A garden cabin can be a great addition to your home to fulfil many purposes. It can work as a storage space or your own private space where you can read, write or paint and pursue whatever you love. Garden cabins are also a great choice to celebrate those special moments with your loved ones, friends and family. They also work as a suitable choice if you are looking for a personal workspace and would prefer to work amidst beautiful nature and garden.
While there are many ready to install garden cabins available in the market, what is prouder than to build one on your own that makes you a happy owner of a sturdy and beautiful garden cabin that you can even pass on to your next generations with pride and love?
However, building a garden cabin cannot be a decision made overnight. It needs planning, guidance and a step by step approach. This post explains you the best way to build your own self-build garden cabin in a step by step manner.
Table of contents
Step 1: Blue Print
A good blueprint will reduce the time taken for the overall construction. Study well various factors such as the total area that you want to build your garden cabin in, the number of trees you may have to fell, or the budget that you have.
Accordingly, you may get a blueprint designed by an architect or get the guidance from many online resources available too.
Use your creativity and design your blueprint to build your dream garden cabin!
Step 2: Land Selection
The perfect land chosen for building a garden cabin should be flat, well connected to water and power supply, good drainage facility.
If your land is a slope or full of contours, it would be a wise idea to seek professional help to decide on the land strength and suitability.
You can also enhance the beauty of the surroundings of your cabin and garden by using various types of spreaders suited for gardening such as Ag spreader and Lime & Fertilizer Spreaders.
Step 3: Laying Solid Foundation
Needless to say, stronger the foundation, healthier is the construction. This holds true for garden cabin too.
For this purpose, you need to have a solid understanding of your local state laws regarding the depth of foundation that should be dug.
Another important point that you may have to keep in mind is the depth at which the freezing depth occurs at your locality. It is better to get an idea of building codes designed by your state for this purpose.
Always remember that the foundation should be laid below the frost line keeping in mind the temperature changes.
Other factors that you may have to remember while laying the foundation are the type of soil, size of your cabin and land contours.
Step 4: Cut your own logs
Choosing the type of log depends on the availability, strength they offer and of course your budget.
A North American inhabitant would find easily hardwood, Pine trees, Spruce and Cedar; while Redwood and Douglas’s fir are more common in Australia. And Good Pine or Spruce would do in Europe.
If you are confused about the selection, talk to a professional timber supplier for more clarity. They would also help in you calculating and deciding the number of logs required for your total construction and would make a good suggestion on the width of each log too.
You can wish to buy readily available cut logs or may choose to cut them on your own. If you are preferring the latter choice, make sure you have all the equipment handy for this purpose. This would include a huge list of tools ranging from chainsaw to tractor.
Note that staining your logs with borate solution would help to increase their immunity against UV rays and staining.
Step 5: Laying the Joist
Choose your joist wisely, for this is the one that provides the entire strength to the flooring.
Seek the guidance of expert resources available on how to lay the joist and start installing the flooring horizontally from the joist.
Step 6: Log joinery
This is a step that you should approach carefully; for it would cause accidents if mishandled. At least a little expertise in carpentry would be a great addition to you at this step.
Do not hesitate to take the help of the third party should you get any doubt. You may have to use a nail ramp for easy raising of the log. However, be careful to avoid injuries during lifting the logs.
The tip to build a good wall using logs is to alter them between their butt and tip for every layer of the log cabin.
Step 7: Working with the Roof
Once you are successfully done with you log joinery and the walls are sturdily built, this would be the next obvious step.
You have great choices for finalizing the shape and look of the ceiling. Make good research and choose wide boards or plywood depending on your choice and budget.
Metal roofs are also another option. Note that for this step, you may need heavy rafters.
If you are preferring a quicker and sturdy one for your roof, go for the “purlin and after” construction of the roof.
Step 8: Ventilation and Doors
Choose the direction that would give you the maximum natural lighting and go for installing windows to that wall. Good quality timber windows work well for this purpose.
For doors, you can choose between the latest doors that are energy efficient or can opt for ones that give you a cosier look to your garden cabin.
Once you are done with building your own garden cabin, you can enhance its aesthetic appeal through designing a beautiful garden in the surroundings too. If the land around your cabin is uneven or you have no idea about how to make it suitable for designing your own garden, you can benefit from Ag spreaders and Lime & Fertilizer Spreaders to make it farming friendly and your plants would love to grow in it!
Author Bio: Thomas M. Strother is the blogger at spreaders.com which specialize in making spreaders and dump trucks from last 24 years. They provide quality products in agricultural areas like lime and fertilizer spreader, construction and other needs from tailgate salt spreader to litter spreader. They make sure that customer requirements are full filled.