34mm or 44mm log cabin for a garden gym?
Discussion
I’m planning to put a log cabin at the bottom of the garden to use as a gym and have got as far as deciding roughly what size I need, probably around 4x3m.
I’ve been looking through these:
https://www.quick-garden.co.uk/log-cabins/
I found a few 34mm and 44mm options I like and I’m trying to work out whether the extra thickness is actually worth paying for in this use case.
It’ll mainly have a rack, bench, bike and some free weights in it, and I’d like to be able to use it through winter. I want to put rubber flooring down and run power out for lighting and some form of electric heating.
Now, I’m leaning towards 44mm, but am I actually focusing on the wrong thing? Would roof/floor insulation, decent glazing and ventilation make more difference to how usable it is?
And one more thing, I was thinking about the ceiling height. I need enough clearance for overhead work, so I don’t want to lose too much internally by adding insulation afterward.
Anyone using a 34mm or 44mm cabin as a gym? Would you go 44mm again, or spend the difference elsewhere?
I’ve been looking through these:
https://www.quick-garden.co.uk/log-cabins/
I found a few 34mm and 44mm options I like and I’m trying to work out whether the extra thickness is actually worth paying for in this use case.
It’ll mainly have a rack, bench, bike and some free weights in it, and I’d like to be able to use it through winter. I want to put rubber flooring down and run power out for lighting and some form of electric heating.
Now, I’m leaning towards 44mm, but am I actually focusing on the wrong thing? Would roof/floor insulation, decent glazing and ventilation make more difference to how usable it is?
And one more thing, I was thinking about the ceiling height. I need enough clearance for overhead work, so I don’t want to lose too much internally by adding insulation afterward.
Anyone using a 34mm or 44mm cabin as a gym? Would you go 44mm again, or spend the difference elsewhere?
Had 2 log cabins, one from dunster house I built with my uncle, one more expensive one came ready built
They are great, it's all about foundations! Needs to be very very very level, the bigger the cabin the more challenging it is, they're a very soft wood so doors need tweaking thru settlement etc
They're freezing in winter, boiling in summer. Not much u can do about it, you can get insulated floor and roof would be minimum for me. Then it's just the level of luxury u want, i.e. they have double glazing as it looks nice but thermal gain nowt due to walls
So I'd go for the thinner one and max out your size and other bits
They are great, it's all about foundations! Needs to be very very very level, the bigger the cabin the more challenging it is, they're a very soft wood so doors need tweaking thru settlement etc
They're freezing in winter, boiling in summer. Not much u can do about it, you can get insulated floor and roof would be minimum for me. Then it's just the level of luxury u want, i.e. they have double glazing as it looks nice but thermal gain nowt due to walls
So I'd go for the thinner one and max out your size and other bits
I'd look at some of the garden buildings with good wall insulation, I saw some with about 50mm of celotex type insulation sandwiched between two layers of planks?
My brother has a cabin which doesn't have great insulation, but its windows get all the winter sun, but are shaded from most of the summer sun by an overhanging roof/awning/vegetation malarkey. Works pretty well, but aircon might be the next upgrade.
My brother has a cabin which doesn't have great insulation, but its windows get all the winter sun, but are shaded from most of the summer sun by an overhanging roof/awning/vegetation malarkey. Works pretty well, but aircon might be the next upgrade.
v8notbrave said:
They're freezing in winter, boiling in summer. Not much u can do about it, you can get insulated floor and roof would be minimum for me. Then it's just the level of luxury u want, i.e. they have double glazing as it looks nice but thermal gain nowt due to walls
The thicker wood will buy you longevity, but won’t give you an insulated space:Rough U-Value Breakdown by Build-Up
34mm Wood Only: ~2.21 W/m²K
44mm Wood Only: ~1.86 W/m²K
34mm Wood + 50mm PIR Combined: ~0.37 W/m²K
Put another way, adding the 50mm PIR reduces heat transmission by a factor of 6.
That’s still a long way adrift of building regs for a “proper” building, but significantly better than wood alone. A proper building would see a multiple of that thickness.
Wooden clad, timber frame, PIR insulated buildings don’t have to be hot in summer and cold in winter but if you’ve got no insulation and significant glazed areas then it’s going to be challenging. The other option, if it’s infrequently used is to accept the thermal issues and then heat in winter/aircon in summer whilst in use.
v8notbrave said:
Had 2 log cabins, one from dunster house I built with my uncle, one more expensive one came ready built
They are great, it's all about foundations! Needs to be very very very level, the bigger the cabin the more challenging it is, they're a very soft wood so doors need tweaking thru settlement etc
They're freezing in winter, boiling in summer. Not much u can do about it, you can get insulated floor and roof would be minimum for me. Then it's just the level of luxury u want, i.e. they have double glazing as it looks nice but thermal gain nowt due to walls
So I'd go for the thinner one and max out your size and other bits
We've got a 5x3m Dunster house one, fully insulated, double glazed. Neither freezing nor boiling, but that could be down to location. I used it as my office for several yearsThey are great, it's all about foundations! Needs to be very very very level, the bigger the cabin the more challenging it is, they're a very soft wood so doors need tweaking thru settlement etc
They're freezing in winter, boiling in summer. Not much u can do about it, you can get insulated floor and roof would be minimum for me. Then it's just the level of luxury u want, i.e. they have double glazing as it looks nice but thermal gain nowt due to walls
So I'd go for the thinner one and max out your size and other bits
A simple pair of IR heaters in the WInter kept it warm, barely ticked over.
First time this year we have some settlement, caused by the clay substrate drying out with the 4 plus months sustained dry weather. It's mounted on their pad system for the air gap insulation, so I've had to get under and adjust
I had a 44mm log cabin built in the last property as a dual home office and gym, had double glazing and was south facing. I then added 100mm Celotex in-between the roof beams and 35mm under the flooring. It was ok in the depths of winter if I turned on the electric heater in advance, in the summer it was just about bearable with windows wide open and blinds and fan. Ventilation is essential for all that heavy breathing in the gym.
For some idea of scale on U values, a new build house typically has to have U values for the walls of ~0.16 to 0.17 W/m2K depending on a few factors. Our static caravan, home for the last 2 years, has walls with a U value more like 1.4 W/m2K
Don’t know which specific cabin you are looking at on their site but a single skinned 34mm spruce cabin would have a U value of 3.53 W/m2K, 44mm single skinned would be 2.73 W/m2K and [assuming the insulation they use is PIR] a double skinned 44mm one with 25mm insulation would be 0.53 W/m2K
3x4m is probably similar to our current “living room” area in the caravan and it has ventilation which makes it need near constant heating in winter [the ventilation is holes in the floor which feed in air via vents under cabinetry] but it stays condensation and mold free. Our bedroom is more like 3x2, does not have the same ventilation and is an endless battle to avoid mold in winter due to lack of airflow and poor insulation.
With a garden gym you are going to be creating a moist environment with sweating and heavy breathing, with an almost guaranteed dew point on the inside of the building. If I was going to be using one for a garden gym, I would be going double skinned with insulation and really spend some time thinking how you can ventilate the space also.
Don’t know which specific cabin you are looking at on their site but a single skinned 34mm spruce cabin would have a U value of 3.53 W/m2K, 44mm single skinned would be 2.73 W/m2K and [assuming the insulation they use is PIR] a double skinned 44mm one with 25mm insulation would be 0.53 W/m2K
3x4m is probably similar to our current “living room” area in the caravan and it has ventilation which makes it need near constant heating in winter [the ventilation is holes in the floor which feed in air via vents under cabinetry] but it stays condensation and mold free. Our bedroom is more like 3x2, does not have the same ventilation and is an endless battle to avoid mold in winter due to lack of airflow and poor insulation.
With a garden gym you are going to be creating a moist environment with sweating and heavy breathing, with an almost guaranteed dew point on the inside of the building. If I was going to be using one for a garden gym, I would be going double skinned with insulation and really spend some time thinking how you can ventilate the space also.
SJfW said:
dickymint said:
The Gauge said:
Wasn't there a thread a while ago by runeveryinchoftheworld about doing this in his garden, and something about a non reinforced floor?
Legendary thread that involved Equus at his best/worst 
Even Google AI knows who he is/was
I'd be looking at a SIPS kit. Bare structure would cost under £3k for the size you're after, and insulation level would be far greater. You can generally customise the door and window size, though you'd also need to budget for cladding. I'd probably want concrete floor if it's for a gym.
That website has a very different definition of what a log cabin is, to what I used to understand.
https://www.quick-garden.co.uk/log-cabin-house-ver...
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