Permafrost in Haines? (Anchorage, Soldotna, Hope: hotels, work, house)

[RAMFEB31]

Where there is permafrost, how do you people keep your plumbing from freezing other than running heater wires? If there are none in the Haines area, can a person bury the water line deep enough to keep it above freezing? Or is it a combo of thick insulation, heating and/or a continuous recirculation?
I may be building a cabin there if I can't find a reasonable home to purchase.

[amhs03]

It's basically a combination of all the options you mentioned. Or you can do it the cheap and easy way. Burry your lines deep and on especially cold nights leave the cold tap running in ground floor bathrooms and the kitchen. Not to mention plenty of good insulation.

[Placidstorm]

Don't think you'll have perma-frost problems in haines . But if ya google (frost protected foundation design Gallena alaska) you should find the paper on an airport control tower addition they built this way . try ( building alaska log cabins ) that'll give ya a bunch of hits too . Haines huh ? Hope ya got a fat wallet . The southeast is very pricey as a whole , Haines may be alittle easyer cuz it's on the road .
Btw when your googlin pay attention to anything put out by UAF (university at fairbanks) , they are our guru's . Gota luv those smart folk's with free info.

I just ate what??!! <--common phrase used by newcomers to the bush

[RAMFEB31]

Thanks for the good info since it does look lke I am going to build just enough to keep my bones worm
Fat wallet is relative. In So. Ca., anyone who owns a home are already in the 1/2 mil class average where most in the "burbs" are in the mil class. I've looked in the Juneau area which is even higher and still have no paved roads out. That was the reason for the other choice which was Haines. At least, I can drive to my gold claim in B.C. where, I am sure, I will spend 100 for every dollar of gold recovered. But back to Haines, I've picked it because it seem to be warmer on the average than say, Soldotna which I dearly loved the friendly people there, or the Anchorage area. After over 3/4 of a century on this earth, I am planning to retire end of the month and I want to live out my dream of living in AK san the wife who will visit from time to time.

[Placidstorm]

So ya gota gold mine huh . still in the prospectin phase myself lol . You'll like haines. living there you'll be able to get 1st dibbs on any claims that come open in that area .
haines is in zone 1 . recomended r-values for that area
ceiling r-38.....above grade walls r-21.....floor r-30 .... below grade walls r-15 basement r-10....on grade r-15.... windows r-3...doors r-2.5 to 7
according to AKWarm an r-value of 21 (walls) will require 18" logs . skinny end + fat end / by 2 = average log thickness =ave. wall r-value .
If i can find the other paper on building the alaska cabin i'll post er for ya.
Hope ya like snow. Haines gets alot .look at wundergound.com for weather, weather history . Sometimes they post pic.s and comments too .

[RAMFEB31]

Hey Placid,
Thanks!! That is great info. Here, I am a HVAC contractor in So. Ca. and I hardly ever have to worry much about R calc except for commercial building which I hardly do. My skill in A/Cing does not count for much up your way since there are no need for cooling. Heating, YES. I have gotten so lazy through the years, I just use charts and computer software to do the work.
I guess it is time to brush up on my old day training.

[Placidstorm]

Hey Ram , good morning
Building the alaska log home:by Tom Walker isbn 0-88240-511-x
Many people referance this book when talking about building cabins up here .
finally tracked down the other pub.
http://www.ahfc.state.ak.us/iceimage...n_4buildin.pdf
Dose hvac cross into refrigiation at all . Never seems to be anyone around to fix a cooler when one go's down at the local stores . But then again probly not to many stores by your claim . LOL
In regards to your claim - do you have a canadian partner or dule citizinship. How did you fall into your claim in b.c. ?
If you haven't already been there go to - http://bb.bbboy.net/alaskagoldforum-veiwforum?forum=2

Common alaska computer terms -
Log on - put more wood on the fire
Download - Get the wood off the truck
Hard Drive - Getting home in the winter
Byte - what a skeeter dose
Bit - what a skeeter did
Modem - what you did to the weeds

good luk

[RAMFEB31]

Hi Placid,
Yes, I see U are quite familiar w/Canadian laws. ie, mining lic by Canadian citizen only. Yes, I took in a Canadian Pardner whom I've met about 9 years previous. It seems my old RV had a tendency to break down literally right at their door steps not once but 3 times and they have a garage. Since then, I have camped at their garage every year going up and back down. I was checking out the old Chinese gold workings of the 1800s and it went from there.

HVAC encompass the general theory of any refrigeration system. HVAC people don't like to work on "small stuff" because they feel it is beneath them. Plus most are too lazy to try to understand circuits which may be somewhat different from A/Cs. In other words, they don't no how to read diagrams. My college backgrd is electrical so it was a natural.
Thanks for all that good info. Truthfully, if I was younger, I would build everything from scratch w/my some of my own designs. As it is, if there was a good well built small house at a dirt cheap price, I would buy it instead of a lot to build on. Still, w/a lot, I would not mind roughing it. Unfortunately, dear wife is a city girl through out so we go different directions. She does hotels and I am still backpacking and tenting as well as RVing.