There are very many log cabin kits to choose from. But if you’ve never built one before, you’re probably wondering exactly how easy it is to build your own log cabin from a log cabin kit?
The easiest way to build your own log cabin is to order one of the log cabin kits available from log cabin retailers. You simply specify the options and measurements you require and the cabin components are shipped direct to you by the manufacturer ready for assembly.
This is okay as far as it goes and, if you’re lucky, you’ll find a kit that pretty much matches your log cabin requirements.
However, for the log cabin of your dreams you will have to dismiss the idea of log cabin kits and design and build your cabin from scratch. This is not as daunting as it might at first seem. It’s a very simple structure after all. A basic timber frame structure on a concrete pad incorporating the doors and windows you select and finished off with a diy epdm roof for example is easily within the grasp of any half-competent diyer; or, why not get a carpenter in for a day or two? Alternatively, lay the foundation and get a contractor to put a blockwork or brick outer skin up which can be clad with tongue and groove on the outside and insulated and boarded out on the inside.
You’d have to roughly cost it up and compare the custom option with the off-the-shelf log cabin kits available. The price might not be that different. Then again, you may well be able to kitbash an existing log cabin kit to get the final cabin you want. You could also source second hand windows and doors and reclaimed timbers to create a customised log cabin with a minimal carbon footprint. A reclaimed patio door set would make an ideal front wall for a small home office or garden room. Tongue and groove boarding would make an acceptable outer cladding and would leave plenty of room for insulation between that and the inner plasterboard walling.
You could even go a step further and build, for example, a hay bale or earth-rammed tyre structure with a living green roof. If you forego the easy option that log cabin kits undoubtedly offer, and think a little out of the box you can easily come up with a unique, green and very beautiful log cabin type building.