Log Cabin/Man Cave
- Thread starter danza
- Start date
Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Jun 2006
- Posts
- 38,367
on avforums their is a whole section dedicated to building home cinemas and a lot of them are sheds in their back gardens as well as garage/loft conversions, etc. although you may not be building a home cinema the shed is the same building minus the contents.
some guy built a huge one with the help of his brother who is a builder for £3-£4K and it looked the business and it was all properly done. It was cheap because he bought all the materials himself off local trade suppliers rather than a pack from a retailer.
i reckon the same thing from a retailer would have been an easy £9K
some guy built a huge one with the help of his brother who is a builder for £3-£4K and it looked the business and it was all properly done. It was cheap because he bought all the materials himself off local trade suppliers rather than a pack from a retailer.
i reckon the same thing from a retailer would have been an easy £9K
Right, Sunday's job was to finish the roof. Which I didn't. It's completely boarded and half shingled, the rest of which will be going on tonight.
Due to bad weather, I've since done the floor (DPM, Celotex, floor bearers and boards:
DPM:
Bearers and insulation:
Boards:
So, as above - tonight's task is fitting the remaining shingles, and if there's time I might stain the floor (if the stain arrives today). Not too much left to do now!
Edit:
Just noticed the cabin looks weirdly narrow inside - trick of my potatocam - it's actually almost 8' wide.
Due to bad weather, I've since done the floor (DPM, Celotex, floor bearers and boards:
DPM:
Bearers and insulation:
Boards:
So, as above - tonight's task is fitting the remaining shingles, and if there's time I might stain the floor (if the stain arrives today). Not too much left to do now!
Edit:
Just noticed the cabin looks weirdly narrow inside - trick of my potatocam - it's actually almost 8' wide.
Last edited:
Right, it's been ages and I completely forgot about this thread. So, here are some pics of the remainder of the project:
Floor stained:
Projector screen paintage:
You're damn right:
The business end of the cave:
My eldest playing site forewoman whilst I fit shingles:
First coat of stain:
Exterior complete:
Basically the cabin as it is now, there are a few minor changes that have taken place between then and now, but not much of real note:
So, what's it like? We've had temps as low as -6°C over the winter, and the coldest it's been in here is 2°C. An hour of the heater at full blast is enough to raise the temp to ~20°C. In those conditions, it loses about 2°C per hour with the heater off, it's really easy to keep it warm once it's there. I can't say how hot it gets in the summer, as I finished it right at the end of the last one we had. It's really, really cosy and basically feels like another room in the house. You don't feel like it's going to blow away in high winds; it's about as quiet inside as my house when it gets really blowy. Heavy rain and hail are quite loud, but not intrusively so.
There are no drafts, no leaks and it feels like it'll last for a very long time.
I still need to paint the base as it's a bit ugly and there's also guttering that needs doing, but it's in an awkward spot to route the water to a drain (for half the roof at least). I'll get around to it at some point. In the meantime, it gets heavily used and is my escape from the three women in the house!
I can thoroughly recommend Summer Garden Buildings as a supplier, we've had no issues with any of the kit on assembly or since. When we move, my wife already expects that I'll be building another one (albeit a bit bigger
).
If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to help.
Before I forget (and someone will ask otherwise) - total cost was probably around the £7.5-8k mark to go from a bare patch of garden to what it is now (excluding furniture and electronics):
Cabin - £4700
Base - £1200
Electrics - £500
Insulation and waterproofing - £600
Wood treatment, stain and paint - £250 (I managed to get loads of tins of Sikkens Novatec & Novatop for less than half price as they were a bit dented - the cost here would have easily been double otherwise).
Other stuff I've forgotten - £a few hundred more
Floor stained:
Projector screen paintage:
You're damn right:
The business end of the cave:
My eldest playing site forewoman whilst I fit shingles:
First coat of stain:
Exterior complete:
Basically the cabin as it is now, there are a few minor changes that have taken place between then and now, but not much of real note:
So, what's it like? We've had temps as low as -6°C over the winter, and the coldest it's been in here is 2°C. An hour of the heater at full blast is enough to raise the temp to ~20°C. In those conditions, it loses about 2°C per hour with the heater off, it's really easy to keep it warm once it's there. I can't say how hot it gets in the summer, as I finished it right at the end of the last one we had. It's really, really cosy and basically feels like another room in the house. You don't feel like it's going to blow away in high winds; it's about as quiet inside as my house when it gets really blowy. Heavy rain and hail are quite loud, but not intrusively so.
There are no drafts, no leaks and it feels like it'll last for a very long time.
I still need to paint the base as it's a bit ugly and there's also guttering that needs doing, but it's in an awkward spot to route the water to a drain (for half the roof at least). I'll get around to it at some point. In the meantime, it gets heavily used and is my escape from the three women in the house!
I can thoroughly recommend Summer Garden Buildings as a supplier, we've had no issues with any of the kit on assembly or since. When we move, my wife already expects that I'll be building another one (albeit a bit bigger
).If anyone has any questions, I'll be happy to help.
Before I forget (and someone will ask otherwise) - total cost was probably around the £7.5-8k mark to go from a bare patch of garden to what it is now (excluding furniture and electronics):
Cabin - £4700
Base - £1200
Electrics - £500
Insulation and waterproofing - £600
Wood treatment, stain and paint - £250 (I managed to get loads of tins of Sikkens Novatec & Novatop for less than half price as they were a bit dented - the cost here would have easily been double otherwise).
Other stuff I've forgotten - £a few hundred more
Last edited:
Associate
- Joined
- 14 Dec 2008
- Posts
- 1,019
- Location
- UK
Summer garden buildings have some terrible review on google reviews page. Good to see it turned out good for you, currently in the market for something similar to use as a office / workshop.
Cheers for the comments guys.
Yeah, there are a few bad reviews out there for sure, but you get that with most companies in this field.
They were very helpful in meeting my exact spec, despite the manufacturer seemingly not being particularly well aware of the UK market and regulations (it was made in Estonia). I can see non-technical/non-DIY types being stung, though. You just need your wits about you to not **** up and stay within UK regs and the rest should fall into place fairly easily.
Yeah, there are a few bad reviews out there for sure, but you get that with most companies in this field.
They were very helpful in meeting my exact spec, despite the manufacturer seemingly not being particularly well aware of the UK market and regulations (it was made in Estonia). I can see non-technical/non-DIY types being stung, though. You just need your wits about you to not **** up and stay within UK regs and the rest should fall into place fairly easily.