Log Cabin Project

[Johnny - Oxford]

Hi all

Been a long time since I used this forum, I wonder if anyone can offer me some advice:

I am in the process of building a log cabin, see the link for details

http://dhlogcabins.co.uk/uk/product/78/297/4m-x-4m-carsare-45-log-cabin

It is half built and I expect to finish it this week. We put down a solid concrete base for it.

I want to insulate it well as we will use it daily as a playroom / gamesroom.

The walls are 45mm thick pine, and it is very heavy duty, well engineered by the looks of it so far.

I have opted for the double glazed window and doors. I want to insulate the roof if possible without covering the tongue and groove ceiling which is realy nice.

I am planning to put a couple of layers (or more) of bubble film with foil laminated to both sides of it, on the outside of the roof, and then cover with roofing felt / shingles.

I am also going to put a layer of the bubble foil under the floorboards.

My questions are:

1 - How well will the 45mm walls hold in heat? They are not double skinned, I could make an inner wall with ply and insulate between, but again I would lose the nice pine walls, and also some space.

2 - Will my idea for insulating the roof work?

3 - Am I likely to get condensation problems? I will have some kind of heater in there in the cold months (like now), do I need to vent the roof somehow?

4 - What is the best product to treat this with externally for weatherproofing? It seems these days that the green brigade have eliminated all of the oil based products which actually did the job and soaked into the wood. Is there anything really good on the market? I want this to last 20 odd years so I want the very best.

5 - Has anybody built one of these? Can you offer any other advice?

Many thanks

 

[noseall]

is this an advert or what?

 

[Johnny - Oxford]

Not at all, I am just looking for advice.

 

[big-all]

you wont get condensation providing you use dry heat [not parafin oil or gas]
45 will give you a bit of insulation
your indoor temperature will follow the outside temperature with a few hours lag and a couple of degrees warmer than the outside temperature

 

[Deluks]

Q1) Not very well.

Q2) Not very well.

Q3) Probably not.

Q4) Cuprinol shed and fence. Or tung oil/linseed.

If by insulation you mean the silver bubblewrap, then it won't do a lot. You'll need at least 50mm of Celotex/Kingspan/mineral wool/polystyrene (jablite) to make it worthwhile.

Read the section on that site about osb panels. You should be looking to be fixing a polythene vapour barrier on the roof, on top of the t&g boards. Then lay some of the previously mentioned insulation to a min of 50mm, then board over with 11mm osb panels and fix the roof felt/shingles.
This will raise the height of the roof somewhat so the roof trim/gutters will need a bit of fiddling with, should be fairly straighforward.

Insulating the walls and then over boarding with more t&g boards will still give the nice effect inside, but you'll have to fork out for a load of t&g cladding to cover all the walls. Or you could use t&g effect mdf or route out the grooves yourself using standard mdf board, if you have more time than money.

Heating the room will be expensive without any insulation in roof and walls. Get some polystyrene boards for between the floor joists too. 8x2 boards only cost about £6 each. There are some eBay resellers doing good deals on packs of polystyrene insulation.

 

[andyfallon]

Hi,

I'm also buying one of these cabins.

I will just buy it as a unit with the 4.5cm walls. Its cheaper for me to insulate the floor and roof myself with celotex from wickes. The shingles are cheaper if you buy from a supplier.

I am installing underfloor heating with laminate flooring on top which is cheaper than insulating the walls. I plan to set it on a timer so its warm for the morning.

I did consider maybe insulating the walls next winter if need be but I have heard that you must make floating walls that aren't screwed to the cabin walls as they expand and contract.

Hopefully underfloor heating, floor and roof celotex should keep it snug.

A fan heater is probably on the cards as well.

 

[RedHerring2]

Welcome, Andy, but are you
1) replying and/or giving advice to a 4 your old post? I think you're too late.
2) Asking for advice, if so what's your question?
or 3) telling us about your project, in which case don't hijack someonelse's thread but put a new post of your own in the "Projects" forum.