Finnlife Puro Log Cabin

The Finnlife Puro Log Cabin, newly brought out just last year, conforms to a traditional scandinavian design. As with many of the Finnlife log cabins the logs are 28mm in thickness. Whatever corner of your garden you intend to place the cabin in is simply perfect. The roof of the log cabin and the floor are manufactured of oriented strand board and the roof covering is shingle tile. These boards are also 28mm thick.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Building Dimension Width Depth Eaves Height Ridge Height
Puro 262cm 262cm 0cm 280cm
Puro with underfloor heating 262cm 262cm 0cm 280cm

Windows
Puro 2 side opening windows
Puro with underfloor heating 2 side opening windows

Door Opening Size (w x h)
Puro 0cm 0cm
Puro with underfloor heating 0cm 0cm
Material Pine

Cladding Style Tongue and Groove Interlocking Boards

Glazing Material
Puro Styrene
Puro with underfloor heating Styrene

Floor Material Solid Sheet Material

Roof Material Solid Sheet Material

Cladding Width
Puro 2.8cm
Puro with underfloor heating 2.8cm

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Instructions for building a Finnlife Log Cabin

Fantastic, slow summer days might be coming, but don’t rush to build your Finnlife Log Cabin. Spend the time to understand how it is constructed, and you’ll savour many years of trouble-free pleasure. No construction abilities are needed. Anyone can build a [Finnlife log cabin, although some tasks may need more than one pair of hands. Construction times will alter depending on your experience and the number of people who help you. Of course you don’t need to do it without any help!

You may show this document to a handyman then sit back until he hands over the keys to your completed Finnlife Log Cabin. Having said that, no matter who does the job, the first stage is to understand fully these instructions. The knack is to be orderly and to plan ahead. Though Finnlife log cabins share many options in common, each model style is inimitable. These general instructions cover the basics of wooden cabin construction and apply to all Finnlife cabins.

For features that are unique to your own Finnlife Log Cabin – such as dimensions, component numbers, building plans and component lists – you should refer to the separate 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: Get rid of all organic matter prior to starting work on the foundations. Foundations must always be laid larger than the base of your Finnlife Log 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 make sure that you have a complete set of components. Check off every component against the component 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 component or that a component has been broken in transit get in touch with the distributor, quoting the Finnlife Log Cabin reference number shown on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check each component lay them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Lay every component close to where it will be used. Laying out aids you see how the Finnlife Log Cabin is built and it means that components are available to hand when you need them. You can use the Building Plans and Parts List as a guide to what goes where. Be wary not to lay components too close to the Finnlife Log Cabin footprint. Give yourself adequate space to work in.

Set 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 complete frame. The top and bottom jambs are not quite matching. Place the one with the Lock RECESS AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM. Make sure that the door cills go behind the doors. Put the joints together loosely and make sure THAT YOU CAN STILL OPEN THE DOORS before continuing.

Set out the floor beams at regular intervals in line with the layout in the Building Plans and Parts List. Where the beams meet with interior or exterior walls ensure they lie directly under those walls, ensuring that there is a lip for the internal room floor boards.

Cut the polythene transit packaging (or a sheet of commercial damp-proof membrane) into strips roughly 12cm wide. Cut a pair of strips for each floor beam making sure that the strip lengths are about 50mm longer than the floor beams. When your Finnlife Log Cabin is complete you can then go back and trim away any additional polythene/DPC membrane showing. Make Sure that floor beams are level and that the cross diagonals are equal. Equal cross-diagonals mean that your Finnlife Log Cabin is square. Set one damp-proof strip beneath each floor beam and one above. Make sure that no part of the floor beam is in direct contact with the underlying foundations.

When laying the roof boards, you will need to temporarily stick an eaves face board to the ridge beam as a guide batten, and use it to ensure that all roof boards terminate in a flushed ridge line. Mark the middle line on the front and rear faces of the ridge beam. Begin 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 may be flushed 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 face board temporarily with nails to the ridge beam so that one edge is flushed with the marked middle line. Do not hammer in all the way. You will need to take it out later on. When making the Finnlife Log Cabin during the hotter months, we advise leaving small gaps between the roof boards to accommodate expansion of the boards during the colder periods. Where constructing during the winter period we would advise knocking the boards together, to minimize any gap appearing during the hot and dry periods.

Work through, board-by-board to the rear gable. Make sure that the eaves line
fashioned by the lower edges of the roof boards is as straight as possible. The last roof board may project 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 cut 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.

Make Sure that the eaves line fashioned by the roof boards is reasonably straight. If necessary use a cut to trim it flushed. Attach the eaves face boards perpendicular to the roof boards, and flushed 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 split 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 three. 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 extra 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 face board. Move until the edge of the black bitumen extends about 10mm out from the edge of the eaves face board.The 10mm overhang is known as the 'water drop edge'. Secure the shingle with four clout nails driven through the bitumen patches on the shingle into the roof boards. Finish the row by laying more shingles edge-to-edge until the complete length of the eaves is covered. Trim 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. Set this row (and all subsequent rows) with the green/black face top and the green flaps at the bottom. Align the second row of shingles so that the lower edge of the green flaps are just proud of the roof edge. secure 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 last shingle to fit. Hang on to 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 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 complete length. That means that the middle 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.trim 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 trim pieces you have already saved as the first or last 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 make ridge shingles. Cut them by extending the slits between the flaps right through the bitumen layer. You may 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 Puro Log Cabin

Finnlife Puro Log Cabin

Instructions for building a Finnlife Log Cabin

Finnlife Models