Log Cabins Garden Accessories
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Dunster House Log Cabins
by Psion1951 When the 3m x 2m Avon® 200 Log Cabin arrived I was taken aback by the number of component parts, you do need considerable space available to stack them in a sensible & accessible order. Having then studied the instructions carefully, putting the unit together was relatively straight forward, but does require some basic skills. The ... most difficult part was ensuring the base is square, which once established all the other parts fitted together nicely. I did have a couple of parts which were twisted & not useable, but Dunston had provided spare parts for the main elements which is very helpful. I fitted a shingle roof covering, which took a bit of fathoming to start with, but after a few "errors" became straight forward to progress, although its not a job I would want to repeat too often. I did fit an additional plastic sheet to the base, & fitted a laminate floor inside, both of which have made an already sturdy structure "bomb proof" now. In summary, I am extremely pleased with the cabin, it looks fantastic, is "bomb proof", & was reasonably priced, can't say better. Read the complete review |
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Dunster House Log Cabins
by Peter Mills It would appear that most reviews of Dunster House log cabins are on their web site and therefore subject to editing by Dunster house and having just purchased and built the Auval 400 with bi-folding doors I thought my experiences may be of some use to other potential buyers / builders. There are a small number of independent ... reviews on the web which all comment on the customer service provided by Dunster House. I have to agree that when purchasing from them there is no room for negotiation. They provide a standard model with a number of options but try deviating from those options and you will get a resounding NO from the company. The only problem I had was that I wanted the cabin delivered to an address that I rent out in Wimbledon when I live in Mirfield in West Yorkshire 220 miles away. The web site would not allow me to have a different delivery address to that of the card holders address and I therefore, after endless negotiation with their sales office by phone and a resounding 'No Can Do', ended up trailing to their showroom in North Lincolnshire to be able to place an order in person and have my credit card processed on site. I find it difficult to believe that a company as large as this has no flexibility and it isn't as though the goods are going to be delivered through the post to a remote unregistered address. They come on a company owned flat bed truck. There is usually at least 4 weeks delay between placing the order and having it delivered, which is enough time for most transactions to appear on a credit card statement and if a large log cabin turned up at my door and I hadn't ordered it I would send it away. There has to be an easier system than having the customer run around. Ask for proof of ID to be sent. A utility bill or two would solve the problem. Having placed the order I waited five weeks for delivery (they were out of stock of the bi-fold doors) but I duly received a phone call from dispatch offering me delivery on the day I had asked for when placing the order. I was told it would be a morning delivery before 12 noon and it arrived just after 10:30. There was one driver and between us we offloaded the lorry onto my driveway. The driver would not wait until I had checked everything, which admittedly would have taken a long time as there are over 1000 parts make up this cabin. I signed to say I had received the cabin but it had not been checked. I was also given the instructions on how to assemble the cabin which was broken down into two sets, the generic log cabin instructions and the specific ones for my cabin. The bi-fold doors also came with their own instructions. During the five week wait for the cabin my son Chris had installed the foundations using a method we discovered on the Internet (see http://www.shedbases.com/acatalog/SB-Log_Cabin_kits.html) He dug holes and put in a hardcore base followed by two hi density concrete blocks topped off with a paving slab. The whole area was then covered with a waterproof membrane and the 'Shedbase' units placed on top of the pads. The advantage here is that you can get a perfect level, which is vital before you start building your cabin and it proves extremely stable. You will need to read the Dunster House instructions a few times to fully understand how the cabin goes together. Dunster House say on their web site that you need to be a confident DIY person and that is very true. In fact I would go so far as to say you need to be very good at DIY especially when some of the logs are warped and don't fit together very well. If I have a criticism it would be that some of the interlocking sections of the logs are not machined as well as they might be and there were a number of cases where I had to chisel away excess wood to make a perfect fit. One other tip here when building this size of cabin with bi-fold doors is that you will find that if you get a long log that runs down the side which is twisted slightly it will stop the short logs placed either side of the bi-fold doors from sitting correctly. The instructions say to screw the first three logs from the ground upwards to the door frame. We not only did that but put an additional screw in places higher up where necessary if the short logs were not sitting correctly. Once you have got the roof on you can remove the extra screws you have put in and the holes are covered up by the rubber weather strip that goes around the door. We insulated the floor of our cabin but bought the insulation board from Wickes which was half the price that Dunster house charge for the same thing. A bit of ingenuity and a few screws held it place before we put the floor down. We also wired the cabin for electricity at the same time drilling through the 45mm logs to hide the cable to the light switch and overhead lights. Its time consuming but well worth the effort. Another tip here is that there is enough of a gap at the roof apex between the boards to run a lighting cable. Just remember to be careful when you nail the boards to the roof joists in that area. Drill a hole through the joist to pass the cable and connect your lighting. Once the roof is covered with shingles or felt it will be watertight and the cabling perfectly happy. We used heavy duty waterproof cabling for garden use just to be on the safe side. For our roofing we bought superior roofing felt from B&Q. Again it worked out much cheaper than buying from Dunster House as indeed did the mini guttering which we fasted to the rear of the cabin. The latter is available from B&Q or Wickes, although the Dunster House version does come with two water butts, but even then at over £160 it's still expensive. In our case we went one step further kitting out the interior of the cabin out with two cupboards and a bar area, all of which we designed to be free standing and only attached to the cabin walls by two screws. It's important not to attach anything to the cabin walls that will stop it from expanding and contracting in the changing climates. The cabin has only been up for a couple of weeks and you can already see signs of things settling and expanding due the wonderful April weather. One extra that we did buy from Dunster House was the timber treatment for the outside. They supply enough to paint the cabin twice and ours came in one 5ltr tin and two 2.5ltr tins. The advantage here is that if you want to apply a second coat a few weeks after the initial one you don't have an opened tin with the possibility of the contents going dry. A nice touch. I have read a couple of reviews where it's stated that the customers were short of logs. I find this difficult to believe as we received 1 extra 4m log, 1 extra 3.5m log and 4 extra 4m lengths of tongue and groove which could be used as either roofing or flooring. There were also a far more screws and nails included than you really need. There were however a couple of bits which took a while to identify as they were not shown in the instructions. One turned out to be the side window locking catch and the other turned out to be an optional trim for the side window. We found no mention of these in the instructions but worked it out on the basis of common sense and deduction! The end result of our 4 day build (Lord knows how the Dunster House installers manage it in a day but perhaps that reflects the number of complaints after the team have left) was a strong well built cabin. I would have no hesitation in recommending the product but you will need to be good at DIY and take your time to work things out. A power screwdriver and a drill for pilot holes are essential. You may have problems with the company if you need customer service. We didn't and managed without any input from them at all. There will be logs that have splits and knots but as they say on the web site wood is a natural product and we were able to hide any log that wasn't perfect by sorting through them first. They went at the back and sides of the cabin where they won't be seen although there were only about 4 out of the 85 logs that fell into this category. There are cabins that are much more expensive and therefore I would expect them to be better machined and the wood to be of a better quality but for an excellent value for money product I would have to recommend that you purchase from one from Dunster House. P.S. I note that the cost of my cabin has gone up by nearly £600 since we purchased it back in February 2011 compared to now May 2011. Prices are high when demand is high in the summer. Wait till the low season and see if you can bag a bargain. Read the complete review |
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Finnforest Log Cabins
by GillMN What jigsaw contains 3,000+ pieces, gets delivered by a lorry and takes three men three days to finish? The answer is my Finnforest Log cabin! A few years ago my husband had to retire through ill health. We had previously been living in a massive Vicarage and couldn't find anywhere we could buy that was big enough ... to accommodate us that we could afford. After a lot of very stressful househunting a good friend suggested we buy a smaller house and build a cabin in the garden to give me working space and room. It turned out to be a brilliant idea and the answer to our problems! The cabin, once built, gave me a beautiful space to work in with my clients, and perhaps more importantly, a large space of my own as a refuge and place of quiet and sanity. I am sat in it now, typing this! The cabins can be bought in a variety of sizes and shapes. Mine is approximately 24ft x 16ft. It is double glazed and insulated underfloor and in the roof. With the footings which my son put down, the electrics which a local electrician put in, and the cabin kit itself, the whole building cost just under £5,000.00. If you think about what a similar sized extension would cost then you can see why it is such good value. It is possible to have the cabin erected by Finnforest but this increases the price considerably. ~~~*~~~ I'll take you through the process as we experienced it. 1. We browsed the internet for days comparing prices and structures. There are more log cabins becoming available all the time now and the prices seem to be dropping! We decided on FinnForest because we liked the look and prices of their cabins and they promised a quick delivery. (Within three weeks.) 2. We ordered online and were given a ten day delivery date. Which was honoured. 3. My son prepared the footings. This involved putting down a large concrete base with pilings to anchor the cabin to. It took him three days of hard work. He had never done it before and said that his inexperience and lack of a labourer slowed him down by about a day. 4. The great day arrived and the lorry containing the cabin arrived bang on time. 5. The family offloaded the wood and checked everything against the inventory. That took about six hours of hard work. 6. The following morning we discovered that one small window spar was missing. My husband rang FinnForest and the missing piece arrived by post the next day! I was really impressed by their efficiency. 7. Building commenced. I made copious amounts of tea for the three workers (and the fascinated neighbours!) and watched my cabin come to life before my eyes. It was an extraordinary experience to see the three men following the instructions and quickly creating a very, very beautiful building from a kit. None of them had ever built anything like this before and it was a testament to their hardwork and FinnForests' well written and illustrated instructions, to see how easily and quickly it went up. 8. Three days after the first planks were slotted together I was able to move in! Their pride in what they had achieved was lovely to see. My beautiful, spacious, fragrant cabin has given me a fantastic living space and it is a real adornment to the garden. The logs are three inches thick and slot together with a triple tongue and groove. The doors and windows come ready assembled and fit into the spaces allotted in the construction. The roof can be built to house insulation which costs more but is necessary in the British climate. The floors are insulated with large blocks of dense insulation material which fix to the underside of the floor. The cabin itself is made of white larch logs which is hardier than pine. It has to be weatherproofed once a year. We used ships varnish which is expensive than other wood finishes but apparently is more efficient at keeping the structure waterproof. Painting the cabin takes about ten hours. Guttering is not provided but I would reccommend it to take the rain away from the corners of the cabin where I have had a very slight problem with damp seeping in. Because of the changes in temperature the logs expand and contract and there is an ingenious built in device for tightening or loosening the logs twice a year. These are situated in each corner of the cabin. It is possible to buy these cabins with as many partitions as you want rooms. Mine is all one room because I wanted it to look and faal spacious. A friend has a cabin with one small area partitioned to house an extra toilet. It is possible to buy sauna partitions as well as all the necessary equipment. Many people use the extra space as home gyms too! ~~~*~~~ Heating. It is possible to buy wood burning stoves for this range of cabins and to adapt the cabins accordingly. I optioned to heat it with electric radiators and sometimes use halogen heaters if it particularly cold out. The cabins heat up quickly and are soon a comfortable working temperature. I bought self adhesive insulation for around the windows and doors to make a better seal against draughts. After I put this on, it meant that the cabin heated up more quickly and retained the heat for longer. The cabin has a balcony which is good to sit out on in the warm weather, if I was buying another one I would buy one with an overhang which covers the whole balcony. Mine is only partly covered which limits sitting out because of the rain. ~~~*~~~ Planning permission. Log cabins under two metres in height are classed as garden sheds. (temporary buildings) so they don't need planning permission!They must be situated at least one metre from boundary fences and must not cover more than 25% of available ground space in your garden. You need to check with your council for local by-laws but usually no planning permission is needed. If you wish to see more about these lovely cabins here is their website address. Styles and prices have changed in the three years since mine was built. http://www.finnforest.co.uk I think this cabin saved my sanity by giving me space and peace to work and rest in. I would recommend you to have a think about investing in one for your family. At Christmas it looks particularly pretty with the Christmas lights sparkling along the eaves. The local children are all in love with it and think it is "Aunty Gill's giant Wendy House!" Thank you for reading. If I have missed anything vital out please let me know. Read the complete review |
Log Cabins Garden Accessory |
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7 reviews Garden Accessory / Type: Log Cabins |
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1 review Garden Accessory / Type: Log Cabin - With tongue and groove boarded roof and floor and fully glazed windows and doors, you can relax and gracefully keep cool in the summer. (10 x 8) |
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1 review Garden Accessory / Type: Log Cabins - Ideal for a summerhouse, a quiet garden hideaway, hobby room or home office. |
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Garden Accessory / Type: Log Cabins - This rustic Loglok Apex Scandinavian style interlocking log cabin features double opening fully glazed windows, pressure treated bearers and felt and fixings |
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Garden Accessory / Type: Log Cabins - Pine summerhouse based upon the octagonal design theme |
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| Log Cabins Garden Accessory Recommendations 1 | ||
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