Timber Frame in Alaska

Going north to Alaska was Ron's dream for many years and finally became reality when he and the rest of the Atlantic crew were hired to build the first of three homes in Alaska thanks to a research biologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

The Fairbanks job was important because it opened the door for the most challenging project ever to face Ron and each member of the Atlantic crew, including his son Eric. They were commissioned for a 3,600 sq. ft. three-story timber frame on Iliamna Lake, Alaska's largest interior lake located outside the Indian village of Iqiugig.

A remarkable 365 pieces of oak timber were cut and finished for a total of 75,000 pounds. There was no margin of error for a home that would be shipped and assembled thousands of miles away from the comfort of the shop.

The timbers were loaded on two semi-trucks and driven to Seattle, then moved to a barge that would travel up the Pacific Coast to a port in Anchorage. The timbers were then trucked to an airport on the Kenai Peninsula and flown across the Aleutian Mountain Range to the remote airstrip in Iqiugig. It took eight separate flights to deliver the entire frame and the timbers still had to be loaded onto small cars pulled by all-terrain vehicles over two miles of sandy beach to the building site. Each timber was then hand carried to the deck.

The long spring days of Alaska permitted the crew to work three shifts a day with six hour sleep cycles. Iliamna Lake was frozen solid with wind gusts at 50 mph but the bents were assembled and ready to be raised in three days. The first attempt at raising was with an old track-hoe used by the village to repair the local airstrip. The hoe had so much sway it was considered too dangerous, and Atlantic had to find an alternative. The homeowner even tried to negotiate a helicopter but was unsuccessful.

Finally, the idea came to weld a hoist from a 350 dozer to the track-hoe, giving birth to what the crew named the Iqiugig Monster. The Alaskan construction crew believed they could do anything and they proved themselves men of their word. After four days, the bents were secured and ready for panel installation and Atlantic had their frame standing tall.

Visiting Alaska? Stop by and visit our friends at Alaska Timberframes.