tongue and groove. slot can be an easy task. a little tedious, so I decided to use the largest board I could get to make as few cuts as possible. If you decide to do something similar, make sure you have a rubber mallet and flooring tool on hand over the years that I have acquired. Lots of nice little tools, most of them I bought at pawn shops or from friends who no longer needed them, but when I started I only had a circular saw, a hammer and a couple of screw guns.

It's really nice to have a jigsaw and a chop saw too, but don't forget that you don't need a very expensive tool bag to make a cabin like this. Oh, I started this project at the beginning of June and now it's mid-September, so it took me about 3 and a half years. Half a month to get to this point, but keep in mind I was also doing a lot of other things. I built a new woodshed. I cut some cords of firewood. I did some fishing and made a lot of major improvements to my other cabin. I still needed to do the window trim and sills inside here, but I decided I wanted to build some log bunk beds first so that that way if someone wanted to come stay, it would be ready to go, a standard 38" double bed. inches wide, which would have taken up a lot.

There is too much room in this cabin, so I read Dick Pern's book a little and found out that he built his b 28 inches wide, which seemed a little tight to me, so I decided to go with 30 inches. There is something very satisfying about it. Peeling logs by hand is very hard work, but there's something about the knife sliding up under the bark that makes you feel good. It really reminds me of all the work Dick Periki did. He was doing everything with hand tools that he didn't use. I have a single piece of wood that was store bought.

I'm not half the man Dick Periki is. I'm using power tools and store-bought wood. I have solar power and I even have a cell phone signal, but. Peeling those logs by hand gave me the feeling that maybe I could make something a little more like what he did because, after all, there was a time in my life when I didn't know how to do any of the things I know. . how to do it now I didn't think I would ever be able to build a cabin, but I set my sights on something and just took it one step at a time and before long it had become a reality, so maybe I'll buy something hand-held. tools and maybe try to build a log cabin that looks like yours, just maybe I was able to find these foam pads for very little money, they measure 30 by 70 inches and fit me like a glove, yeah, another reason why I wanted the cathedral.

The ceilings were so I could make bunk beds without the person on top feeling cramped against the ceiling, since I had that extra space I decided to make the distance between the bottom bed and the top bed a little more spacious as well. I'm done. I think that made it nice to be able to sit all the way down on the bottom bunk without hitting your head. I used the leftover siding to make the platform beds. I told you it was good to have those things on hand. Tying the bunk beds to the back wall instead of using posts really saved me a lot of space there, but also made it very firm when the person on the top bunk rolls around the person on the bottom doesn't feel it at all, winter decided.

It arrived early this year and came in full force, the temperature plummeted and the snow piled up, but this cabin wasn't finished yet, so neither was I, all that was left was to make the window seals and the moldings. Had a lot. of leftover 1x4 for the sills, but I had something special in mind for the actual trim and once again, my leftover Spruce siding saved the day using the Live Edge of these. I was able to rip them off and make some pretty cool looking molding that gives the inside of the cabin a very rustic feel and by God it was free, well it was just right for this was going to be the first night Norman and I would spend in the new bunk and what a glorious night it was, I realized after passing through.

Last four months building this, too bad I can't even use it, so I thought I'd spend the night here to make sure the bunks were comfortable, the heater worked and everything felt like it should. At least that's what I told myself, but really I just wanted to lie on that bunk, look up at the ceiling, and say to myself, yeah, I built this thing, so remember, I started this journey with nothing, no money, no tools, no construction experience. and here I am today sleeping in a cabin that I built with my own hands so if I can do it you can too, we only get one chance in this life and it's never too late to be the things that you could have been because life is I don't know It's about discovering who you are, it's about inventing who you want to become.

Thank you so much to all my viewers and everyone who helped me along the way. I'll see you on the next episode of Alaska Cabin Adventures.