My housebuilding project more or less went on hold during July while I waited for the new framing crew. I loosely tarped the building materials to protect them from rain, cleaned up the jobsite, and did some long-overdue bookkeeping. I’d … Read More

Welcome! Documenting the owner-builder process for my first home in Anchorage, Alaska! Hoping to be as informative and transparent as possible about the ups, downs, and in-betweens. Most content is available both on Instagram and on the website. Feel free … Read More

Owner-builders should always take lots of photos (and videos, where appropriate) throughout the construction process. It’s easy, free, and you already have all the tools you need in your pocket. At minimum, it’ll be fun to look back on progress … Read More

We’d hoped to start rebuilding on top of the basement walls once the floor was off, but initial measurements showed that something was still wrong. By using a laser transit we found that the original framing contractor had built all … Read More

Framing documentation Address: 15540 Wind Song Drive, Anchorage, AKContractor: Erik Dawson, Dawson Development Contract signed by Erik Dawson on behalf of Dawson Development:

Just ten days after the decision to demolish my house, the job was more or less complete. We’d hoped to save the flooring above the basement and some of the interior framing on the main floor, but when we got … Read More

Once the glulam beams were lifted off by a crane and placed to the side for reuse, the crew set about demolishing the upper parts of the house. The walls were braced and cut into smaller sections, and then each … Read More

The first task for the demo was to pull off the roof so that we could remove the big glulam beams with a crane. Now that we were doing demo instead of remediation, the poor structural quality of the framing … Read More

On June 9, 2020, we made the extremely painful decision to demolish my house. We had spent weeks attempting to save the structure, but it was an endless uphill battle. The last straw came when we pulled off the sheathing … Read More

This small section of the house was hidden behind exterior sheathing. The framers who covered it up probably figured it would never be seen by an inspector, or by me, or by anyone else. There’s really nothing to say about … Read More