Timber Garden Sheds Australia
July 2023
We often get inquiries for cabin builds a "little" further away from our warehouse and home - happy to help, within reason of course. This time we traveled inland to Legume (NSW) / Killarney (QLD), on a deadline despite the weather forecast looking less than "ideal"... We normally schedule our builds according to the weather, but this time it just did not want to work out. As expected one and a half days were spent sitting in a motel waiting for the rains to stop.
Loading Up - All in one go....
Due to the distances involved, the tight deadline we had been given for this build as well as the lack of security on site we decided to load everything up in ONE lot - besides the standard cabin pallet of 6m length that meant we needed to also load up the roofing, the steel base, ten bags of rapid set concrete, the floorboards as well as the floating timber flooring the customer ordered, one additional window, as well as all the "standard" installation materials and all tools, ladders and so on.
As the closest BUNNINGS hardware store to the build site was in Warwick (a good 40 minutes drive away) we needed to be fully self-sufficient.
FOUNDATIONS
We pulled the build forward by one full day, trying to get the foundations all done before the rains set in. This worked out well - the site was reasonable flat, open space all around and the soil did not offer much resistance to our (newly acquired) petrol post hole digger.
Using rapid set concrete for the post holes means that the build can continue immediately after the concrete has been mixed. Initial set time of rapid set concrete is only a few minutes.
While we still had some daylight left after the foundations were done, the wet weather rolled in and we opted not to open up the cabin pallet but rather leave it sealed up ready for use once the sun was out again.
36 hours later.....
The sun was out, the rains stopped, though it was minus 4 degrees in the morning - meaning we worked faster to keep warm (not). It warmed up quickly, and from the moment we opened the factory-sealed cabin pallet it was all systems go.
The first row of logs needs to be fixed to the treated pine base frame with 150mm batten screws for the full-height logs and 90 to 100mm batten screws for the half-height logs.
All following log rows do not need to be screwed down in any way, as they interlock with their cross wall counterparts and thus form a structurally sound log cabin.
The floor boards should be installed fairly early in the construction process as this will make for a flat level surface on to which ladders can be placed when building up the walls.
ROOFING
We always take great pride in all our cabin builds.
The installation of a proper residential type roof is part of the "fully installed" option, using quality Australian made "Colorbond" roofing in the color of your choice, as well as a min R1.3 insulation blanket. The valleys of the corrugated iron at the top are bent up to avoid water ingress in the heaviest of downpours in windy conditions.
In QLD metal "top hat" battens (here 45mm) are a must, in NSW and VIC hardwood battens can also be used.
After the roof installation is completed the roof MUST be swept clean, as the metal shavings of the screw holes will make rust spots if left on the roof.
NEARLY DONE
Due to the weather delays we had during this build it was all a bit of a rush on the last day - but all got done to proper lock-up stage and the cabin was 100% watertight. Owners Bronwyn and Ben were on site the last day, painting the cabin black.
The images on the right show the cabin in various stages of the paint job, we will try to post new images once all painting has been completed.
Our next two cabin jobs are "just" deliveries, one to Albury/Wodonga, the other one to Toowoomba. After that help with a residential cabin build near Kempsey. And than we will be waiting for the next container to arrive early September...
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