Home, Sweet Home

This is my new summer home, but not what this blog post is about:

The Schurman Hut

A little history:
In 2004 I was certain I could build a house in one summer.

Nine plumb and square posts, a floor, and a
young Echo.

I believe that all I got was the posts in.  The next summer went the floor, walls, and second floor.  The next summer the roof.  And then I moved to Vancouver.

I built the place almost entirely by myself (though now would be a good time to acknowledge my primary consultant, Brian Charlton).  However, some jobs, like standing up wall, simply cannot be done without help. Dr. Roger Ruess, me and Capt. Erik Weflen are in this photo, though many others have help (whoever I could get).

For example, I got this beam up entirely by myself.  The next photo gives an idea of how high off the ground it is.  (some trickery and craftiness was involved)  However, it didn't stop me from dropping it once and putting a hole in the floor.

The above photo is how I left it in 2006 when I left for Vancouver (though I think the photo was taken by my mom in October, 2006).  During grad school I did little more than odds and ends, like putting the plywood on the gable ends.

In 2010 I had a month in Fairbanks and I used it to build the entryway.  One important thing during grad school was that Susie and I dug the holes for the entryway pilings.  This was a rare smart move - it allowed me to start building the entryway earlier in the season.

I decided some time back that I was a good enough builder to build a hip roof, and that I should because that would be much cooler.  But I forgot such things in grad school, and Michael Sheriff was a bit of a life saver.  Plus I was running out of time, and his skilled help was fantastic.

Standing in the new entryway, looking in.

The partly-framed hip roof.

The entryway is 8x12, which will be a huge step in keeping my promise to never sleep again in the same room as my skis, and avoiding having to step over ice tools on my way to the sink.

The door will be on that front wall of the entry way, but I
still haven't cut it out.

March 2011.  I was back in Fairbanks.  I bought the windows (which involved a lot of time-consuming hmm'ing and haw'ing) and cut out the upstairs windows.  I also nailed things off that had been neglected and squirrel-resistanted the roof.

The wood and beautiful light are (mostly) real, but the
spaciousness is a figment of the wide-angle lens.

No evening sun beats Fairbanks evening sun (and the

evening is 8 hours long in summer, then its morning sun).

In the entryway, with the new door staged.

I'm headed back this fall to install the windows, cut a hole for the chimney, put in the woodstove and stuff some insulation.  And maybe more.  Until then, home is in Squamish and up at Schurman.