daiking

It just looks a bit skinny at 1800mm along the beams, I know it’s fine for joists. I’m not committing to anything until I’ve dug a bit out. Might drop it to 4x2 if it’s too hard and have far more supports.

This is a bigger job than erecting the log cabin. First of all I’m in the ground already so I’m going to have to dig it all out. Even so I think I’ll stick to 6x2s as my spans can be bigger and I’ll need less supports in/on the ground. The composite decking boards I have are 3600mm long so I’m basing the plan on a deck 5400mm wide (1.5 board length) and nominally 5400mm deep. I’m thinking of using staggered frames that are 3600 x 1800 and 1800 x 1800. Also due to the board joints I’ll need double joists in whatever frame is sitting at 1800 and 3600 from each side. Typically I’ll be using 400 centres for the joists but the top left 1800 x 1800 frame will be 300 centres to take more weight. What I’m looking for is guidance on how much support my main beams will need. Supporting these every 1800mm as shown looks a bit light. Would the 3600mm frames be ok with 1200mm support? I.e 8 posts per frame and the 1800mm frames with 900mm supports? (6 posts per frame).

Floor DPM, bearers, insulation and P5 chipboard

Fascias on the front and sides

Felted. Just hope this lasts a winter with plenty of goop in the felt laps - the laps create puddles as the fall as is shallow

Roof was boarded and insulated

I estimated 2 days labour at £250 per day to wire a log cabin. Thinking it was a simple discrete job that would fit in around larger jobs but was big enough itself to fill 2 days. Maybe I was a little low on my daily rate but am I wrong on the amount of work? 10 sockets, 4 lights + consumer unit? Must take weeks to wire a house then...

I disagree, this seems to be everybody’s pricing level and is clearly why these things normally come in at £15k+ As everyone is taking the piss now.

I still have to supply the led strip and driver. That’s £300 just to install! What would be 2 connections. Same price as if I asked him to install 10 different strips 2m long ?‍♂️. Other pricing is broken down into norms, socket and light £40 each.

I’m definitely expecting a PD complaint at some stage as I back onto about 10 different houses. Chance are high and the least I can do is actually meet the rules. For the roof, I’ll get some boards for a deck when I order my decking structure and look at it in a few weeks. Will fill the joints as best I can for the time being. I have a spare 80sq m of DPM to put on top if I need to.

Latest fun quote has £150 to wire up a 2-way garage consumer unit and £300 to install 2 x 10m of LED strips. Guys might be just using their house norms as he’s just multiplied his £30 per 2m strip x 10. I understand that a 12 way + household consumer unit would take a few hours but a simple garage one? still looking for an electrician obvs

Whose stupid idea was this? No wonder the clowns have stopped supplying felt with this model. Admittedly it would have worked a bit better had I been nailing it to the roof boards. Without it, the laps just don’t sit down.

What do you swear by? What is the good stuff? My log cabin importer recommends some stuff but I was looking for alternatives. I’ve got a very light spruce that apparently darkens a bit to yellow in the sun but isn’t full on orange or brown after a while like pine. The plan is to make it look a bit like those cedar clad expensive garden rooms so I want a stain that looks like that and a grey paint for the window/door frames. any brand/product suggestions?

No sill. The windows are complete units that just slot into place and are not connected to the walls. Its definitely just expansion of the wall logs. Its spent 2 months covered up (not sealed) on my patio so the logs will be well swollen Also wondering when I can do my floor. The slab was only laid a week ago. I would like to get the insulation, timber bearers and chipboard down asap. There is a DPM under the concrete but I could put a sheet on top if that helps but where does the water still in the concrete go then?

Thanks. My neighbour with the same decking as me has done 400 centres. I still thinking of the easiest way to make my structure and what to support on. I have little height to play with so more digging it looks like ?

I understand how the wood behaves, these gaps are currently log cabin annexes in their own right. I need to pack them up 25-30mm which would still leave a 50mm gap above them for the structure to contract to over the summer and then still keep an eye on it to ensure it doesn’t contract more than that.

Little bit of progress yesterday (had to do a hot tub pack up). On the roof now. I’m not stuck stuck, just stuck. I have a bag of 45 off 100mm long screws so they must be important but I do not know where they go. They are described as “top log screws”. I think they secure some short filler pieces on top of the front and back walls but my helper yesterday disagreed. I can’t sensibly work out why they are 45 of them either. Which would have provided some logic to their use. it’s also cold today and I don’t want to sit on the roof in the cold ? but I must finish it today.

I’ve got a 14mm Havwoods engineered wood in a few rooms for 5-6 years. They get weekly (sometimes more) damp mopping and they are fine. Didn’t know they need treating ? So happy I’ve bought some more for my new shed.

Still none the wiser as to how the roof should quite be done as tuin never got back to me. Im also very close to my max height so I may have to amend the design anyway. it will be tricky to incorporate the weather boards, this perimeter batten and insulation and stay under 2.5m without creating depressions on the roof that will fill with water.

Only really cheated the once. It was getting late and the last 2 rafters were a not fitting by a couple of mm so just took a couple of mm of the slots with the multitool. Fits like a wizards sleeve now. only really (expletive deleted)ed up installing the windows. There’s a massive gap above them. Buried in some obscure tuin blog with build tips it’s says I should have packed them up a bit. Simple enough to do but priority is to complete the roof first. Couple of small quality issues with the ironmongery. Hence the prop to keep the door closed. Only real concern is that 2 months on the patio (quite well covered) probably didn’t help. It’s gone together pretty well, straight and level, doors windows square etc but try as you might it was not possible to close all the gaps between logs so then were even. The cabin design with the big windows mean the front half has very little actual wall so it behaves in its own way. Fingers crossed that as it dries out in the summer it does so evenly and some of those gaps don’t widen further so it ends up looking like a pallet ? not all my own work, the wife helped a bit at the start and as it progressed I had very welcome help from a very tall (much needed) new acquaintance. Even the kids helped a bit in moving stuff closer to the build from their storage.

Got this far on Saturday. Who needs a roof? Day off yesterday, did a drive to Formby which was fresh to say the least. Still managed to move about a tonne of stuff around the drive/garden to tidy up.

The banana is twisted and it’s only joined at one end as it comes up to a window. Saving it for the top so that the bridging log above it will hold in place. Otherwise should have used it low down and clamped it straight with boards screwed each side. The back and sides are about half way up. Getting extra help to slot the doors and Windows in today to build up the rest of the front.

This is pretty decent, 44mm logs. Roof slats are 18mm. Got double doors and 4 full height windows, alI double glazed (bumped the price up ?‍♂️) it’s nominally 14 x 10. couple of logs in the reject pile, need to fettle the joint as it’s too tight. Only 1 banana so far ,not sure how that one will work out. Have a plan.

I’ve done it, of sorts.

We’re part of the way up now. The stuff i did in the dark on monday is dogshit so it’s shimmed on one side and the massive pigeons keep shitting all over it. I emailed Tuin with a few queries about construction details but they’re running weeks behind on support so just had to make it. I haven’t fixed the foundation beam to the blocks as there was nothing about it in the instructions (one of my queries). It does say to fix the bottom logs to the beam. Without any supplied long fasteners to screw through 2 logs and the beam so I’ve just angled in some screws through the bottom log into the beam. Another thing with this cabin is that the size is 4.35 x 3.5 but the supply foundation beams in 3m lengths. You do the math. I actually planned out how to use the supplies planks with 2 pieces on the short side and 3 on the long. But as there was a spare piece, I thought I would do it the stupid way - 3m length plus the extra. And the stupid way is what it’s sat on. ? The other thing I really noticed today when trying to make some shims is that my mitre saw is awful. I know it was cheap and didn’t expect much. I’ve just used it to quickly cut stuff up but nothing on it is square. Even the main fence, the two sides that are split by the blade, one piece of metal are not parallel ? ffs. I’m going to struggle even to make some shelves with it for the cabin fit out with it.