Finnlife Kulma Log Cabin

Outdoor fun circles around the Finnlife Kulma Log Cabin.
If your garden was an outdoor playing field then that would make the Finn Life Kulma Log Cabin your pavilion. The Finnlife Kulma seems custom-designed for serving refreshments and watching sport.

Worry not about rain or the dreaded bad light. The inside is so roomy, the food, drink and banter - sporting and otherwise - can carry on all through the night!

Why buy the Finnforest Kulma Log Cabin?

* Made from precision-cut top quality Scandanavian White Softwood harvested from sustainable forests.
* 28mm wall logs
* Timber joists
* Roof shingles
* Ready made, fully glazed doors
* Reinforced corners and wall battens
* All necessary fixtures and fittings
* Illustrated instructions

Dimensions

Width:
Internal: 3.82m
External: 4.08m

Depth:
Internal: 2.94m
External: 3.20m

Ridge Height
External: 3.01m

Area:
Internal: 9.90m²
External: 11.56m²

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How to build your own Finnlife Log Cabin

Relaxing, lazy summer days may be enticing, but don’t rush to build your Finnlife Log Cabin. Take the time to get to know how it goes together, and you’ll savour many years of trouble-free pleasure. No carpentry abilities are needed. Everyone can build a Finnlife log cabin, although some jobs may need more than one pair of hands. Build times will alter depending on your experience and the number of people helping. Obviously you don’t have to do it without any help!

It’s possible to show this document to a carpenter then take it easy until he hands over the keys to your brand new Finn Life Log Cabin. Having said that, whoever completes the work, the first step is to familiarise yourself with these instructions. The knack is to be disciplined and to plan ahead. Although Finnlife log cabins share many options in common, each model style is unique. These overall instructions cover the basics of log cabin construction and apply to all Finnlife cabins.

For items that are unique to your own Finn Life Log Cabin – such as exact 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 differ slightly from those found here.

Concrete option: Remove all organic matter before you start work on the foundations. Concrete foundations should always be the exact base size stated in the Parts List and Plans instructions to minimize the amount of water that the base will carry. It is suggested that the concrete base be 6 inches thick.

Foundations and preparation: You can assemble your Finn Life Log Cabin on foundations of concrete or on dense gravel. Whichever option you choose, a firm and level base is crucial. Care given to the foundations is well spent. An uneven or unstable base may well affect the end outcome of the Finn Life Log Cabin. Doors and windows will not fit exactly, walls may stoop and joints may not match up.

Before you start to build you should ensure that you have a full set of parts. Check 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 damaged in transit get in touch with the distributor, stating the Finn Life Log Cabin reference number shown on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check off each part lay them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Lay each part near to where it will be used. Laying out helps you visualize how the Finn Life Log Cabin goes together and it means that parts are ready to hand when you need them. You can utilize the Building Plans and Parts List as a scheme to what goes where. Be wary not to lay parts too close to the Finn Life Log Cabin footprint. Give yourself ample space to work in.

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

Note again that if your Finn Life Log Cabin includes partitioning walls, also Set the full-height wall boards that form the lowest layer. Refer to the Building Plans and Parts List for guidance. Pay peculiar attention to the location of any notches in the wall boards of multi-roomed cabins. The position of these notches decides where the interlocking walls go.

Screw one end (5mm Dia x 100mm length wood screw) only of one half-height wallboard to the underlying outermost floor beam by driving a screw (supplied) through the base of the corner joint. Leave the other three corners free. If needed, adjust the internal floor beams to keep an even spacing between them. Screw the half-height wall boards (5mm Dia x 100mm length wood screws) to the rest of the floor beams. 10.5 Ensure that the structure is square by examining the lengths of the cross-diagonals. If necessary, you can adjust by pivoting the four linked wall boards on the one corner that you have already screwed down. Temporarily lift the full-height wall boards so that you can drive screws into the three remaining corner joints into the outermost floor beams.

Begin laying the second layer of wall boards. Bear in mind that the wall that houses the door will consist of two separate wall boards with a door-width gap between. To ensure a smooth fit, you should knock each level down on to the layer below. Do not hammer wall boards directly. Use the provided assembly piece (a short length of wall board with a matching joint on the lower surface) to take the blows. In the event that you have not received an assembly piece then any scrap piece of wood will offer adequate protection for the tongues. Do not hammer too hard.

When laying the roof boards, you will need to temporarily tack an eaves fascia board to the ridge beam as a guide batten, and use it to make sure that all roof boards end in a flush ridge line. Mark the mid-point line on the front and rear faces of the ridge beam. Start nailing roof boards on one side of the roof, starting from the front. The leading edge of the first roof board should be set 5mm from the ends of the ridge and roof beams. The top end of the roof board should be flush with the temporary ridge-beam guide batten. Nail each roof board to the ridge beam (V-Joint facing downwards) and each roof beam, driving 2 nails per board - per joint in at right angles to the roof slope.

Nail an eaves fascia board temporarily with nails to the ridge beam so that one edge is flush with the marked mid-point line. Do not hammer in all the way. You will have to take it out later on. When making the Finn Life Log Cabin during the summer periods, we advise to leave small gaps between the roof boards to allow expansion of the boards during the colder periods. When building during the winter months we would advise knocking the boards together, to alleviate any gap appearing during the hot and dry periods.

Work through, board-by-board to the rear gable. Make sure that the eaves line
made by the lower edges of the roof boards is as straight as possible. The final roof board may stick out beyond the rear gable. Nail it down lightly and mark on the underside where it meets the ends of the ridge and roof beams. Remove the final roof board and saw it length ways 5mm inside the marked line. Set it back on the roof and nail down. Take off the temporary guide batten from the ridge beam, then repeat steps for the other side of the roof.

Ensure that the eaves line made by the roof boards is reasonably straight. If necessary use a saw to remove it flush. Attach the eaves fascia boards perpendicular to the roof boards, and flush with their upper surface. You need one piece for each side of the cabin. Fix by nailing into the ends of the roof boards with 50mm nails.

Roofing shingles are rectangular. The lower 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 made by cutting individual roof shingles into thirds. Set 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 additional measure to ensure longevity of the shingle life.

Set the first row of shingles with the green/black face top and the green flaps at the top. Place 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. Adjust until 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'. Fasten 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 entire length of the eaves is covered. Trim the excess from the left-hand end of the roof. Keep cut pieces for later use.

Start the second row from the left-hand end. Set this row (and all subsequent rows) with the green/black face top and the green flaps at the bottom. Line up the second row of shingles so that the lower edge of the green flaps are just proud of the roof edge. fix with four clout nails driven through the lower green part. Put these nails just below the line that separates black bitumen from decorative green. Properly located nails will be obscured by subsequent layers of shingles. Trim the final shingle to fit. Keep cut pieces for later use. Set 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 parallel with the row below to create 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 mid-points 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.remove 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 additional half-flap offset to the left. Where possible, use the remove pieces you have already saved as the first or final shingles in the row. When you reach the final row, the upper edge of the shingles will extend beyond the roof ridge. Bend the extra over the ridge and nail it down. Cut several roof shingles into thirds to create 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. Finish 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 Kulma Log Cabin

Finnlife Kulma Log Cabin

How to build your own Finnlife Log Cabin

Finnlife Models