Leila Lake House Project

Pictures of our house construction project started in May of 2003. We purchased the land from a couple who live in Oregon and decided to sell this one of a kind lot in the Eureka Area. We had the tundra scraped from the house building site in the fall of 2001 and began the site work in May of 2003. From Victory, Lee Althens did the foundation and framing. Pat Causey from Glacier View did the dozer work. Ed Farmer from Nelchina is did the backhoe work and hauled lots of gravel. The foundation started June 16 with the framing package arriving a day later. Had only a few problems so far with the trusses for the second floor not matching up with the 10/12 pitch trusses and a mix up with a few of the window sizes. The siding took a month longer to get than originally anticipated but other than that everything has gone fairly smooth thanks to Lee. 

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Site Work

Problem low spot raised in the driveway. Hired Pat Causey to knock down a high spot with his cat and raise a low spot in the driveway.

Initial dozer work to level house site. Pat dug down approximately 2 feet. Later we dug down an additional foot and backfilled with 10" of D1 gravel for better drainage.
View of house site looking east toward the Chugach Mountains. Ken Butters and Doug walking site after dozer work discussing the site and soil conditions.
Foundation & First Floor
Footings in and foundation built June 20, 2003. Eddie Farmers son backfilling the foundation while Eddie hauls gravel. Blueboard insulation installed on foundation.
First 3 walls up June 24, 2003. Lee Althens nailing top plate together. Dozer backfilling below. View of framing material for first and second floors.
First three walls viewed from side facing lake. Third wall going up. Tyler Althens in foreground with Ryan Beachy in background.
Second Floor Goes UP
The second floor gets framed up for the master bedroom and loft overlooking the downstairs. Me standing in the opening for the french doors facing the lake.
Another view of the framing with the second floor done, waiting for trusses, July 6, 2003.  
Trusses & Roof
View from Glenn highway June 24, 2003. July 26, 03 Trusses up - View from lake (east elevation).
Outhouse walls build and ready to go up. June 24, 2003. July 26, 03 View from West (west elevation)
View from North July 26, 03 (north elevation) View from the highway side (west).
View from upstairs loft looking towards the lake (east). View from the lake side (east).
The roof and windows are completed! Viewed from the driveway (east). View from Glenn Highway July 26, 03
  The house from the road with our lake in the background, early August.

Outhouse Progress
Outhouse foundation June 23, 2003. Required until I figure out a water and septic system. Donna pounding nails. Putting on the siding July 5, 2003.
Doug getting ready to work on the roof rafters. The roof almost finished.
Roof on ready for the door and the inspector. The building inspector arrives! Warren Garner takes a tour of the structure checking it out.
Almost complete - the Seriously over engineered outhouse! Donna used vinyl flooring tiles and we used a laminated counter for the bench. Electric lights & heat. Meditation in the outhouse. If an outhouse took this long we'll never get the house done!
Misc
Checking the survey lines. View from the first power pole after two days of Donna & I brushing out 900' of easement for the power line. Lots of work!
Cow moose checking on the house progress July 27, 2003. In the dining room contemplating the project and enjoying the view of the lake and mountains during a warm sunny August day.

Oct 2003 Trying to Beat the Weather
Copper Valley Electric Assoc getting the first of 5 poles ready. This is the pole the transformer and meter were installed on. CVEA places the first power pole.
Ed Farmer digging the final bit of trench to lay the 4/0 service entrance cable from the pole to the house. Ed's Cat had to dig thru 8" of frost! Finished the deck. We got 3" of snow while trying to get the deck finished.
Main entry porch and steps finished. Took a couple of weekends to figure out how we wanted the front steps. Donna & I built the stand for the fuel tank and I finally got the railing built for the upstairs porch and didn't even fall off while working on it!

Feb 2005
Finished the siding with help of our friends Dave & Michele, Ken, and hardrock Andy just in time for fall. Photo by Tina Veldkamp. Another view of the south side of the house from halfway down the driveway to the lake. Photo by Tina Veldkamp.