Building a Cabin in Alaska

The Cabin Construction in Alaska: a wealth of information about the planning, preparation and building techniques for constructing your very own cabin in the remote regions of Alaska.

Jeff Larkin - Ketchikan, Alaska
If I were allowed to have only one book on how to build a log cabin this would have to be the one. Most of us that are thinking about building a log cabin in the wilds of Alaska will greatly appreciate the depth of the content in this book. If you're torn between the Do It Yourself Project or opting for the faster Build It From A Kit, this book will be your bible for all those steps the others forget to tell you about.

This book was the best we found in our pre-construction planning phase and included countless photographs and diagrams that add a well appreciated visual touch to the methodical and detailed instructions for all points of the cabin building process.

This book is chocked full of the "how to do it" knowledge needed to complete the entire cabin building experience. I highly recommend that you read this book if you are considering building any type of cabin in Alaska.

Anonymous - Anchorage AK.
Good books don't come cheap. I read at least a dozen of the latest log cabin building books and countless magazine articles. Unfortunately, most of them do not go into enough detail on the scribe-fit building technique. This one, however, is the first that really does. This book includes many USEFUL pictures and doesn't ramble on about unimportant subjects. This book is focused, to-the-point, and in the amount of detail that is necessary. As a result, this is a good companion to any other log cabin building books that you may already have, since it fills in the missing details that the other books seem to overlook. I definitely recommend it.

Ellen D. Jorgensen - New York, NY
I am planning to build a log cabin in Alaska, and did not know anything about it. After buying at least eight different books, I found that this one is the best at inspiring me, at teaching me, and at showing me how great my cabin could be. His explanation of why and how to proceed at each step of the building process (from choosing the site and felling the trees, to stove selection and outbuildings) is very clear, even for a non-carpenter like me. And he LOVES log building. It shines through his descriptions of 600 year-old European log houses and through all the beautiful color photographs of cabins built by him and his friends in Alaska. So it's a great read too. Then, I was able to tackle Robert Chambers' "Log Home Construction" book (which is widely believed to be the best guide to log construction available) and understand all of the details of state-of-the-art scribe-fit log work. Before reading Walker's book, I would have been intimidated by the more serious Chambers book. So together they have given me all I need. All the other books contained little information beyond what's in these two, if you are planning on building yourself in a remote area such as South Central Alaska. The only other great source was the free guide "Alaska Log Building Construction Guide" which is available online from a number of sites. I found its organization confusing, though, and would recommend reading the books in the order of Walker, Chambers, and the Guide. Even if you are contracting your house and not building it yourself, read these and you will know what questions to ask to get the best house.

This book has been valuable asset to us as we completed our cabin on the Kenai River near Cooper Landing. Many important aspects we would have otherwise overlooked were brought to light in the content and illistrations included in this book.

Find more information on Alaska cabin kits on these pages.