Finnlife Helppo Log Cabin

Western USA-style lifes brings the big west to the back of your house!

The Finn Life Helppo Log Cabin's views are incredibly wide, so much so you may think you're in Texas. Here, the possibilities are totally endless. There's plenty of room for storage and also room for play - the Finnlife Helppo Log Cabin also gives you all the time in the world to enjoy the views. If you want, you can still keep yourself busy. Walk around the veranda and see the world from a different angle.

Why buy the Finnforest Helppo Log Cabin?

* Made from precision-cut top quality Scandanavian White Softwood
* 34mm wall logs - provides additional strength, insulation and resilience to cope with extended year-round use
* Timber joists
* Floor and roof T&G
* Roof shingles
* Ready made, fully glazed doors
* Reinforced corners and wall battens
* All necessary fixtures and fittings
* Illustrated instructions
* Roof colour is Green and shingles are square

Dimensions:

Width:
Internal: 3.73m
External: 5.70m

Depth:
Internal: 2.83m
External: 4.50m

Ridge Height
External: 29.70m

Area:
Internal: 10.57m²
External: 25.65m²

This log cabin is also available with underfloor heating from selected stockists.

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Building your Helppo Log Cabin

Lovely, lazy summer evenings might be enticing, but don’t hurry to construct your Finnlife Log Cabin. Take the time to figure out how it is constructed, and you’ll enjoy many years of trouble-free pleasure. No construction abilities are needed. Everyone can build a Finnlife log cabin, although some tasks may require more than one pair of hands. Build times will vary depending on your experience and the number of people helping. Of course you don’t need to do it without any help!

It’s possible to show this text to a carpenter then relax until he hands over the keys to your finished Finn Life Cabin. Having said that, whoever completes the work, the first stage is to familiarise yourself with these instructions. The knack is to be orderly and to plan ahead. Although Finnlife log cabins share many features in common, each model style is distinctive. These overall instructions cover the basics of wooden cabin construction and apply to all Finnlife cabins.

For items that are unique to your Finn Life Cabin – such as dimensions, part numbers, building plans and part lists – you should refer to the individual Building Plans and Parts List. If you are building cabins [Finnlife Helppo, Finnlife Helsinki, Finnlife Joki, Finnlife Kesa, Finnlife Pori, Finnlife Seita and Finnlife Valo be aware that certain instructions may alter slightly from those found here.

Gravel option: Remove all organic matter prior to starting work on the foundations. Foundations should always be laid bigger than the base of your Finn Life Cabin – 300mm wider in all direction and 6” thick when using compressed type gravel. For compressed gravel foundations you should use retaining boards to keep the gravel in place and compressed.

Before you start to build you should check that you have a full set of parts. Tick off each part against the part list in the Building Plans and Parts List as you remove it from the transit packaging. In the unlikely event that there is a missing part or that a part has been broken in transit get in touch with the distributor, stating the Finn Life Cabin reference number shown on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check off each part put them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Put each part close to where it will be utilized. Laying out helps you see how the Finn Life Cabin goes together and it means that parts are ready to hand when you need them. You can use the Building Plans and Parts List as a scheme to what goes where. Be careful not to put parts too close to the Finn Life Cabin footprint. Give yourself adequate space to work in.

Place out the four sides of the door frame on a clean and level surface so that the doors open outwards. Loosely arrange them to match the completed frame. The top and bottom jambs are not quite the same. Place the one with the Lock RECESS AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM. Ensure that the door cills go behind the doors. Put the joints together loosely and check THAT YOU CAN STILL OPEN THE DOORS prior to continuing.

Take the frame apart again and squeeze PVA glue into the joints at the end of each frame piece. Press the sides together tightly. Make Sure that the frame is square by measuring the cross-diagonals. Wipe away all excess glue from the frame. Use a damp cloth and rinse it out thoroughly between wipes to stop glue smearing onto the frame. When you are happy that the frame is square, secure all corners with the screws provided.

Continue laying wall boards in line with to the layout of the Building Plans and Parts List you will have received with your order. The ending few layers of side wall boards in some cabins are longer. The lengths increase in steps to offer support to an overhanging canopy. Place angled gable boards sequentially starting with the longest. Take care with the alignment of the angled gable boards. The sloped roof line should be symmetrical and even at both gable ends. Use nails at either end to fix each layer of gable boards to the layer below. Hammer nails in at an angle through the sloped ends of the gable boards.

Constructing the gable ends shows a succession of slots for the roof beams. As each slot appears, tap in a roof beam. Ensure that the angled side of each roof beam lies flushed with the angle of the gable. Nail through into the gable boards to secure. Tap the ridge beam into place at the apex of the gable ends. Fix by nailing into the topmost gable board. Slide ridge and roof beam extension pieces on top of the exposed ends of the beams at both ends of the cabin. Make sure that the upper surfaces of the beams and the extension pieces are flushed, then secure by nailing from each side. Fix the wall board extension pieces to the ends of the topmost wall boards in the same way.

Roofing shingles are rectangular. The bottom half of the face side is a decorative green with slits that divide it into three flaps; the top half is black and coated with bitumen. With the exception of the first row, all shingles are laid with the green flaps at the bottom. Ridge shingles are fashioned by cutting individual roof shingles into thirds. Place roof shingles when the temperature is above 5°C. We recommend that you use a bitumen shingle adhesive on the underneath of the tiles. This would be an extra measure to ensure longevity of the shingle life.

Place the first row of shingles with the green/black face topmost and the green flaps at the top. Put the first shingle so that one side aligns with the right-hand edge of the roof and the black bitumen overhangs the eaves fascia board. Alter till the edge of the black bitumen extends about 10mm out from the edge of the eaves fascia board.The 10mm overhang is known as the 'water drop edge'. Fix the shingle with four clout nails driven through the bitumen patches on the shingle into the roof boards. End the row by laying more shingles edge-to-edge until the complete length of the eaves is covered. Remove the excess from the left-hand end of the roof. Hang on to cut pieces for later use.

Begin the second row from the left-hand end. Place this row (and all subsequent rows) with the green/black face topmost and the green flaps at the bottom. Align the second row of shingles so that the bottom edge of the green flaps are just proud of the roof edge. secure with four clout nails driven through the lower green part. Locate these nails just below the line that separates black bitumen from decorative green. Properly located nails will be obscured by subsequent layers of shingles. Remove the ending shingle to fit. Hang on to cut pieces for later use. Place the first shingle in row three so that the middle of the left-hand flap aligns with the edge of the roof. Adjust its height until the tips of the decorative flaps align with the tops of the slits between the flaps in the row below.

Nail down the shingle. From now on each row has to be aligned with the row below to make an even pattern. Start all row from the left hand end of the roof. In each case the first shingle in the row must be offset to the left by half a flap, that is by 16 of its overall length. That means that the centre of the flaps of the current row will align with the gaps between the flaps in the row below. Continue laying shingle sheets from left to right, edge-to-edge, to complete a full row.cut off the excess from both ends and keep cut pieces for later use. Continue putting rows of shingles from left to right, giving each row an extra half-flap offset to the left. Where possible, use the cut off pieces you have already saved as the first or ending shingles in the row. When you reach the final row, the upper edge of the shingles will extend beyond the roof ridge. Bend the excess over the ridge and nail it down. Cut several roof shingles into thirds to make ridge shingles. Cut them by extending the slits between the flaps right through the bitumen layer. You can do the same with any trimmed pieces left over from lower rows. To complete each ridge shingle you should taper the half containing the black bitumen. BeginStart the taper at the point where the first slit ended. Complete it at the furthest edge of the black bitumen. Take the taper in about 10mm at either side of the bitumen.

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Finnlife Models

Finn-Life Helppo Log Cabin

Finnlife Helppo Log Cabin

Building your Helppo Log Cabin

Finnlife Models