Alaska Lake Cabin

Hello, Jacob here today, with a cabin post update.

I have to admit that when we started thinking about building our cabin using a timberframe roof system, I was hesitant.  Up here in Alaska, where we have extreme cold winters, one side of your roof (especially with heat trapped at the peak) could be 100 degrees, and on the other side, it could be -60 below.  If not done right, this could become a condensation nightmare.

When it comes to building, I like to go the tried a

Hi everyone, Happy Monday!!!

We got a chance to sneak down to our cabin this weekend and pick some blueberries, and grab a few images for our DIY Network show that will air sometime this fall (will let you know as soon as we know on an air date!).

I still can't believe we built that cabin in just a couple of months!  Of course, everything was so rushed and under a tighter schedule because of the filming, but still!  So it's fun to get to go back

There's only one surface left in our cabin that we haven't installed the finished material on yet!

The downstairs floors.

I've had my heart set on hickory flooring, either laminate or hardwood depending on budget, from the beginning.  Have you not seen Melissa from The Inspired Room's floors?

Wouldn't this mix of wood tones be the perfect flooring for our Alaska lake cabin?  I showed our crew Melissa's floors, and they even loved it and were excited a

So we got our loft floor beams up, are you ready for the next step?

One of the big reasons I wanted to add a timberframe to our cabin was I loved the wood ceilings with beams supporting tongue and groove.

And the really cool thing is the upper floor flooring is also the lower floor ceiling.  We will be using 1-1/2" thick locally grown and milled Alaska white spruce for the loft flooring, and as we put it down, it will also be the finished ceiling for the lower f

Hi there!  Thank you for following along on our cabin build process!

A little while back, I posted about how we built the decks for the cabin -

As you can see, this is definitely a deck that should be covered.  Our cabin is in the mountains, so several feet of snow each winter can be expected.

Knowing this, from the beginning, I designed covered decks into the cabin plans.  You can go back and add covered decks, but it's always easiest if you plan for t

Hi everyone!

Well, this is the Monday of all Mondays for me.  I've been off playing for the last two months, building this!

I can't tell you how much we appreciate your patience with us over the last eight weeks, as our time has been consumed with our cabin project that we did for DIY Network.  We are so thrilled to have an opportunity to share what we do with you in a new way, and can't wait ourselves to see how the show comes out.  I'll be sharing as soon a

We've been done building our cabin for a month now, and are finally back to full rested.  That was quite an experience, and a whirlwind of long hours and back breaking work.

Why, then, could I be itching for another project after seeing all these photos???

Hey, we are all a little bit crazy, right?

In this post, I will show you how we put up the main rafters for the cabin, and finished up all the timber work.  This was my absolute favorite part (besides the fu

Hi everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend!

We've been busy with projects, and will be sharing those with you shortly - can't wait, there's some good ones coming soon!

In the meantime, we'd like to get all of the cabin posts out before the show airs this fall.  We don't have an air date yet, as soon as we do I will let you know.

In our last cabin post, we finished up the timberframe raising.

Today, I'll show you how we did two things - enclosed the ups

Hi guys, Jacob here.  

If I write a post, it's gotta start with a cool picture of Alaska.  

We spotted these big bulls on the drive to the cabin site.  They are going to be some nice bulls by hunting season.

So about that cabin.  It's sure coming along!

We did get a ton done last week!  Make sure you follow Ana on Instagram - she's been sharing live progress photos.

But none of this would have been poss

We've been busy working on the cabin six days a week, up to 12 hours a day.  But honestly, I almost dread the one day off a week.  In that one day off, I am busy preparing for the next week, making sure we don't run out of supplies, materials, or food for the next six days of working remote.  

We also are winter camping on site, so I've been bringing home laundry and dishes home.  I'm glad to be heading back to work today.

That's my excuse anyway for going so l

Hi everyone and Happy Monday!

Sorry about getting my latest post out to you so late this weekend (I aim for Friday) - our new smokehouse!

It's just a wood shed or outdoor closet - with a stove pipe plumbed into the back!  We've been enjoying authentic smoked salmon strips, and plan on packing school lunches with them.   Make sure you check out the smokehouse plans here - even if you don't need to process salmon, it would make a perfect outdoor shed or storage