34mm or 44mm log cabin for a garden gym?

[theows]

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?

[v8notbrave]

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

[.:ian:.]

Mine has/had 44mm wallls, 25mm of celotex under the floorboards and under the roof felt, 2 double glazed windows and 3 doors, all south facing along with the pitch of the roof and it was intolerable in the afternoon if there was any sun.

[Simpo Two]

My first thought is the reinforce the floor!

[spitfire-ian]

Simpo Two said:

My first thought is the reinforce the floor!

Mine too.

[OutInTheShed]

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.

[The Gauge]

Wasn't there a thread a while ago by runeveryinchoftheworld about doing this in his garden, and something about a non reinforced floor?

[Courser]

Just bought a 16x10 44mm log cabin.
Bought through a local shop from Powersheds. Identical to other more well known brands I looked at but £2k cheaper.

[Tisy]

I echo the folks above about sunny days : it will be like a furnace inside and completely unusable. At the other end of the spectrum - cold winter temps are great for keeping cool when you're doing intense workouts, but as you'll presumably be keeping all your weights and equipment in there too, it'll all be ice cold and not comfortalble for stuff like DBs and bars if you don't heat the place for ~20 minutes before you start. Another thing is that if it isn't fully insulated, the general moisture in the air in the colder months, plus everything coming off you during workouts will linger in the building and result in condensation on stuff and your equipment going rusty.

[dickymint]

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