Should I, And How Can I, Insulate My Log Cabin

During the cold winter months it makes you wonder how we can sit outdoors in shorts and tee shirts or ladies with their short dresses. With the heavy snow over most parts of the country during the winter makes us think of the Swiss Alps maybe with its insulated log cabins which would be good use as a cabin in the UK.

The snow can be welcome for a short while and children enjoy playing about in it, I know my grandson Daniel, does. When the snow arrived, my wife went to the local hardware shop and bought two sledges. One made of unsympathetic plastic and one made from wood. Guess which one I preferred? When I started my insulated garden cabin factory back in 1979, the snow didn’t last too long, and the sledges stayed in the cabin!

This time of the year can be spent planning for the winter with decisions to be made about whether the garden furniture can should stay outside or be removed to the safety of our cabin. The barbecue often is showing signs of rusting so maybe I’ll pull that inside as well. Having said that I don’t use it very often and remains in my garden for most of the year.

A wooden cabin is used mainly during the warmer parts of the year, but it’s a shame to close it down when the weather turns cold. The answer is an insulated log cabin as this will help to keep the cabin warmer all year round. There will be a bit of investment to do this, but the rewards are great with this added insulation.

Your children could use it as a den and out from under your feet, and they would love you for it. Or you could use it for your self and get away from your busy life, or your wife could use it as a hobby room. Even better you can share it with all your family which as got to be good.

Other than that, an insulated garden cabin could be used as an office where you could run your business or run a small min-factory. In this instance, it could be tax deductible so even better.

You can insulate your garden cabin after delivery if you have reasonable DIY skills and you are going to build the cabin yourself. All you need would be some polystyrene or fibreglass type insulation and some sheets of plywood, hardboard or something similar and 2×2 timbers. After you have fitted the roof, you would nail the 2×2 timbers to the roof and then fit the fibreglass or polystyrene inside these timbers. You would then line over the top with some sheet material before fixing the roofing material.

With the floor you would again nail 2×2 timbers onto the floor, fit the insulation in between and then line with plywood (at least ½” but ideally ¾” thick). This would raise the floor by 2″ if you go on top of the floor. Ideally, put the insulation in between the floor joists but ensure it does not touch your base as you need to allow some airflow underneath.

The walls are normally at least 44m thick and sometimes 70mm thick. This in itself provides good insulation values, so it not always necessary to insulate the walls any further. Having said that any extra insulation added will help even more to keep the temperature right. All the Trentan, Lugarde and Woodpro log cabins come with double glazed doors and windows, unlike many cheap garden cabins.

On all our log cabins we have an option to supply a lining and insulating kit for the roof and floor so nothing else would be required (supplied within a 50 miles radius of Guildford). And if you took the option of having the cabin built, then the floor and roof insulation would be fitted for you within the price. The other plus is that the floor insulation would go under the floorboards so you would not use any height within your cabin. Well worth considering if we are arranging the installation for you.

The cabins are supplied with chunky timber walls (good U-values) and double glazing as standard, and you can ensure that they are comfortable year-round with the addition of our insulated floor and roof upgrade. We use 50mm PIR Celotex / Kingspan in the roof and cover this with a structural grade 18mm OSB roof deck atop before fitting your specified roofing material.

We will use 25mm PIR Celotex / Kingspan on the floor. The fitment of insulation will not affect the internal headroom in any way and prices shown will include for fitting when our teams install your cabin.

By adding insulation to the roof and floor then this will make a massive difference and help to keep the building warmer in the winter and a little cooler in the summer. The standard 44mm logs do provide a reasonable amount of insulation – the 70mm more so. However, it’s reasonably easy to add insulation to the walls after you have had the building built if you choose to do so, but you should ensure that the wall logs are still able to move according to the time of the year.

You would, like in a house, need to provide heating during the cooler months and I would recommend a dry source of heat such as an electric radiator. Never use a Calor Gas type of heater as, besides the flammability of it, gives out a lot of moisture and can make your cabin damp. Avoid at all costs.

One thing which most people don’t think about is keeping the log cabin cooler in the warmer months. Insulating the building will help massively in this aspect. And this is something I only learned by chance. On a hot summer day, I went from one of our display buildings into an insulated one and was astonished by the difference in temperature. I double-checked, and the insulated building was far cooler, so this is well worth considering.

On all of our cabin pages you will find links to the prices of the basic buildings, and on the order form, you will see the cost for that particular model. And if you are not sure, then have a chat with us, and we can help. Being able to use your garden cabin all year round is well worth considering at the stage of buying it. You will find it harder afterwards to add it. So sometimes it better to ‘bite the bullet’ and get the right building at the right time.

We are, of course, delighted to provide you with a no-obligation quote to meet your needs so call on (0800) 999 6995, (0333) 800 8880 or (01483) 237550 use our contact form or call into one of our display sites near Woking and Guildford and have a chat. You will be glad you did.