Welcome to our video series, documenting the building of our A-frame cabin in the heart of Alaska. Follow along as we showcase the transformation of raw land into a cozy, modern retreat. This time-lapse video series will take you on a journey from the foundation to the final touches, showcasing the hard work, attention to detail, and creativity that goes into building a cabin in The Last Frontier. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and get ready to be inspired as we watch this A-frame cabin come to life!
Get a wood burning stove in there soon, you’ll love the heat, and it doubles for a stove for making meals 👍🏼 Edit: Add at least one hand rail on those step for when it snows, you will want something steady to hold onto, to keep from busting your head or neck, God forbid a child.
Appreciate all the comments. Wood stove is in and we are loving it! It was the last thing on my checklist before I would call the cabin "done" and also the project I was most apprehensive about. We've had the stove in the cabin since November of last year, but I finally installed it at the end of August. The install will be in the next episode, which I'm editing now, but it's 40 days worth of work/footage. We will be adding railings in the next couple months! Thankfully in the winter the snow is typically higher than the deck, so not much of a fall.
Nice A-frame, would be nice if you built a small A-frame for your outhouse/storage. It’s the only roof type that makes sense there. That’s s what collapsed your other shelter. Get the main A-frame good enough, then build an A-frame down there. The toilet doesn’t need roof height, but sufficient storage could. What If you blocked off under your home for storage. That is good storage under there. Not sure if it floods ever. I wish you the best. peace
Thanks for the suggestions! We're thinking about an A-frame firewood storage. Though in all honesty I'm pretty burnt out with working on an A-frame - craving some straight vertical walls free from angles. I call the area under the cabin my dry storage, and I have a lot of lumber under there. It's not blocked off, but still dry. Cheers!
Love it, watched hundreds of similar videos and your build is my favorite. Need views from the inside facing out the back though please to see those little rooms and loft now that they have windows. Also, can you tell me the inside dimensions of those two little rooms and loft? I’ve done some geometry to estimate it and I’m curious how close I got. Wondering what size air mattress on the ground it’ll fit.
Thanks for watching! I promise to give you those views soon-I had it in my mind to finish the cabin before putting out the next episode, so I have around 40 days of footage to edit 🫠🫠. As for the dimensions: The loft is 70.5" wide, by 114.5" long and has a center height of 69.25", we put a full size mattress up there, but a queen would fit depending on the thickness. Bedroom A is 84" wide by 114.5" long by 75.75" tall. We have a full size bed in bedroom A. Bedroom B is 74.5" wide by 114.5" long by 75.75" tall. We have a crib in bedroom B, but will be changing it out to a twin soon.
Good question - I "finished" it on 8/31/2024, which was 2 years and 2 days after it was started (Note that finished is in quotes since you're never truly finished with a cabin 😅). It was 79 days of actual work spread over that time.
@@norsetoalaska sweet I live in a frame loft cabin here in southern Ohio and I love watching cabin builders homesteaders and outdoors men's I've been doing the off the land for 25 years now but can't wait thanks
Not a dumb question at all. You want to stagger plywood joints on roof sheathing for better structural integrity. Staggering the seams provides enhanced stability by avoiding long continuous joints, and helps distribute the load more evenly, preventing weak points that could lead to sagging or structural failure.
You could, but it may not flow very well unless you got really creative with the layout. You’d have more space in the middle but still the same amount of flat walls at each end. It could work, but a better solution might be to add dormers.
Not done here mate. Plenty of windows 🪟. I don’t know if I’d build another A-frame, traditional square builds are far easier and most certainly cheaper.
It’s essentially a floating pad foundation, designed to provide stability/support without the need for deep excavation or extensive groundwork. Our cabin is 24’ long by 16’ wide by 13.8’ tall. I wouldn’t recommend using this type of foundation for a structure much larger than this one, as it may not provide adequate support for increased loads or larger dimensions.
Good question - Without spending too much time sorting through the costs, it was around $8,000 for the framing and sheathing. Lumber prices have fallen significantly since 2022 though, so I could probably do it exactly the same for around $6000 now. The foundation (cinder blocks, gravel, beams, etc.) were another $2650, and the roof was $3260. I'm into the whole thing with the land for just under $44k.
You could have pushed stringers out another 1 1/2-3" by adding a 2x10 against box frame , making top tread wider thats all. Everything looks Awesome, Proud of you. Im a retired builder, I'd buy your A-Frame from you in a Heartbeat. God Bless you and your family. Amen. Peace from Big Jim New Hampshire USA aka Boston Strong
Thank you so much for the kind words I really appreciate that! Completing the cabin has been a lot of work, but we've been enjoying it pretty much every weekend. It's really great to make these memories with my family. I had the lumber to do a box frame around the deck but didn't end up putting it on before the steps. It would have given us more surface area to attach the stringers to.
Yea they’re not for everyone. After working on this one the past year and a half I don’t know if I’d build another. Everything is more difficult than a regular old square building.
🤷 Subfloor didn’t get installed until Episode 3. We put in sheathing on the underside in this video, that may have looked like subfloor in some shots, or maybe you saw one out of order?
There is electrical service nearby, but it would cost more than we want to pay to have it brought over to our lot. For now we just use generator power for everything. Would love to get a solar panel system in the near future.
@@vizion007 No plans, but it's really just a modified version of the A-frame that is overviewed in the "Cabins & Cottages, Revised & Expanded Edition" book. There is a decent amount of information that I used to build my cabin in the book, so I would recommend it. I have links to purchase it from Amazon in the video description, or if you use the book name above in quotes you can find it.
We have a handwashing station there. The extra overhang gives us a covered area for it. The original plans actually call for it to be an even greater overhang but the tree kept us from going much bigger. 🌲
Very true! Would add a lot more space as well. This is the first time we’ve built an A-frame though, so we wanted it to have a very simple roof. If we build another it will definitely have dormers, and we’d make it larger. 😊
Nice WORK Men( Real Carpenter's) Building a Structure the will Last Many years with QUALITY Materials....& using NO "Scap-board"( OSB). Best wishes with all your endeavours; Team.
Good question 👍🏻. We used Simpson H1 Hurricane ties to secure the rafter assemblies to the beams. There is a tie on each side, and the rafter assemblies were also toe-nailed to the center beam. 😃
@@hildebertocarreiro9232 Good question. This is an off-grid cabin, so there's not really any codes we are required to meet. With that said, the requirement is typically two means of egress. Our front door and the windows would exceed this requirement.
