Finnlife Lovisa Log Cabin

The Finnforest Lovisa Log Cabin: Attractive, Functional and Exciting!

The Finnlife Lovisa Log Cabin is a beautiful cabin offering an examplary amount terrace area and a roomy space inside with yet more internal room offering you more options and the scope to rearrange and improve.

Like all log cabins in the Finnlife range it is constructed using top quality Scandinavian White softwood. This comes from sustainable forests which are well managed, and where industry and the wildlife are harmonious.

One of only two log cabins (the Finnlife Helsinki being the other) that features an upstairs storage area accessable via a ladder. Use it as a storage space, use it as a hideaway, the choice is yours!

Well illustrated, step-by-step plans are supplied with your cabin making assembly more simple and more straightforward. The doors and windows come fully glazed making life easier for you. The wood is packed in protective plastic and comes packaged in the correct order for assembly, saving you time.

Why buy the Finnlife Lovisa Log Cabin

* Very well structured
* Storage Space
* Gorgeous features
* Easy to convert Sauna Space
* Upstairs room
* Front terrace
* Fully Glazed windows
* Spacious Interior

What is the building used for:

FEATURES

* Made from Scandinavian White softwood
* 45mm wall logs
* Timber joists
* Pre-cut floor & roof boards
* Roof shingles
* Ready made, fully glazed doors
* Reinforced corners and pre-cut wall battens
* All necessary fixtures and fittings
* Illustrated step-by-step instruction manual
* Outside terrace
* Upstairs space accessed by ladder

DIMENSIONS

Internal: 5.64m x 3.63m (18ft 6in x 11ft 11in)
External: 5.90m x 5.94m (19ft 3in x 19ft 5in)
Total Internal Area: 20.48m² (220 ft²)
Total External Area: 30.52m² (329 ft²)
Ridge Height: 3.40m (11ft 2in")

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Construct the Lovisa Log Cabin

Those long summer afternoons might be calling, but don’t rush to build your Finnlife Log Cabin. Take the time to figure out how it is put together, and you'll certainly enjoy many years of hassle-free pleasure. No carpentry abilities are involved. Anyone can build a Finnlife Log Cabin, although some jobs may require more than one pair of hands. Construction times will vary depending on your experience and the number of people who help you. Of course you don’t have to do it yourself!

It’s possible to present this text to a professional builder then take it easy until he delivers the keys to your brand new Finnlife Log Cabin. But, no matter who finishes the task, the first stage 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 inimitable. These overall instructions cover the basics of wooden cabin construction and are applicable to all Finnlife cabins.

For items that are unique to your Finnlife 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 be different slightly from those found here.

Gravel option: Remove all organic matter before you start work on the foundations. Foundations should always be laid larger than the footprint of your Finnlife Log Cabin – 300mm wider in every 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 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 broken in transit get in touch with the distributor, quoting the Finn Life Cabin reference number shown on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check off every part place them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Put each part close to where it will be utilized. Laying out aids you see how the Finnlife Cabin goes together and it means that parts are ready 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 place parts too close to the Finnlife Cabin footprint. Give yourself sufficient room to work in.

Lay out the four sides of the door frame on a dirt-free and level area so that the doors open outwards. Loosely arrange them to match the ready 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. Put the joints together loosely and make sure THAT YOU CAN STILL OPEN THE DOORS before proceeding.

Begin with the half-height wall boards. They form the primary and bottom level. Lay them over the ends of, and at right angles to, the floor beams. Note: If your Finnlife Log Cabin includes internal walls, also place the half-height wall boards that form the bottom layer. Refer to the Building Plans and Parts List for help.

Pay particular attention to the location of any notches in the wall boards of multi-roomed cabins. The position of these notches determines where the interlocking walls will go. Lay the first level of full-height wall boards across the ends of, and at right anglesto, the half-height wall boards. The overlapping corner joints gap together. Please note that if your full-height boards include spaces for doors, make sure you Lay them in the desired position.

Continue laying wall boards in line with to the layout of the Building Plans and Parts List you will have received with your order. The last few layers of side wall boards in some Finnlife Log Cabin are longer. The lengths increase in steps to offer support to an overhanging canopy. Lay angled gable boards in sequence starting with the length-most. Be careful with the alignment of the angled gable boards. The angled roof line should be symmetrical and even at both gable ends. Use nails at both end to fix each layer of gable boards to the layer below. Hammer nails in at an angle through the angled ends of the gable boards.

Constructing the gable ends reveals a succession of gaps for the roof beams. As each gap appears, tap in a roof beam. Ensure that the angled side of each roof beam lies flushed with the angle of the gable. Nail through into the gable boards to secure. Tap the ridge beam into place at the apex of the gable ends. Fix by nailing into the topmost gable board. Slide ridge and roof beam extension pieces over the exposed ends of the beams at both ends of the cabin. Make sure that the upper surfaces of the beams and the extension pieces are flushed, then secure by nailing from either side. Fix the wall board extension pieces to the ends of the topmost wall boards in the same way.

Roofing shingles are rectangular. The lower half of the face side is a decorative green with slits that split it into three flaps; the upper 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. Lay 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.

Lay the first row of shingles with the green/black face topmost and the green flaps at the top. Put 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. 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. Retain cut pieces for later use.

Start the second row from the left-hand end. Lay this row (and all subsequent rows) with the green/black face topmost 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. Retain cut pieces for later use. Lay 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 every 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 centre 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 hang on to cut pieces for later use. Carry on 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 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 flaps 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 original 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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