Tips for Buying a Log Cabin for your Garden

By Spencer Wilkins

The cost of log cabins varies greatly depending on the kinds of logs which have been used and the size of the property. You will find that those cabins that have been built using handcrafted logs will cost much more than those where the logs have been milled.

It is important therefore before you actually decide on getting such a cabin built you know the difference between milled and handcrafted logs. Generally, those that are milled have been prepared using either a sawmill, a lathe or a planer. This then ensures that each log will be cut to a specific profile or shape. As you will soon discover milled logs have a far more uniformed shape and size to them compared to handcrafted ones.

Also, logs, which have been milled for a cabin, will have been air or kiln, dried to remove any excess moisture before construction begins. This will ensure that sufficient amounts of moisture have been removed and prevent the possibility of the building shrinking too much once the wood dries out further.

Because the wood will have been either planed, sawn or lathed the surface of the logs will be smooth. Plus in many cases, they will also have a tongue and groove joints so actually putting the logs together is much easier. This means that building the cabin is a lot easier and will often take a lot less time to complete. However, if you want to retain that rustic look to your cabin the outer face of the log can retain its rough bark coating.

The most favoured types of woods, which are commonly used to produce milled logs for cabins, are pine, cedar, spruce or fir. The least expensive type of log cabin using the milled process are ones that are made from pine or spruce whilst those from cedar tend to be the most expensive.

Now let us look at a cabin that is made using handcrafted logs. These will have been prepared by either being hand peeled with a drawknife or water peeled. The logs used are only a matter of days or weeks old after being cut down so will still be green. Because of the size of the logs this ones are usually allowed to dry in the air as kiln drying is a very expensive process. Also there are not many kilns are available that these sizes of logs would be able to fit into.

Just like with milled log cabins those who make handcrafted ones like to use pine and spruce trees. However, there are some log cabin manufacturers who prefer to use either Douglas fir, Oak, Juniper, Cyprus or Alpine Fir (True Firs) instead.

How much your log cabins cost not only depends on the way in which the logs have been prepared, but also the size of the property. Plus the amount of time and effort that it takes to actually construct the cabin. As mentioned handcrafted ones are more expensive than milled ones because the work is, more labour intensive and much larger pieces of wood are used.

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There are a range of log cabins available to buy online which can add something special to your garden. You could also consider choosing from the range of summerhouses which are very similar to log cabins.

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