This is so awesome. Really, it is even more awesome to think of where you were a few years ago, I remember watching you posts as you were trying to figure out life and your place in it, an it is so great that you seem to have found everything you need and want. Congratulations all around.
skierd wrote: 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.
This is an interesting stat that I have never seen before.
It does make me wonder, does this mean that you will never get a fart out of the room?
return air vents become important in that situation... but in the end it means you aren't drawing in cold air from outside... lot easier to heat 60* air than sub-zero lol.
You do have a humidifier I hope.
And a radon detector. Tight houses trap some things you don't want trapped inside.
We do have both.
We also finally have a closing date! Closing Tuesday morning, moving in next weekend. Merry Christmas to us!
Sonic wrote: This is so awesome. Really, it is even more awesome to think of where you were a few years ago, I remember watching you posts as you were trying to figure out life and your place in it, an it is so great that you seem to have found everything you need and want. Congratulations all around.
I could not have said this better. I remember when you were planning the motorcycle trip. I'm very happy for you.
We've been moved in for just over a year now and still love our home. I've found exactly two things I wanted to change, and its I wish we had a switch for the living room lights at the bottom of the stairs and I wish we had a some lights over the dining room table.
The house has been incredibly efficient. We only ended up needing water delivered every 3 weeks at about 800gal per fil, a lot less than the national average. Propane; we use about 150 gallons every 6 months so all of our heat and domestic hot water costs us about $100/month at current propane prices. Electric bill ranges from $35 in the summer to $90 in the winter.
This year I hope to work some more of the front yard and do some landscaping as it still very much looks like a construction site when the snow's gone. I'd also like to replace the tarp garage with a real 12x18 building to go along with the 10x16 shed on the far side of the house.
From when we finished the build last winter
Living/Dining room. We've since added a ton of photos to the wall behind the TV <img src="http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb84/skierd007/New%20AK%20Home/37BD6F17-2CEA-4044-9AAD-42398456A9F5_1.jpg"
Kitchen/Dining
Front Door area and Pantry
Upstairs bathroom
Master, again we've added a lot of art and photos to the walls
Guest room, we've since gotten rid of the computer desk
Nursery, before it was the nursery
Gorgeous picture with the northern lights in the background! How often do you see them?
On average about once a week. They're out more, I'm just not awake to see them. 
That view. Would solar be an option in the summer, since you have more hours of daylight? It wouldn't work as well in the winter, obviously.
Also, why no well?
Solar is an option for most of the year. There are a few houses built with solar in mind that can generate 75%-90% of their electricity needs with solar and only rely on a generator in December and January. Mine isn't one of them and frankly our electric bill is so minimal now that I don't see the point (or break-even point, financially).
Water is about 75-80ft down, but is high in heavy metals and minerals. Specifically arsenic and gold. Water delivery is only $0.09/gal, meaning every fill up is about $80 and we get a delivery every 2-3 weeks. If I haul my own water, it's only $0.02/gal and I already have the truck that can haul it once I get a water tank. Again, the ROI is very long to nonexistent.
Great thread. We live down in Anchorage and are figuring out building a place semi-off the grid down on the Kenai peninsula.
skierd wrote: Nursery, before it was the nursery
Wait, was that an announcement? Congrats.
Very cool! Beautiful house.
Early on I asked what you'd be spending. Did you meet those estimates?
It's funny how a year ago I was back in PA where home prices were relatively affordable. Now I'm in a western mountain town where home prices are considerably more expensive, and similar to Fairbanks.
Oddly enough the guy I bought my Tacoma from who's also my coworker lived for 8 years up in Fairbanks and moved down to AZ in 2013. His stories of that place are interesting to say the least.
DILYSI Dave wrote:skierd wrote: Nursery, before it was the nurseryWait, was that an announcement? Congrats.
I made a thread about it. My daughter, Charlotte, will be 4 months old this weekend. 
PHeller wrote: Early on I asked what you'd be spending. Did you meet those estimates? It's funny how a year ago I was back in PA where home prices were relatively affordable. Now I'm in a western mountain town where home prices are considerably more expensive, and similar to Fairbanks.
Yes, we stayed mostly on budget and we received our 6* energy rating to qualify for the state rebate. Some of the upgrades we paid for out of pocket, like the appliances (stove, microwave, dishwasher, washer, dryer, fridge) since we bought them as a set all on sale over Memorial Day at Sears, and moved the house budget to get nicer floors, upgraded the cabinets from cheap China builders grade to something made in the US, and a larger parking pad. We then used part of the energy rebate money to build a 10x16 storage shed.
Our mortgage ended up being right on plan. I can't wait to get rid of PMI (say no to FHA loans!) and we're currently putting all of our energy savings in to extra payments on the house.
Is it common to live without a garage up there? That's one thing that I noticed about Canada, there seem to be carports everywhere but very few garages. I've never been able to figure that out.
Woody wrote: Is it common to live without a garage up there? That's one thing that I noticed about Canada, there seem to be carports everywhere but very few garages. I've never been able to figure that out.
There are people with garages here in AK but they are mostly full of snowmachines and tools and snowblowers and boats and atv's and...........
OP, Congrats on the new baby as well!
skierd wrote:DILYSI Dave wrote:I made a thread about it. My daughter, Charlotte, will be 4 months old this weekend.skierd wrote: Nursery, before it was the nurseryWait, was that an announcement? Congrats.
Congrats! She's beautiful.
crankwalk wrote:Woody wrote: Is it common to live without a garage up there? That's one thing that I noticed about Canada, there seem to be carports everywhere but very few garages. I've never been able to figure that out.There are people with garages here in AK but they are mostly full of snowmachines and tools and snowblowers and boats and atv's and...........
Exactly. The cars run fine covered or not as long as they're plugged in, and I'd rather not heat a big empty room and concrete slab if I didn't have to.
In the next couple years I plan to add a second shop building to complement the 10x16 shed we built; for the toys to replace the tarp garage we have now.
First major hiccup in home ownership. About two weeks ago Saturday night my wife found a small sink hole near the water tank. When I went to draw my daughter a bath in the kitchen sink the next day, the water came out brown and smelling a lot like the dirt in the yard. 
Something is definitely wrong with our underground tank and its letting in runoff water from the spring thaw and dirt. Unfortunately it'll be a couple more weeks before we can get heavy equipment out to dig up the old tank and replace it. The upside is we're getting a larger tank to replace it and we'll have some landscaping done to the yard to smooth everything out and fix some draining issues.
So what to do in the meantime? Not wanting to live in a dry house, we borrowed a 225gal water tank for the truck bed...
And temporarily plumbed it in to the house.
It'll be a good test to see if we prefer to haul water ourselves vs having it delivered at least.
I was surprised how many people paid for water delivery in the holding tanks down on the Kenai peninsula. It makes sense I suppose for the people that just use it as recreational property in the summer. We see people all the time with the giant tanks that just park on the side of Seward highway along the turnagain arm and fill them up from the water run off the mountain.
I guess the cost vs hassle option has to be the most important thing for you living of the grid but how do the water holding tanks not freeze in the winter? I know all the crawlspaces have loads of insulation and heat tape but the water tanks I have seen have just been seemingly big plastic tanks sitting outside beside peoples fuel tanks here in south central.
Water delivery, for the company we use, is $81 for the first 900 gallons, regardless of how much goes in to the tank, and $0.09 a gallon after that. The other company is $75 for 750 gallons, then $0.10 after that. Hauling your own? Water at the filling station is $0.02, or free if you can park under a waterfall I guess! The cost of delivery the same as the maintenance, fuel, and insurance costs for the truck for the year, and since I have no plans to get rid of the truck we'll end up ahead by about $150-200 a month hauling vs delivery.
Our water tank is/was buried under 36" of dirt and gravel and covered in 4"+ of foam insulation. That's enough to keep it out of the frost and above freezing internally as the bottom of the tank is below the frost line. Above ground tanks need to be kept in a heated building... a lot of people will put them in the same room as the boiler or in a heated crawl space.
The tanks in the truck do freeze, hence making sure they're empty when you're done putting water in to the house tank.
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