Finnlife Joki Log Cabin

Finnforest Joki Log Cabin: very complementary to your garden space.

The Finnlife Joki Log Cabin is a strictly no nonsense type of cabin, and that's why it will always look perfect anywhere. Wherever it goes - by the pool, near your tennis courts, overlooking the lush croquet lawn - this log cabin always blends in.

The Joki has that lovely Nordic style, yet doesn't look ill-fitting anywhere on the British landscape. Here, the living is easy.

Why buy the Finnforest Joki 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
* Roof shingles
* Ready made, fully glazed doors
* Reinforced corners and wall battens
* All necessary fixtures and fittings
* Illustrated instructions

Dimensions

Width:
Internal: 3.83m
External: 4.10m

Depth:
Internal: 3.83m
External: 5.60m

Ridge Height
External: 2.84m

Area:
Internal: 14.68m²
External: 22.96m²

This log cabin is also available with underfloor heating - see stockists for details.

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How to build a Finnlife Log Cabin yourself

Wonderful lazy sunshining afternoons may be beckoning, but don’t rush to construct yourFinnlife Log Cabin. Spend the time to work out how it is put together, and you'll certainly savour many years of trouble-free pleasure. No specialist abilities are involved. 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 skills and the number of people who help you. Obviously you don’t need to do it alone!

You could present this text to a professional builder then relax until he presents you with the keys to your great new Finn Life Cabin. However, whosoever completes the work, the immediate stage is to read carefully these instructions. The plan is to be disciplined and to foresee the work ahead. Although Finnlife log cabins share many options in common, each model style is inimitable. These general instructions cover the basics of log cabin construction and are applicable to all Finnlife cabins.

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

Concrete option: Get rid of organic material before you begin work on the foundations. Concrete foundations must always be the precise base size stated in the Parts List and Plans instructions to reduce the amount of water that the base will hold. It is recommended that the concrete base be six inches thick.

Foundations and preparation: You can erect your Finnlife Cabin on foundations of concrete or on compacted gravel. Whichever option you make, a firm and level base is critical. Care given to the foundations is well spent. An uneven or unstable base may well affect the end outcome of the Finnlife Cabin. Doors and windows will not fit exactly, walls may bow and joints may not match up.

Before you commence to erect you should check that you have a complete set of pieces. Tick off every piece against the piece 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 piece or that a piece has been damaged in transit get in touch with the distributor, stating the Finnlife Log Cabin reference number displayed on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check each piece put them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Set every piece close to where it will be utilized. Laying out aids you see how the Finnlife Cabin goes together and it means that pieces are available to hand when you need them. You can utilize the Building Plans and Parts List as a scheme to what goes where. Be careful not to put pieces too close to the Finnlife Cabin footprint. Give yourself adequate room 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 ready 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. Slot the joints together loosely and check THAT YOU CAN STILL OPEN THE DOORS before moving on.

Place out the floor beams at orderly intervals in line with the layout in the Building Plans and Parts List. Where the beams meet with interior or exterior walls make sure they lie directly beneath 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 Cabin is ready you can then go back and cut off away any unnecessary polythene/DPC membrane showing. Check that floor beams are level and that the cross diagonals are equidistant. Equal cross-diagonals mean that your Finnlife Cabin is square. Place one damp-proof strip beneath each floor beam and one above. Make sure that no part of the floor beam is touching the underlying foundations.

When laying the roof boards, you will need to temporarily stick 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 flushed ridge line. Mark the mid-point 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 fascia board temporarily with nails to the ridge beam so that one edge is flushed with the marked mid-point line. Do not hammer in all the way. You will need to take it out later on. When erecting the Finnlife Log Cabin during the hotter months, we suggest to leave small gaps between the roof boards to allow expansion of the boards during the winter months. When constructing during the winter time we would advise hitting the boards together, to reduce any gap appearing during the hot and dry periods.

Work through, board-by-board to the rear gable. Make sure that the eaves line
created by the lower edges of the roof boards is as straight as possible. The ending roof board may stick out beyond the rear gable. Nail it down lightly and mark on the beneath 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. Place it back on the roof and nail down. Take away the temporary guide batten from the ridge beam, then repeat steps for the opposite side of the roof.

Check that the eaves line created by the roof boards is roughly straight. If needed use a cut to trim it flushed. Attach the eaves fascia 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 surfaces; the top half is black and coated with bitumen. With the exception of the first row, all shingles are laid with the green surfaces at the bottom. Ridge shingles are created 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 additional measure to ensure longevity of the shingle life.

Place the first row of shingles with the green/black face top and the green surfaces 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. Move 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'. Fix the shingle with four clout nails driven through the bitumen patches on the shingle into the roof boards. Complete the row by laying more shingles edge-to-edge until the full length of the eaves is covered. Cut off the excess from the left-hand end of the roof. Retain 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 top and the green surfaces at the bottom. Line up the second row of shingles so that the lower edge of the green surfaces are just proud of the roof edge. fasten 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. Cut off the ending shingle to fit. Retain cut pieces for later use. Place the first shingle in row three so that the mid-point of the left-hand flap aligns with the edge of the roof. Adjust its height until the tips of the decorative surfaces align with the tops of the slits between the surfaces 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 each 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 total length. That means that the middle of the surfaces of the current row will align with the gaps between the surfaces 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 retain 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. If available, 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 surfaces right through the bitumen layer. You may do the same with other trimmed pieces left over from lower rows. To finish 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 Joki Log Cabin

Finnlife Joki Log Cabin

How to build a Finnlife Log Cabin yourself

Finnlife Models