![Barbecue all year round with a garden BBQ hut and grill]()
by Mark Bailey | Jun 26, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine
Next to the extraordinary Poison Garden at Alnwick Gardens in Northumberland is a quaint timber cabin. With its rustic logs and octagonal shape, it’s out of a story by the Brothers Grimm – one of the more sinister ones, judging by the skull-and-crossbones on the locked gates of the adjacent garden.
Adding to the silvan atmosphere is the evocative smell of woodsmoke drifting from the cabin. The centrepiece of the cabin is a raised indoor log fire. As well as being a wonderful focal point, it can be used as an indoor barbecue.
Everything at Alnwick Gardens is done on a grand scale (if you’re in doubt about this, take a look at the Harry Potter style treehouse). But, unlike most of their ideas, the BBQ house can actually be replicated in a back garden, and with the unpredictable UK weather, that means you can barbecue all year round.
If you like the cabin at Alnwick Garden, and you’re an avid barbecue cook, then you’ll be delighted to discover that GardenLife sell BBQ huts with an almost identical design – octagonal shape, Nordic-style doorway, picturesque chimney, and an optional internal BBQ grill and smoke extractor hood. As GardenLife cater for different garden sizes, these barbecue huts are available in two different sizes; Kim (with a 3.2m diameter) and the larger, slightly taller Greta (3.8m in diameter).
BBQ huts – also sold as barbecue lodges or even Arctic grill houses and smoke houses – derive from the huts (called ‘kota’) used by Saami reindeer herders in the Far North of Finland. Originally covered with reindeer skins, they usually have bench-style seating around the edge, used for sleeping as well as sitting.
The popularity of BBQ huts is soaring in the UK because they allow the Brits to extend their passion to barbecue all year round. With a barbecue hut, it’s possible to barbecue whatever the weather – on a sunny bank holiday weekend, you can enjoy wasp-free burgers inside the cabin, with door and windows thrown open to let in the breeze. In rain, snow and mist, you can enjoy ‘outdoor living’ indoors, still enjoying the unbeatable taste of a great barbecued steak, and swapping the Pimms for a good red wine.
Barbecue houses can also double as quaint sleepover huts (simply use cushions and sleeping bags on the benches), or a snug (the ideal place to make and enjoy some home brew).
The Arctic origins of BBQ huts lead many people to decorate them Nordic-style, with reindeer skins, sheepskins or (fake) furs on the benches or floor, and Nordic accessories like wooden tableware. Finnish Marimmeko fabrics give a more modern Nordic feel, whilst children may like a Moomin theme (using this for tableware or cushions is more easily reversible when their tastes change).
Another option is to look across the Atlantic for your design inspiration. Search terms like ‘Mexican’, ‘Santa Fe’, ‘hacienda’ or ‘TexMex’ style produce some great affordable design ideas, including:
- fabrics in vibrant and exuberant red, terracotta and ochre shades
- handpainted Mexican pottery
- Mexican tiles (either in blue/white or red patterns) as mats
- woven Mexican wall hangings
- brightly coloured or plain woven baskets for storage
- even a cactus!
All these are easy to source wherever you live in the UK. The look works brilliantly with the wooden beams of a timber cabin, and makes a great backdrop for an indoor barbecue grill.
If you don’t want to go the whole hog and buy a BBQ lodge, a gazebo gives meteorological flexibility and protection, providing shelter from too much sun or too much rain. Gazebos such as GardenLife’s Dove, Calder, Leven and Foss models are also a great idea if you have small children – keeping the barbecue in a safe, enclosed area whilst the kids run around the rest of the garden.
A summer house provides somewhere dry and draught-proof to enjoy your burgers if the sky suddenly blackens mid-barbecue. It can also act as a windbreak – especially if you buy a model with a sizeable roof overhang – making it easier to get your charcoal lit in the first place.
Do watch out if you’re barbecuing near a timber building, though. And never be tempted to move an outdoor barbecue indoors – it’s not just fire that’s a risk, but carbon monoxide poisoning too. Only barbecue indoors if you’re using a specially designed indoor BBQ grill and smoke extractor like the ones we offer with Greta or Kim.
Alnwick Garden photo credit: http://paradisexpress.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/alnwick-garden.html
![How to set up a home office on a budget]()
by Mark Bailey | Jun 16, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine
At the end of 2013 over 4 million people in the UK were self-employed – and the numbers keep on rising. Not all of these people are working at home, of course – the 4 million includes contractors, freelancers and trades people who work on-site for customers and clients. But with more people working for themselves, more of us need space at home to do our jobs.
The classic solution is the spare room or the garage – or worse, a PC and desk squeezed into the corner of the bedroom, or a laptop on the sofa. But talk to any home-workers and they’ll give you a list of drawbacks: interruptions by family, no space to store papers or supplies, nowhere professional to meet customers, the difficulty of switching off from work …. What they need is an office, but setting up a home office isn’t as easy, or cheap, as it may seem.
If you’re an empty-nester, you could easily convert a bedroom into something more ‘professional’. But what if you’re already bursting at the seams? Extensions and attic conversions are expensive, disruptive and can take many months (or years) to finalise. So, how to set up a home office on a budget? Well, a garden office or workroom could be the perfect solution.
Not only are garden offices cheaper than extensions and loft conversions, they can be completed in the space of a few days, and won’t render your house uninhabitable while they’re being constructed. And if you tire of working for yourself, they can quickly transform into a home gym, games room, spare bedroom or workshop, and if you move house, you can take a timber garden office with you!
As the idea of the garden office has become mainstream, the choice of designs has proliferated (as a browse around the GardenLife website will illustrate). When deciding on a style, it may help to run through the following questions:
- What sort of building design would match the image of your business – a traditional garden room design, a more spacious log cabin, or something sleeker and contemporary in appearance, such as our Nith or Esk designs?
- Do you want the office to double up for other purposes – summerhouse or workshop, and which designs would offer the greater scope to do this?
- Do you hope to take on staff in the future, and will they need their own deskspace?
- Do you need substantial space to store supplies or finished products?
- Will you need some sort of ‘reception’ area – for example, if you need a waiting area whilst you deal with several clients?
All these questions will help determine the style, size and layout of the garden office you choose, as well as solving the problem of how to set up a home office on a budget. For example, in the GardenLife range, some of the larger models like Arun, Medina, Usk, Yar and Lodden have more than one room, creating options for store rooms, meeting space, reception area or private offices.
One final point to guide your choice is the question of warmth. GardenLife recommend that you look for timber garden rooms with a wall thickness of at least 44mm, especially if you want to use a garden office all year round. Thinner than that, and even the densest timber won’t have sufficient insulation properties to keep your home office warm enough for four-seasons use (without landing you with high heating bills). Similarly, we recommend garden rooms with double-glazed windows if you plan to use your office for long stretches or throughout the year.
![Bespoke log cabin in the woods!]()
by Mark Bailey | Jun 9, 2014 | Bespoke garden buildings
Following on from last months’ post announcing GardenLife’s new bespoke garden building design service, we’ve pulled together a few notes and photos on another bespoke project we undertook not long back down in the Borders.
Project Name: Bespoke Holiday Log Cabin
Location: Peebles, Scottish Borders
Client Brief: GardenLife Log Cabins were tasked to design and build a substantial log cabin for year round holiday use with five internal rooms, including a bathroom and open plan lounge. The log cabin was to be open and light to take in the amazing views of the surrounding woods and hills, but also warm enough to accommodate holiday makers in the depths of a Scottish winter!
Technical Specification: The log cabin was built with dense 88mm laminated timber (much thicker than standard designs of 44mm or 70mm) and was insulated throughout to ensure it remained warm even in winter. If you’re interested, ground plans, cross sections and 3D renderings can be viewed in this PDF [1.2MB].
Completion Time: Including the time spent on planning and building regulation, as well as the usual applications and approvals, it took GardenLife eight months to complete the entire project (from initial consultation to watertight construction).
Concluding Notes: This project allowed GardenLife to design and build a great log cabin to act as a perfect holiday retreat in a beautiful and secluded area. When the bespoke log cabin is not in use by the client it is hired out to tourists (which helps with the running costs and upkeep).
If you’d like more details about GardenLife’s bespoke timber building design service, or if you have your own plans for a holiday cabin in the woods, all you need do is contact us with your plans and questions.
![What’s the best eco-friendly timber treatment?]()
by Mark Bailey | May 30, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine, How to guide
If you’ve ever browsed eco gardening forums or bee-keeping websites, you’ll have come across debates about the use of wood treatments and paints. The debates focus on fears that conventional oil-based treatments, when used on beehives, planters or raised beds, harm bees and could contaminate the veg.
These concerns are sometimes applied to other garden buildings too – GardenLife customers occasionally ask us whether conventional wood treatments are safe for children, pets, wildlife and plants. Is it possible, they want to know, to buy alternative timber treatments that are environmentally-friendly, pet-friendly, children-friendly and bee-friendly, and also, of course, effective at preserving the timber?
The trouble with looking for advice online is that most debates about environmentally friendly wood treatment products are a confusing mixture of passionate opinion and highly technical information about chemicals. They also give tips that are unfeasible for most of us. For example, one common recommendation is to use timber such as cedar, which has innate insect-repelling properties. But a cedar garden house or home office is far beyond the budget of most of us, and not a viable proposition.
Therefore, instead of getting simple answers and advice from these green advice forums and eco-friendly websites, you often end up more confused – and anxious – than before. So, what are your options if you don’t want to use petroleum-based and metals-based preservatives, but still want to protect your wood against rot, insects and weather? What’s the best eco-friendly timber treatment?
Linseed oil is mentioned regularly as a natural wood protection, with good preservative properties and water resistance. On the other hand, critics point out that it is highly flammable, very slow-drying and sticky, and doesn’t protect wood from UV sunlight or mildew.
We’ve also seen other natural wood preservatives recommended such as salt, soy, vinegar, alcohol and tannins. They’re safe for humans and do provide some protection against various forms of attack. However opinions differ as to just how much protection they provide for a garden building, especially one in a dampBritish climate.
More effective (and easier to source and apply) are a number of commercial, eco-friendly timber treatment solutions that are water-based. Valhalla Wood Preservatives makes a popular treatment called LifeTime® Wood Treatment, which has long been used in Canada and is now available internationally. The product is non-toxic and ‘friendly to plants, animals and people’, and also low-maintenance. Since it does not leach residue into soil, it’s useful for garden planters too.
Naturally, with a successful product like LifeTime® Wood Treatment, the ingredients are a close kept family secret. However, the treatment is made up of naturally occurring plant and mineral substances which soak into and penetrate wood fibres. Independent laboratory testing confirms that LifeTime® creates no harmful residue in soil or water, which is also reassuring
Conventional wood treatment products that are on the market are more health-friendly than previously, but if you have concerns about noxious chemicals and their environmental and health effects, then LifeTime® Wood Treatment is something that you should look for when it comes to preserving your summerhouse, log cabin or raised beds.
by Mark Bailey | May 19, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine
As more people become fed up with commuting and opt to work at home, we’re hearing more and more about the home office, particular the timber garden office. The design of garden buildings has developed accordingly – alongside summerhouses and traditional sheds, you can now find specially designed garden offices and work studios.
The designs and choice have evolved, but garden working is not so new. There’s a long line of great authors who have used a timber garden office as their writing den – the perfect place to be creative and escape the distractions of everyday life.
Probably the author best-known for writing in the garden was Roald Dahl, who wrote books such as Matilda and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in his ‘writing hut’ in Buckinghamshire. It’s even been preserved in a gallery at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. Dahl had a weird and wonderful selection of mementoes in his hut, including his own hip bone and a ball made of chocolate foil wrappers.
Philip Pullman has also used his shed to produce wonderful children’s books. He told interviewer David Frost in 2002, “It’s a good place to work, it’s away from the house, it’s quiet, it’s cool in the summer and warm in winter and it works.” Pullman also said that he never tidied the shed when he was in the middle of a book: “I have my little superstitions … let the cobwebs grow while I’m writing the book and I tidy it up afterwards.”
Authors Virginia Woolf and Dylan Thomas were also garden writers. Virginia Woolf wrote in a converted wooden too lshed in the garden of their home, Monk’s House, in Sussex. However, it was so cold in winter that she couldn’t hold her pen, and had to retreat indoors. Later, she had a ‘writing lodge’ built at the bottom of their garden. Monk’s House is now owned by the National Trust, so it’s possible to visit the house and the writing room.
Dylan Thomas wrote in a former garage at his home in Laugharne, Wales. Earlier this year a replica of the shed went on tour around the UK to celebrate the centenary of his birth!
Writer George Bernard Shaw had a wooden cabin built on a turntable so he could rotate the building to follow the sun (nowadays, perhaps it would be easier to install windows facing all round, or a window in the roof). He also had a bed and a telephone in his cabin.
Some of the world’s most successful businesses began life in the garden (or being American, in the yard). Many dotcoms and social media brands spent their early years in various garages around the US – not as picturesque as a timber garden office, but probably better suited for business. Amazon started out in Jeff Bezos’ garage in Washington; and Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked out of a California garage in the early days of Google.
But don’t think that starting a global business out of a garage or shed is just a 1990s thing. The first Harley-Davidson motorbike was built in a wooden cabin in Milwaukee in 1901-3, and Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard founded Hewlett-Packard in Packard’s garage in 1939.
There are dozens more examples, of course – writers, business empires, artists, musicians, and many more. The comedian Vic Reeves apparently has five different garden sheds, where he writes, thinks and generally escapes from life. And that’s the point – a timber garden office is a place to escape from family, housework, noise, TV, and anything else distracting or restrictive. And once you have that extra space, you have a blank slate for doing exactly as you wish – it could be having a nap, or it could be writing a best-selling novel or starting a business. That’s what’s so great about garden living!
by Mark Bailey | May 12, 2014 | Bespoke garden buildings
This year GardenLife Log Cabins launched a new bespoke garden building design service in order to allow people to customise our existing cabin designs, or to provide us with their own plans for an innovative timber building design. Over the coming months we’ll be showcasing some of our previous bespoke builds by way of a project brief and some related photos. First up, the Waterwheel Café Building in Selkirk:
Project Name: Waterwheel Café Building, Selkirk, Scotland
Location: Scottish Borders
Client Brief: GardenLife Log Cabins were asked to design and build a café with a capacity to take 40 customers. The café was built to accommodate tourists visiting the nearby salmon viewing centre. Our client asked for a light airy space that visitors would want to spend time in (as well as money)! The L shaped design of the timber building allowed for the kitchens to be offset to the main seating area.
Technical Specifications: This timber building was designed and constructed with 300mm laminated timber logs with a bright spacious interior, a separate kitchen was required as were toilets. The building design accommodated all necessary plumbing and electrical requirements.
Completion Time: The project was first discussed in January 2006 and completed in October the same year. Full planning and building regulation applications were undertaken by the clients architects.
Concluding Notes: The client was extremely pleased with the café building which is now a feature in the local area that attracts visitors from near and far. The building was also nominated for a competition for innovative timber building design too!
For more information about GardenLife’s bespoke garden building design service just get in touch with your questions or plans.
by Mark Bailey | Apr 25, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine, How to guide
An unloved summerhouse is a very sad sight. A vintage look is one thing; flaking paint and greying wood are quite another. Giving a shot of colour to a neglected summerhouse is a great way to refresh your garden and give it a new focal point. It will also prolong the life of the timber.
Wondering how to look after a summerhouse? Well, if you’re breathing new life and colour into a garden building, you need a blank canvas. Remove any algae, lichen or fungus with a fungicidal wash, then strip back existing stain, paint or varnish to the bare wood. You can now think of your summerhouse as ‘new’ and treat it much the same as a newly-bought one.
The best way to treat timber garden buildings
When you buy a softwood garden building, treat the timber with wood preservative as soon as possible. If you’re erecting the summerhouse or garden room yourself, treat the floorboards before you build it, especially the undersides. Doors and windows should also be treated in advance.
The rest of the garden building should be treated as soon as possible after you erect it – both outside and inside. Untreated wood turns a grey-ish colour, and is vulnerable to rot, decay, mould and insect attack. Wood preservative prevents this.
GardenLife recommend products such as Cuprinol Trade Wood Preservative, available from good paint and DIY shops. Always follow the instructions on the tin about application, number of coats and drying times. Pay particular attention to cut ends and joints, and don’t start the treatment when it’s threatening to rain. Once the preservative is dry, you should paint, stain or varnish your summerhouse to protect the timber from sun and rain.
Should I paint or stain my summerhouse?
If your garden building is constructed from good-quality timber, a translucent wood stain lets the grain show through and looks more rustic. But if the timber is nothing amazing and you’re more interested in colour than the wood underneath, an opaque paint should serve you well.
Butinox has a great range of wood stains and paints, which are ideal for the smooth, finished timber of the GardenLife range. They also give excellent protection for old and new timber. The translucent stains (Butinox 1) come in a wide range of wood colours, from pale Yellow Pine and Sugar Maple to Black Walnut. There are also attractive dark green and blue stains.
Butinox 2 is a range of opaque stains, from a great chalky white through various yellows, greens and blues, to ebony. There’s an oil-based range (Butinox 3) in the same colours, suitable for brick, stone and concrete as well as wood. You need to use a primer with both Butinox 2 and 3.
Other ranges suitable for cabins include Dulux Weathershield Aquatech, and stains and paints by Sadolin and Sikkens. It is really important to use products that are suitable for cladding, and not just exterior doors and windows. There are also some specialist eco-friendly wood preservatives and stains on the market, which we’ll discuss in a future blog.
What colour should I paint my garden building?
When thinking about colour, decide whether you want your summerhouse to make a statement or blend in with the background. If you have shrubs and trees, dark green camouflages a garden room (useful if you have an old building you don’t particularly like). Grey-green and grey-blue look sophisticated and classic, whilst pale greys, creams and stone hues are very ‘New England’. White can look dreamy on a bright summer day, but somewhat washed-out in a British autumn.
Sky blue is summery and retro, especially with Cath Kidston-type prints, but too beach-hut for some gardens. Ditto with pastel pinks and yellows, which may be perfect for a children’s playhouse, but aren’t exactly chic and sophisticated.
If you’re really planning to make a statement – with anything red or purple –don’t do it on impulse. “Vibrant and quirky” may pall after a few months, and may also arouse feelings of rage among the neighbours!
by Mark Bailey | Apr 16, 2014 | Log cabin news, Website updates
It’s great to dream. Stuck in traffic or unable to get a seat on train, your thoughts turn to different lifestyles. An office in your back garden. Setting up your own cafe or online business. A log cabin in the countryside.
But really these thoughts don’t have to be dreams. Thanks to technology, the internet and wifi, you can work from pretty much anywhere. You can also find brilliant ideas and inspiration online for starting your own business, building an online empire from your back garden, changing to a job that would let you move out of the city, or simply transforming your home and garden.
Many of GardenLife’s customers have used our timber garden buildings to turn their daydreams into reality – from setting up a stunning home office, to gaining an art studio or a dining space for 16. And the different designs on our website cater for all tastes and all purposes. Occasionally a customer comes along who wants something a bit different however – maybe bigger than even our largest log cabin. Or with thicker timber. Or that blends different designs and uses together – a garage and office combined, or a two-roomed teenage hangout.
The good news is that we are happy to help. In addition to all the various timber garden buildings on our website, GardenLife offer a bespoke timber building service that really does bring daydreams to reality.
Our custom-built projects have included timber shops and cafes; lodges with several bedrooms or features such as balconies; eco-friendly timber offices; large log cabins and wonderful garden rooms. The versatility, durability and beauty of timber is so great that it’s possible to do some inspirational cabin projects without having to sign away months or years of your life and earnings.
As an alternative to going completely bespoke, it may also be possible to adapt one of our standard timber building designs by purchasing extra doors, windows or internal walls.
Designing a bespoke timber building
To design and manufacture a bespoke timber garden building, GardenLife first need a rough floor plan showing the size, number of rooms, and approximate position of doors and windows.
Other information is useful too – say, you like two different designs on our website and want to blend them together. Or love a specific design but want to add another room or change the specifications – for example, we recently manufactured a version of our Laggan garden room with 88mm timber. All those details will help us work out an initial price estimate.
We also have a few basic requirements for our bespoke designs:
- The floor area must be at least 12m square
- We can only do square or rectangular bespoke designs. Unfortunately, we cannot do bespoke versions of octagonal or corner designs (though if you look around the GardenLife website, you’ll find these do come in several sizes and dimensions, so there is already plenty of choice)
- Log thicknesses can be: 44mm, 70mm, 88mm, 114mm or, an amazing, 134mm
- Doors and windows must be double-glazed (though there is a choice of glass thicknesses)
So, with those few minimum requirements in mind, it’s time to start dreaming. Look at magazines, websites, TV programmes other people’s back gardens, and all around you, to start planning and thinking. The home office that you spot on Pinterest or the log cabin holiday home that you see on your travels could easily feature in your life too! All you need do is get in touch with us and tell us your requirements.
by Mark Bailey | Apr 12, 2014 | GardenLife Magazine
There are so many good uses for a timber garde building (such as a log cabin, garden room or summerhouse); they can be used as a home office, studio, spare room or gym to name a few. But to maximise the pleasure or utility you need to consider where to position a timber garden building. You should think about:
- what time of day you’ll use it
- whether it will affect the sun/shade in the rest of your garden
- how close to your property boundaries to put it
Good decisions over the siting of a garden building or summerhouse can extend its life; make the difference between needing planning permission and not needing it; and improving warmth in winter.
Once you have worked out a good spot for your log cabin or summerhouse, different building designs can increase the pleasure and usage you get from it. For example, GardenLife has timber garden buildings specifically designed for corner plots, and hexagonal and octagonal designs that offer views on all sides.
Summerhouses for sun-seekers
If you plan to entertain in a summerhouse, it’s good to have a view of the morning sun or a glorious sunset. If you’ll mainly use the building in the morning, have the main windows facing east. If you want to sip cocktails at sundown, position your summerhouse so you can see the setting sun without having to step outside or crick your neck.
For all-day views and sunlight, octagonal and hexagonal designs such as Ribble, Tweed, Bann, Hareford and Clyde are a great solution. Having walls and doors south-facing lets in sunshine in winter, helping you keep warm. Roof overhangs are useful if you want the warmth of the sun’s low rays in winter, without too much direct sunlight in summer.
Garden buildings for home-workers and artists
If you plan to work, paint or craft in your garden building, you probably don’t want direct sunlight streaming straight onto your desk or easel. So think about how you could position the cabin – and the layout of furniture – to avoid glare, whilst still admitting plenty of natural light. To make this easier, many GardenLife’s timber buildings let you choose which side you position a window or door. So if the picture on our website shows a window on the left side, it may be possible to construct the building with the window on the right side – just check the details for individual cabin descriptions, or call us to ask.
How will a timber building affect by garden?
If a new garden building takes up too much space, or throws the patio or flowerbeds into shade, it may prove a mixed blessing. The solution may be a smaller summerhouse, or a garden building with a lower roof. GardenLife has a wide selection of cabins measuring less 2.5m high or less, and that leads us nicely onto the next point.
Do I need planning permission for a garden building?
Another reason to look at sub-2.5m-high garden buildings is the issue of planning permission. The basic rules of planning permission are that, you generally need to seek planning permission for cabins:
- in your front garden, or
- with an overall roof height of over 2.5m, which are positioned within 2m of your boundary
- with eaves of over 2.5m high, or an apex roof of over 4m, or any other roof of over 3m
So, briefly, if you position a garden building at least 2m away from your garden wall (in the back garden), you are less likely to need planning permission. If you do want to position it closer to your boundary, having a timber garden building that’s 2.5m high or less could save on the paperwork (please note, however, that there are exceptions to these rules in some areas, so you should always check on your local council website).
Garden buildings and dealing with the weather
In the damp British climate, garden buildings have a great deal of rain flung at them. Which means the wood needs to dry out. The usual advice is to have around 1m of space around the building, to allow adequate ventilation. This space will also make construction, maintenance and staining easier (and we’ll be posting an article on wood preservers, stains and paints for garden buildings next week).
Trees and shrubs make useful windbreaks and can form an attractive frame or backdrop for a timber garden building of any style. However, having them too close can impede ventilation and make the building too shady (not ideal for something like a summerhouse). Remember, too, that shrubs grow! This year’s 1m-tall plant will expand upwards and outwards over the years, so think ahead when planting and planning.
A few more things to consider
Apologies for such a long list of dos and don’ts, but there are a few final things that GardenLife think are important when it comes to where to position a timber garden building. If you plan to install electricity in your garden building, check with a qualified electrician whether there are any limitations on where you position the building.
- If will expect to use your timber building daily (eg as an office), think about how you will get to it. Walking the same route across your lawn every day will quickly wear a path in the grass (which may also turn to mud in a wet autumn or winter) so you may want to lay a path.
- If your plans for a summerhouse involve relaxing with book and drink, with windows and doors thrown open, then best not to position it just over the fence from your neighbour’s climbing frame or playhouse.
- And finally, whichever type of building you choose, it needs to be constructed on land that is even, flat and well-drained. If you’re not sure about what type of base you need for a GardenLife cabin, we’re happy to advise.
![Garden building contruction video guides now online]()
by Mark Bailey | Apr 3, 2014 | How to guide, Website updates
Garden building contruction video guides now online
When it comes to buying online it’s not possible to get a real feel for the item that you’re interested in purchasing. That’s not so important with some things, but when it comes to understanding the quality, materials and construction of a timber building, summerhouse, garden room or log cabin, getting detailed information and advice is a must.
In addition to the photos, descriptions, specifications, PDF manuals and FAQs on the GardenLife website (not to mention the wealth of information in the heads of our knowledgeable staff available on 0131 660 6333) GardenLife has added a range of garden building contruction video guides to help showcase even more of the details our garden buildings.
These helpful video guides cover the delivery of a garden building and how to unpack the parts. When constructing a summerhouse or garden building getting the base right is of vital importance, so we’ve also showcased that. Another video guide shows how the easy fit tongue and groove timbers fit together and how window and door frames are slotted into place.
Construction video guides also cover roof elements such as fitting roof boards and making a summerhouse water tight by adding felt shingles, as well as installing insulation and floorboards to keep the building warm. We’ve also included a video that highlights how our modular Quick Fit buildings are constructed too (ideal if you’re not so good at DIY).
We hope to be adding more garden building contruction video guides in the future, but as ever, if you have any questions or comments just get in touch with us.
