Any advice about these types of garden cabins

[neilr]

We've been thinking about buying one of those garden log cabins, perhaps about 4M x 3M in size. Has anybody in here actually bought one of these and set them up themselves.

Samples of the sort of cabin I'm referring to can be seen here:

Please note I am not referring to this particular make - I am just using this link as an example.

A few possible problems that worry me are - will the timber shrink after a while and cause problems (leaks, draughts etc) - are they likely to warp after time and affect the way the battens fit together closely (doors, windows not fitting etc). Also, as far as I can make out none of these are pressure treated. Is this likely to be a problem. I notice most other garden timber products (decking etc.) are all pressure treated, even although they need to be surface treated after construction - why not these cabins.

Any advice or examples of personal experience in constructing/maintaining these cabins much appreciated before I part with the hard earned cash.

Many thanks, Neil

[Jonbhoy]

Put something similar but slightly smaller in about a year ago.The one thing i found is dont expect it to just slot together and be perfect,they do need a bit of work done during construction but nothing major,a keen DIY'er will have no probelsm.Found we had to do some slight filling in where joints didnt meet fully,however ours is an octagon shape so maybe more prone to cracks . Try to get one with pressure treated timeber,ours is and we also gave it three coats of good sadolin to give it full protection.On the whole though a very worthwhile buy,so long as you get the footings ready for it then the reast isnt to tricky.But if you get one with a cone shape roof be prepared for a few bangs on the head with stray legs ;-)

Good luck.

JB

[Paul Boakes]

I bought a 5x5 one last year, so it's now about a year old. It was easy to put up, with each 'log' slotting into the other; took about a day for two of us to build. Roofing it with felt shingles - expensive, but nice looking - took the best part of a day, treating the exterior - it was completely untreated - took most of another day. Flooring took half a day, with a hired floor-nailer, and the electrics, etc, again, most of a day.

Since then, it's settled slightly - the plastic conduit that I installed needed trimming this year, as the logs settled, and yes, the roof joints have opened up by 2mm or so. However, upon inspection a moment ago, they're relatively tight again - maybe down to 0.5mm.

No leaks, no warping. Doors and windows still open/close easily enough (or rather, no worse!). I paid a couple of guys to dig out the foundations, to mix and lay the concrete, and to cart away all the excess earth, as it is dug into a slight incline - obviously with plenty of clearance. There have been a couple of places where resin has leaked out of the wood, but that's only to be expected, I guess. Some knot holes went all the way through, and needed a small squirt with some brown sealant - there's probably 4-5 of these.

Very warm in the summer; very warm in the winter. I regret not putting any kind of insulation under the floor before I laid it, as the heat tends to 'layer' in there. This wouldn't be a problem with a heater or fan to move the heat around.

Hope this helps.

Regards Paul

[neilr]

Jonbhoy, Paul - thanks for the replies - that was just the sort of issues that concerned me. They sound fairly good/safe buys, although I notice substantial differences in price between different makes. The Ebay traders seem to be offering the best prices (as you might expect) but you don't get to see the goods before buying in many of these cases.

I'll do a bit more asking around before choosing a particular make, but seems likely I'll be going ahead anyhow.

Thanks again, Neil

[Paul Boakes]

At the risk of sounding like a plug, have a look at

- I bought my cabin from them, but the best thing was that they had LOTS of different cabins, all built, for you to go and look at. That really helped me decided what I wanted, rather than looking through a catalogue or web site.

Regards Paul

[Jonbhoy]

I totally agree with Paul . Websites are great for giving you an idea but find one that has distributors where you can go and see them built.Will give you a much better idea on the quality of wood,possible problems during construction,type of base they have used etc.When ours arrived we had one glazing unit that was cracked and a cross member that was missing.Because we went for a company thats been trading a long time we called them and within

24 hours replacements were sent FOC.Ebay may be good for bargains but the problem is the slightest part thats wrong or missing you may end being on your own with.Also if its your first time building one you may run into a slight problem and most major companies have a good advice line you can call,again an ebayer usually wont offer that.Worth paying that little extra just for piece of mind.

Good luck,

JB