After a while the build process becomes agonizing. You know things are progressing, but the detail work is slow. Nice slice of the dream right there 
After a while the build process becomes agonizing. You know things are progressing, but the detail work is slow. Nice slice of the dream right there
I would assume that with most of the exterior done the rest is less weather dependent at the point.
DILYSI Dave wrote: Tip on the fiberglass one piece - Make sure there is SOMETHING under it to provide a solid base, even if it's just something like the insulating foam. My one piece shower is just over air and it flexes and has cracked in one place.
I brought this up with the builder and he's going to use urethane foam insulation under and around the tub for support (and better to keep bath water warm). 
Progress has slowed as the snow has begun to fall.
Some progress though, the pantry has been framed in
And the closet over the stairs has been expanded.
Now we're just waiting for the local power company to put up out service and for the inspector to sign off on the wiring, and Amerigas to install the propane tank. Should (finally) finish insulation this week...
Question, how does propane work up there? Doesn't it get near (within 10-20 degrees) or below the boiling point (-43.6°F, -42°C) often?
Honestly? I'm not sure other than the tank is outside and the heater is in the house so i assume that it's vaporish enough to burn once the pipe goes inside.
And yes, it'll be that cold in a couple weeks and stay there till late February most likely.
If the liquid in the tank drops below that temp you will get no vapor or pressure to drive it inside, you need a few degrees higher to get pressure, mosre still to get adequate flow for a heater. Furthermore I'd think (and some quick googling confirms) heating the tank to get gas works, but it can condense in a still cold line running under the building or buried shallow and send a slug of liquid inside, resulting in a fireball. I even read one account of this occurring and spilling flaming liquid propane out of a lamp onto the floor. So long as you bury the line below the frost line this shouldn't happen though.
its going to be near -46F in a couple of weeks???? Holy E36 M3 that is cold.
Amerigas is doing the install and there's lots of homes and businesses on propane up here, so I imagine it'll be made to work safely.
Last winter was relatively warm, never hit -35 and hovered around -10 most of the winter. In 2012 I saw lots of -55 nights and even some days in November.
Called and asked... Put a heater pad on the tank, similar to the oil pan heater we have on our cars.
I spend about 3 months or so a year in Alaska, Fairbanks specifically! If I remember I'll hit you up next time I'm in the Last Frontier.
The exterior of the house is mostly finished.
Which of course means all of the drywall is inside. This was from last week.
Wednesday, more of the drywall was finished
And Amerigas placed the propane tank
Since Wednesday, all of the drywall has been taped, smoothed, and textured. Today we met with our builder and picked out the last of the interior items needed for finishing (flooring for the 1st floor, all light fixtures, all door hardware, closet hardware, pantry racks, doors, bathroom vanity, faucets, and more). We did figure out one big unfortunate change... downstairs we won't be able to have a pocket door on the half bath. There's just not enough wall space and none of us caught it until it was already built. Unfortunately that means the wall in front of the half bath gets to get re-framed and drywalled. :( Overall, not a huge set back but still annoying.
Flooring goes in this week, then paint and trim, then kitchen and appliances. Still on track to be finished by the first week of November, meaning we'll go through closing while Rebecca and I are on our honeymoon in Tahiti while the bank does it's thing.
Part of the reason I may want or have to switch to working for our sister company AmeriGas is that those guys are located EVERYWHERE.
skierd wrote: In 2012 I saw lots of -55 nights and even some days in November.
Holy crap! And you're expected to, like, go to work and stuff?
Question for Skierd, are those actual temps or 'feels like' temps?
Don't worry! "It's a dry cold" 
Small update! Cabinets have been delivered and should be installed this week. Flooring is going in. The bathroom door is getting reframed after the flooring goes in
1kris06 wrote: Question for Skierd, are those actual temps or 'feels like' temps?
Actual temps.
2002maniac wrote:skierd wrote: In 2012 I saw lots of -55 nights and even some days in November.Holy crap! And you're expected to, like, go to work and stuff?
Yup. Only time you get to call off is when we get a warm system off the gulf of Alaska that'll bring the temps from -40 to +40 in a couple hours and rain all day, then have the temps dive back down below freezing coating everything in ice.
Wow, this is awesome! Enjoy your honeymoon, hope your house is done when you get back!
Last update before my wife and I leave for Tahiti for our honeymoon!
Wednesday was the fateful day... time to go to the bank to lock in rates and get the paperwork side of closing started. Who says bankers don't have a sense of humor?
While we're gone, the bank is going to do their thing and hopefully fingers crossed we'll get through it all without any issues.
Progress on the exterior; the faux stone surround is going up.
The kitchen is starting to be put together now too, and this is where we ran in to the second semi-major problem of the build. When I drew the plans, we were going to have a 10'x13' kitchen... when it was built we ended up with a 10'x12'2" kitchen. Fortunately the casualties were minor. The dishwasher swapped to the left side from the right side of the sink, the cabinet that was supposed to go over the fridge is too wide to fit and won't be installed, and the last lower cabinet needs to get swapped for a 15" instead of the 24" we bought.
Getting moved in to place
And the major appliances
With the downstairs coming together, the upstairs is also getting close to finished. Carpet is going in
The vanity and sink are at the house but not installed quite yet, still in the boxes in the bathrooms. Hoping that gets installed before we leave so we can see it... if not we'll come home to a finished house and get an early Christmas surprise!
Bonus shot: Oliver aka the Oligator aka LDD aka Long Dog Dawson got a new coat to go with the new house and winter temperatures!
Nice! I'm betting you will be glad to get it done.
Have a great trip.
Back from the tropics!
One of the atolls of French Polynesia, where my wife and I spent the last two weeks on our honeymoon cruise:
The house is ALMOST finished! It was so cool coming back to the house so close to completion.
The kitchen is just about finished. The light tracks are in, the sink is in and plumbed, the appliances are installed and wired, and the pantry shelves are in. I've been skeptical of the two-tone cabinets until now that I've seen it all installed; that's why I just say "sure Babe" to whatever the wife wants.
The mechanical is getting finished finally too. The Rinnai tankless unit is our heat and domestic hot water and is located in the half-bath, and the well pump and pressure tank are tucked under the stairs.
The bathroom is more or less finished
The builder wanted to add a copper heated towel rack no charge, so we said ok.
The closet area over the stairs is finished
The door, hardware, and room light for the second bedroom
and the solid surface window sills, same on all the windows.
We're hoping to be done in the next few days. Actually, we were hoping it would all have been done before we got back, but hey it's coming along and we're still looking to be moved in by Christmas...
Cool build, and I love the heated towel rack.
I love the scenery and build up here! thumbs up to you. The towel rack would set off a tick in me though, and I would likely spend way too much time with Brass-o to get a uniform shine.
A no-photo update! The builder filed the notice of completion to the bank about a week ago and we received our appraisal and energy audit yesterday. Fortunately it's all good new!
The house appraised for a couple grand more than we're spending. The appraiser also noted that there simply aren't any comparable houses existing in Fairbanks, even including most of the borough in his search. One of the comparables is a house we had considered purchasing but weren't able to pull the trigger on before it went off the market and in his opinion ours is better built and better finished. So we're feeling pretty good about that.
The energy audit went better than we expected. We easily received our 6-star energy rating with a score of 97.4 (out of a possible 100), meaning our house is almost as efficient as it is possible to build. Our floor and ceiling R-values are R-60, and our walls/doors/windows rate at ~R-30. Estimated energy costs for the year, with electric at $0.22/kwH and propane at $3.99/gal (we paid $3.39 for our first fill up) is... $3300 per year, or ~$275/month. We were spending more than that in electric in winter at our previous rental. Much success!
The other crazy stat is our blower door test. Most "tight" houses are rated at 5-6 ACH (air changes per hour) at 50pa of pressure, leaky houses at 20+. Ours rates at 0.88.
So we're pretty happy and so excited... all of the paperwork is in and we're hoping to close next week, moving in the weekend before Christmas!
neat stuff... i love the idea of super efficent houses... I still want to do a rain water reclamation system and solar water heating and some solar heating in winter... one day maybe
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