There’s no reason that you can’t use your log cabin all year long. It’s not just for summertime. It will just take some time to properly insulate your log cabin.
One of the first places to start is to consider how thick your logs are, the thicker the logs the better the all-natural thermal insulation. Thicker logs are more heat efficient. Keep in mind that 70mm log cabins are going to retain heat far better than that of a 44mm log cabin due to the increase in the density of the wood.
Don’t forget double-glazed windows. You can also use double-glazed doors as well to help retain the heat in your log cabin. Of course, even though you’re using thicker logs and double-glazed windows and doors, you’ll still lose as much as 70 per cent of the heat through the floor and the roof.
You’ll want form-fitting insulation directly underneath the floorboards to help keep your log cabin warm. Just slip it in between the floor joists and add roofing insulation above the roofing boards to help retain heat.
Buy an insulated log cabin from Quick-garden.co.uk/log-cabins/insulated.
Insulating The Floor
The flooring in log cabins is often made up of packs of tongue and groove boards that are attached via nails to pressure-treated bearers. Directly underneath the flooring, and in between the floor joists, you can readily fit foil-backed boards for insulation. A 25 mm or a 50 mm Celotex is a compressed foam material that is placed in between two pieces of silver foil material. These are easy to cut to size using a Stanley knife or a similar style knife.
It’s important that the boards are off the ground so that they don’t collect moisture that rises from the floor into your log cabin. This can be done by simply positioning the screws 30mm below the top of the flooring joists and approximately 500mm apart. In this fashion, you can use the screws to support the insulation as it’s placed in between the flooring joists.
Always ensure that the Celotex is fitting snugly in between the bearers to ensure that there are no cold areas of the floor. Once this is completed, you can then fill in with the taping along the joints and the seams to ensure that the foil insulation is fully closed in. Now, you can lay your flooring boards.
Insulating The Roof
Using the “warm” roof system, the insulation fits on top of the roof of the cabin and not underneath the roof. It’s much neater and far more effective at keeping your cabin warm. It’s also easy and quick to install. An additional advantage of leaving the features of the timber roof and the joists showing inside of the cabin lends an air of decor to the look.
You can then fit the tongue and groove roof boards however, don’t felt the roofing or place the tile or shingles as of yet. First, you’ll need to place your vapour barrier. This is a silver quilted membrane that will be placed on the upper side of the boards to create your “warm roof” and have a minimum of 100 mm overlap.
Secure the frame battens in and around the perimeter of the roofing and include it all the way up to the gable ends to the ridge points that are fitted on top of the membrane.
Inside of the frame, you’ll then fit the insulation boards atop the membrane flushing it against the internal edging of the perimeter battens. You can readily cut the insulation to size using your Stanley knife or a similar style knife. Once your roofing is completely fitted with your insulation board, you can then tape the joists and seams with your foil tape that will enclose the roof completely.
Now you can readily fit the solid sheet roof boarding referred to as OSB, over the top of your insulation and then secure it through the roof joists. Fill in any areas that are left with small cutouts to size the boards. Once your roof is complete, and then boarded over, you can apply your chosen roofing material. Shingles, tiles, or whatever you desire.
Summing things up, you can use 50mm flooring insulation and 50mm roofing insulation and 44mm logs, and double-glazed windows and doors, and you’ll stay warm all year regardless of the season.
To make things really warm and cosy you may wish to consider carpeting.
Place some in for the underlay and then carpet the flooring and you’ll stay warm. Don’t forget the curtains.
You can hang some cosy curtains and help to reduce any drafts. Run some electricity to the cabin and you’re set. Make sure that when planning the power system you use a certified electrician.
