Is a log cabin a garden room? It’s not, but it’s a complicated issue because sometimes log cabin manufacturers and retailers call their buildings garden rooms.
However, these buildings are different, and the term garden room isn’t interchangeable. Let’s see why this is the case, and which building type suits you best.
What is a garden room?
I’ve written before about how the term “garden room” doesn’t have a single definition, but there is one crucial qualifier that differentiates a garden room from other types of outdoor buildings: it can be used all year round.
A garden room is a self-contained structure in your garden equipped with power and lighting to be used at any time of the year. Whether you use it as a garden office, an extra space for the kids, a hobby room, or a gaming studio, the beauty of a garden room is that it’s an extra room to add to your home.
It can be called a garden house, a cabin, a hut, a studio, or any of several terms, but the crucial fact is that it can be used all year round.
Is a garden room the same as a summerhouse?
We can contrast a garden room with a summerhouse using this definition. A summerhouse, as the name suggests, is suitable for use in summer when the weather is warm.
Most summerhouses are single-skinned buildings – in other words, they’re built like a shed but have more windows and glass doors to let the sun in. Just like a shed, you can expect a well-built summerhouse to stay fairly dry inside unless the weather is incredibly wet for a sustained period of time.
Summerhouses range in price from around £800 to around £8000. Prices vary according to the size, materials and quality of the building.
Because most summerhouses have no insulation, they’re too cold to use all year round. Log cabins are the same.
Is a log cabin the same as a summerhouse?
By this definition, a log cabin is the same as a summerhouse. It has many of the same limitations as a single-skinned shed-style summerhouse. You’ll be able to use it in the summer when it’s warm and dry but shouldn’t expect to use it all year round.
However, companies often market and sell log cabins as year-round solutions, and we don’t think that’s ok. Here’s why.
How are log cabins built?
When we talk about log cabins in the UK, we’re talking about interlocking log cabins. These garden buildings use specially shaped logs that stack together like a big jigsaw puzzle.
They’re not the same as the traditional log cabins of Canada and the US. They aim for that aesthetic, but the construction methods are very different.
While the logs used to build an interlocking log cabin are much thicker than the boards used to build a shed or summerhouse, there’s still only one layer of timber. This means that log cabins are still single-skinned buildings. The walls are thicker, but they are just as susceptible to timber movement as any other single-skinned building.
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What is timber movement?
Timber is a natural hygroscopic material – it absorbs moisture from the air around it. Just like a tree does before it’s cut down, timber swells when it absorbs moisture and shrinks when it loses moisture. This swelling and shrinking process causes timber movement.
Timber movement happens to some extent in every type of timber building. It’s what makes these buildings breathable and adaptable to their environment. However excessive timber movement causes problems.
The most significant problems occur when timber shrinks and gaps appear between boards. The interlocking logs that make up these cabins are stacked rather than fixed together. This means that gaps happen when the building meets very changeable weather and highly variable temperatures. Hello, Scottish summer!
All log cabins are designed to allow timber movement to take place. Gaps and other movement problems are all part of owning a log cabin, as this blog post on the Tuin website shows. The author of the post attributes these problems to incorrect installation. However, all Tuin cabins are self-assembly. If the buildings need expert installation why describe them as self-assembly?
Timber moves. To stop this you must reduce the moisture content of the wood or limit contact with moisture in the air.
What’s the most effective way to limit contact with moisture? Use more than one layer of materials to construct the building.
What makes garden rooms year-round buildings?
Garden rooms should have three features that make them comfortable year-round buildings: layered walls, an air cavity, and appropriate insulation.
Without these features, your building is susceptible to problems with either heat retention, air quality, water ingress, mould, or some combination of these.
Now, the issue of whether or not an individual garden room is a year-round building is a whole other blog post. But the point is, a log cabin has none of these features.
What are log cabins best for?
As such, log cabins are absolutely fine for seasonal use, as long as you’re aware of the potential problems of timber movement and the resulting water ingress. Even with assiduous painting and maintenance, a log cabin won’t perform as well as a good quality garden room, nor will it last as long.
If someone is trying to sell you an interlocking log cabin by describing it as a garden room, please correct them. Garden rooms should be suitable for year-round use with the addition of an appropriate heating source. Log cabins simply don’t fit this description.
Is a log cabin the same as a garden room?
Now that you understand the differences between these two buildings, you can decide on the best garden building for you. This will depend on your budget, situation and expectations. If a shorter-term, cheaper building like a log cabin suits you best, you now know exactly what you’re getting.
But if you’re looking for a year-round building with some serious longevity, you need to do a bit more research to ensure that you buy a garden room that fulfils those expectations.
With 30-year guarantees on all our buildings, Gillies & Mackay is a long-term choice. We design our Garden Rooms for year-round use with minimal maintenance. If you’d like to see them in action, come and see us at our Show Area in Errol.
