After nearly a year and a half of searching, I finally worked a deal for a coveted duplex on Adak Island (abandonded Naval Base, population 30), far west on the Aleutian chain. Most of the houses there are two story 3 and 4 plexes, pre-fab homes shipped in by the Navy. These houses require a ton of maintenance, always leaking, full of rot, etc.  The duplexes were built on site to much higher standards with true dimensional lumber. I have a three plex there now and have been working on it for the past year and its always a constant battle to keep up it.  

The house I am getting had one side occupied about a year ago and the other size has been empty for 4-5 years. Its pretty much mostly original from when the Navy last rennovated them in the late 80s.  Comparatively, it is in much better shape than the ones that have never been lived in (and not for sale), but it definitely needs some work.

The house:

Current owner lives in another duplex but has kept up on the yard

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Beautiful pink tiles in the guest bath

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Kitchen:

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Master bath... yes it had a roof leak which was repaired, poorly, and recently started leaking again

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My plans for this place is to make one side real nice, and the other side nice but more basic for friends and family to stay in when they visit.

So far my to-do list includes:

Toyo heaters and Toyo on demand water heaters for each side

Smaller Blaze King wood stove just because (no trees on island but mountains of burnable wood)

Rip out carpet and flooring tiles, replace with a nice laminate floor

New windows all around, but will need to find some sort of high wind/hurricane resistant setup like what it has now. 70 mph winds are not uncommon and 120 mph winds have been recorded on island.

Complete bathroom rennovation with all new fixtures. Unsure what to do instead of tile. For the master bath, behind the back wall is a room where an old furnance used to be. I want to knock out the wall and add a second walk-in style shower in this area making it part of the bathroom.

Repaint inside

Re-do the kitchen with all new appliances and countertops. Debating on whether to just refinish the cabinets or replace them entirely.  

The plumbing is all copper pipe, prone to freezing, replace this with pex? I want to design a trap door in the floor over the water shut off so I can easily drain and blow out the water lines without getting in the crawl space

Update electrical panel, add generator plug

New light fixtures, new insulation in the ceiling, clean up crawl space, put in new vapor barrier, etc et

I have a contractor meeting me out there at the end of this month to put together a materials list and get some input on what else should be done.

Would like to get the hive's opinion on what else I should do or add to the house.  I've got two 40' containers to load the materials in and get barged out this spring. Have about 90 days to get everything put together.  Smaller stuff can be sent out air cargo if nessicary.  Will update this thread as things progress. Work wont start until around June.

I saw your other Threads


OST


you should get a Sauna

I have a stream shower on my mainland home and have used it all of once. Never got into saunas or really understood why some like them so much.  In fact I was walking through this abandoned shack tucked away on a hill. Really really bad condition, like you're going to fall through the floor if you step on the wrong spot. Go in the back and look around the corner, boom, a really nice sauna, still smells like cedar

inside here
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I love chilling in a Sauna - they are very good for your health especially in colder climates

I have build two of them myself

I guess this is more of a European thing


I do look forward to your progress

I remember OP's Starlink thread. Super fucking awesome sauce here, any chance of an ARFCOM discount on airbnb-ing your place?

Edit for the smilie face

Might be easier to just replace the cabinet hardware and refinish/replace the doors. Add soft close hardware to them all.

For countertops, I'd say granite/quartz is right out the window given the difficulties in fabbing and then shipping it out there, unless you don't mind paying astronomical sums for it. Butcher block? Or maybe pouring concrete countertops..?

I'd look at the exterior more. Does it need new siding? Maybe look at adding exterior landscaping features? A deck or something similar?

It has this thin aluminum siding, that actually holds up very very well.  No decks on the island due to very high winds and incredible amounts of rain. The weather usually sucks so it wouldn't get used that much, and it would be a constant battle to keep rats from living under it.

I would like granite countertops, will have to talk with my contractor and see if he has experience installing them.   While the exterior may look bleak, the landscaping (grass) it currently has is actually very very nice compared to most everyone else .  Most plants wont survive due to high winds, which is also why there are no trees on the island + I don't live their full time so I'd be a hassle to maintain.

Looks too cold way up there.

I can think of only a very few reasons a sane person would want to invest the time, money and ongoing expense to have a place on Adak island.
So, I have to ask.

Why?

Why did you buy the place? What is there to do on the island?  Definitely subbing to the thread seems epic.

Aluminum siding can be painted if you want to improve the exterior look.

If you run new water lines use pex like you mentioned. Install a Winterize Blow Out Adapter onto your waterline near where the main line enters the home. You hook up a air compressor to this to blow the lines out. So keep a small air compressor there.  Ones you figure it out it should only take a few minutes to drain the lines.

Today OP won.

Serious question….why there?

You're at the end of logistics train and I assume on what was a naval base? Who maintains the utilities and other infrastructure systems such as water and sewage?

As for the refurb….yup, I'd just gut the entire thing and replace everything with modern materials. That would include tubs, sinks, etc...As for the flat roof…I hate that look but it might be best for the wind loads that you describe…

I'd replace the water heater right off the bat with a tankless.  

Is there NG on the island? Propane? Area for solar?  

Buggy in the summer? Consider a Lanai ala central FL….

Do you plan on ever selling this?  Any idea on what recoup on investment would be. Is there employment in the area?

Article on Adak

We went by Adak in Feb of 1988 on board ship - there is no way I could ever live in that ice box! You have my respect, sir, good luck with the renovations.

Turn it into a single family house. BTW what are those box looking things on the windows?

tag

Pretty sure I’d want foot-wide exterior walls with a shitload of insulation.

I’m guessing you don’t have a Lowe’s or Home Depot down the street.    I can’t imagine how expensive building materials would be there.

Neat!

Is there an easy way to sub to threads now, or?

I assume you have a plane?

Otherwise do you need to charter a flight back and forth?

It looks like there are a hundred or more larger style homes, how often do these go up for sale?

Is most of the island navigable with a decently capable 4X4 vehicle?

Do you keep a truck/ car on the island? Whats the government like?

I have so many questions!!!

So your telling me you bought a vacation home in a place where trees noped the fuck out of there due to bad weather?

Adak has mild weather. It gets colder in TN…..

Tag to follow along.

OP, Are you planning to search for Capt. Dwargstof's gold on Adak?

Rip out carpet and flooring tiles, replace with a nice laminate LVP floor

Re-do the kitchen with all new appliances and countertops. Debating on whether to just refinish the cabinets or replace them entirely. being on an island, I'd just refinish them - paint, hardware, and new counter tops.  

New light fixtures, new insulation in the ceiling I'd go with spray foam if you can get a subcontractor to the island, I'd , clean up crawl space, put in new vapor barrier, etc et

I’ve stayed at the Wings Inn at Cape Cod that looked worse.

Good luck!

YouTube loves this kinda stuff if you want to video it and post it

Are you the same guy that was having boiler problems last year or are there two arfcom owners there?

That looks like the base housing in my area at the old air base.  Currently all privately owned when the air base was shut down.

Grab the sauna and bring it to your house.

They are very healthy and you will never have a closer shave than one you do in a sauna.

Is that the island that there is rumored to be gold hidden on? I vaguely remember watching a show about Adak island and gold hunting. From what I remember there is a very small population and the weather looked....shitty.

That’s really cool! I’d be wary of laminate flooring and spray foam. Figure they hold in moisture.

Tagged. Fascinating stuff.

If I was single I’d offer to visit and work for a week just for the experience.

Looks like a fun project

Pretty ambitious project there.

The only "buried treasure" on Adak is UXO .......

Power is via a generating plant .....and can be iffy.

Wait till you deal with the "post office" .....although they have probably fired the paint-huffer that worked there by now

Good luck !!!

Interesting place to live, tagging this thread.

But why? Who governs what? Is there  police on the island? medical? Im very intrigued. Based off the pictures I have seen, The houses look like shit, but the island itself is very pretty

"At the 2020 census the population was 171, down from 326 in 2010."

There aren't many people there.  I'm sure someone is "in charge" but they might also be the mailman and judge/magistrate.

My first concern would be that roof.

I understand the desirability of a flatter pitch where the wind can get 120 mph, but my concern would be for snowload
and then melting snow that puddles and finds it's way in via any roof penetrations.

I would make sure whatever roofing material it has is in top shape, and then all penetrations would get extra care to be sealed
with multiple coats.

I would be especially concerned about that stove/chimney pipe. I would have a hard look at it's  flashing and what it is sealed
with. I would also be concerned if the pipe and it's termination cap is able to withstand the wind.

Those cabinets look to be real wood - I'd keep them.  You could refinish with poly or put a couple coats of paint.  

Replacing the knobs/handles can make them look more modern.  If you were in lower 48 I'd have granite countertops installed - not sure what best solution would be in AK - maybe concrete?

@Kitties-with-Sigs

Ugly house is ugly.

My dad spent a year on Adak in the early 60's. Working as a pile driver repairing and replacing docks. I've got a box of slides (Kodachrome of course) somewhere,
that he took. Nothing around the base of course, because he didn't want to go to prison.. There is one of the Adak National Forest. 2-3 fir trees 3-4 ft tall. He didn't
say much about the weather other than the wind never stopped.

Given its an island there probably isn't much rental activity

Adak seems to be at its all time low. I recently purchased the bar/restaurant on the island and am about to purchase the package store liquor license. Hunters are always coming in and out and contractors come every season to work on UXO or other .gov/native corp projects.   They are working on re-opening the fish plant and will have a floating processor their this coming season.

No natural gas, no propane service, has to be barged in, and barged out to get refilled. Solar is pretty worthless because sunny days are few and far between. Almost no bugs in the summer because their is too much wind

The city sort of maintains the water/sewer, trying to keep up on what the Navy left behind.

Do not ever plan to sell

Those are wind breaks. Under them the window will open a few inches for ventilation.

@grey50beast

Alaska Air flies there twice a week because of a mail contract.  Dirt cheap to fly there if you use miles.  The island has an amazingly large road system put in by the Navy.   I shipped out a Tacoma and a side by side last year.  City has a small government. Amazing how much politicing their is with only 30 residents. I try and stay out of all that.

Yep that's the one. Show was 100% fake.