Building the dream house step by step

Regarding “A Big Little Dream” by Robert Smaus, Nov. 30: We have property on Lake Louise, about 170 miles east of Anchorage, Alaska.

We have no road and use snow machines in the winter and boats in the summer. We acquired the land in 1955.

We started with a tent, then a tent with a floor, then a tent-frame, then an 18-foot camping trailer (now a generator building), then a 10-by-50-foot mobile home (since removed) brought in across the ice, and now we have a 2,500-square-foot cabin.

The first advice I give to anyone planning to build at the lake: Don’t build on the best location. I have seen too many build their “starter cabin” on the best spot and then later not be able to build their dream cabin where they would like.

If you must build your starter cabin on the best location, then be sure to design it so that the original living room can later become the dining room with the addition of a larger living room etc. In fact, build everything so it can be enlarged or improved. Watch rooflines so they will make modifications easier.

We generate our own power using solar voltaic panels, storage batteries and a diesel generator. I recommend subscribing to Home Power Magazine (www.homepower.com) to learn about the design and operation of solar systems and, especially, the batteries.

We use propane refrigerators, cookstove and demand water heater and have propane lights to back up the electric lights. We have an oil space heater and diesel generator.

Concerning your leaky-roofed trailer, you might consider putting it in a suitable location and building a free-standing roof over it. After you build your dream cabin, the trailer can become a guesthouse or be removed and the roof be integrated into a garage or storage building or a better guesthouse.

Last but not least: Don’t make your cabin such a demanding, all encompassing project that when it’s finished you are sick and tired of the place and want nothing more to do with it.

Tom Main

Anchorage, Alaska

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Robert Smaus’ experience has mirrored ours in many ways. Fortunately, we have only about 6 acres to drool over. But it’s located in a very remote part of the Piute Mountains, at an elevation of about 7,000 feet between Tehachapi and Lake Isabella.

We demolished an old shed on the property and got rid of a rat-infested trailer, then bought a used 23-foot travel trailer and towed it up. It served as living quarters while a friend and I built the one-room cabin, 12 feet by 20 feet, with a 12-by-20-foot snow roof to cover the trailer.

There is no plumbing, no well, nothing. I use propane, wood stove, outhouse etc., as we are never there for more than three days at a time and make about a dozen visits each year. The trailer serves as a support vehicle for the cabin in many ways.

Our “neighbors” on the mountain took us under wing and helped a lot as we moved along. I think we finished building for about $3,000, plus $2,000 for the trailer.

Enjoy your spread. If you’re like me, you consider yourself only the temporary caretaker of the land.

Travis Williams

Garden Grove