Living Props - Guest toilet log cabin

One enquiry we often get is can you fit a toilet in a log cabin or garden office. The answer is yes. In this case there are four!


One of our final projects of 2010 was the installation of a log cabin to be used as a guest toilet block on the premises of Living Props Ltd a company specialising in landscape props and plants for Pinewood studios, films, TV and major shop displays.

Features include:

4 toilets, 4 toilet cubicles, 2 sinks, Underfloor heating, Water resistant laminate flooring, Floor and Ceiling insulation, Double glazed windows and doors, central partition, seperate access for ladies and gents.



The living props team prepared the ground including hard core and had already placed a septic tank close to the cabin base.

The concrete base was tackled in two phases completing the central portion of the base first on day one followed by the wings and decking area supports on day two.

Cabin arrival and time to sort the timbers into their various lengths ready to start building.

Pressure treated floor bearers are laid first and damp proof membrane is attached prior to the first wall logs being positioned.

Following wall assembly the roof boards are fixed to cover the building interior

Day two of the cabin build itself and it is necessary to build the decking area to add the porch support timbers which then makes it possible to fit the remianing roof boards.

Roof complete just before another snowfall.

Ready to start work on the inside which is welcome considering the conditions outside!



50mm thick insulation for the floor.

Similarly 50mm thick insulation is added to the ceiling and plasterboard is fized to battens between the roof joists. Leaving some exposed roof joists are in our opinion a more attractive feature than boarding right over the top.

New for 2011 we now have a Winchester log cabin complete with integral central partition but in this case the partition was added as part of the installation process to create the ladies and gents toilet areas.

Toilet cubicles supplied via NFC Contracts

Under floor heating and water resistant, thick oak laminate flooring is fitted prior to adding the toilets and cubicles.

The heavy snow that grounded flights at Heathrow just a few miles down the road!

Cabin complete other than a few bits of plumbing and electrical connection.

Toilets in log cabins and garden offices from Cabin Living

Malvern Log cabin

In the grounds of Great Malvern primary school we have a log cabin installation for Worcestershire County Council of a Childrens Centre for Brighter Futures. The site was on edge of the Sure Start centre and overlooks a wooded area with a pond.

Our first task was to create a level concrete slab to build the cabin. There was already tarmac but this sloped around 50mm front to back and required a tapered former to create a level starting point.



Short of daylight so not many pictures of the build in this case. The cabin was modified from the standard Liverpool log cabin to include a single side door instead of the side window to allow access from the Sure Start centre.



An insulated and plasterboarded ceiling was selected as part of the option package for installation.




Tapered edge plasterboard is fitted between the roof joists over 50mm Celotex, Kingspan or Xtratherm. Joints are taped and joint filler is skimmed over the top ready for painting.












Hexham (hexagonal) bitumen roof shingles fitted to the cabin roof.



School log cabins

Norfolk log cabin in Strathaven, Hamilton, Scotland

The Norfolk log cabin is designed for the corner of your garden and here we have a summary of our recent installation of this model.

First a five sided concrete base is prepared.



Floor joists (45mm square in this case)are laid out with damp proof course attached.

Windows are added by first fitting the exterioir trim close to the edge of the window frames and then slotting them into the half built walls of the cabin.

Almost up to roof height and time to assemble the door frame and slot this into place.

The roof design is quite complex compared to a standard rectangular cabin and assembly of this cabin is not a simple task. There is a great deal of cutting to do to fit the roof boards and tiles and it will take noticeably longer to fit than a standard rectangular cabin roof design.

Roof boards being added. The roof height makes this roof extremely difficult to stand on whilst cutting and good ladders or even scaffolding are required.



Hannah produced a very nice drawing of the cabin whilst we finished off the bitumen tile roof and completed the final stages of the cabin assemmbly.

Almost finished with just a few pieces of fascia to be fitted. Hopefully we will have a few more photos later when it's all been painted!

Building a log cabin in Bethesda, near Bangor, Wales

Another busy month for log cabin building at Cabin Living so time for a few updates.

Here we have a Luton 4 x 3m log cabin with a verandah from start to finish. The weather was a little testing at times but as you will see it doesn't always rain in Wales!

Fortunately in this instance the ballast delivery was dropped over the back wall right next to the base even though it was on a narrow hill lane and over a 10 foot slate wall. All credit to the Travis Perkins delivery driver! The rain however wasn't so accommodating and just kept on falling, as they will no doubt find out in the Ryder cup first round today.



Delivery arrives and time to move the timber to the base.



The cabin build well under way on day two and the weather starts to show signs of improvement.


Yes, that is blue sky... every log cabin fitters favourite sight!

Almost up to roof height.

A view of the hills in the sun, and nearly time for the roof joist to be fitted.


Roof joists in place which extend out to about 1 metre beyond the front wall on the Luton log cabin creating quite a large canopied area fro the verandah.

Verandah and the cabin complete




Finished just before the next big downpour!

You too could have an extra living space in your garden in just three days. Why not get in touch for your own garden office or cabin living room

Finnlife Helsinki log cabin built near Oxford by Cabin Living

Take a tour of our helsinki log cabin installation.

Garden Office installers

Finnlife Helsinki log cabin built near Thame and Oxford

One of our latest projects was the Helsinki log cabin made by Finnforest or Finnlife built in Tetsworth close to Thame and Oxford.

In total there were 3 pallets of timber roughly six metres long x 1m x 1m and a further standard pallet size full of roofing tiles.

Just over a third of the cabin carried round to the site ready for the build.

The base was done in three seperate sections the two main wings on day one and the central section in the morning of the second day. In total its roughly 10m x 4m. This required over eight jumbo bags of ballast, quite a bit of hardcore from the old base and in excess of 30 bags of cement.

Base complete and set ready for the start of the cabin assembly. First job is to arrange the 4 x 2 floor joists and fit damp proof course to each timber. Our client also supplied damp proof membrane for use beneath the concrete base itself.

The first row of 44mm wall logs roughly in position and you get an impression of the layout on the ground floor with a hallway and four rooms leading off this area. Our client had already made a trench for a water pipe and soil pipe for connection at a later date positioned in the smallest of the four main rooms.

Once a few of the wall logs are in place it is a good time to fit the doors.

The rest of the doors in place and the walls continue until it is time to fit the windows.
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Again two or three wall pieces in place it is a good time to fit the windows.

Additional windows were ordered with this cabin to be fitted to the rear walls of the main rooms. We cut the walls once the main structure was in place but it would probably be easier to cut the walls and fix them at this stage rather than attempting to remove the trim from one side and fit them retrospectively.

It is already getting quite high but there is still some way to go yet!

Finally up to roof height and the roof joists are fitted.

A view of the attic space prior to fitting the roof boards. The instructions from finnlife for the attic space are little bit vague but it soon becomes clear how it should be fitted.

The main spaces are now covered with roof boards and the centre section is finished in a herring bone arrangement which involves quite a lot of work with a chop saw.

You need to be extremely careful fitting the roof tiles on a cabin of this size. Scaffolding would be a wise safety precaution and certainly good steps and ladders are required. The pitch on the roof is quite steep and is not suitable for walking on safely until you have firmly fixed tiles to walk on.

The roof complete and ready to be trimmed to fit facia boards.

Internally we installed our floor and ceiling insulation options. We use 50mm Celotex boards in both the ceiling and the floor. In the floor the celotex is suspended between the floor joists prior to fitting the tongue and groove floor and in the ceiling it is suspended between the roof joists. Timber battens are fitted to the roof joists and plasterboard is fitted, then tape and joint filler is added and finally it is sanded ready for painting.

The loft space creates a few headaches as there are quite a few angles to consider. But the good news is you'll be able to make the body for a stealth bomber when you're finished!

The decking is suspended on roughly 26 fence posts which were driven into the ground to suppost the deck frame.

And there you have it, the Helsinki log cabin with a enough room for a music room, a play room at least one garden office, and maybe a home cinema!