Finnlife Koppelo Log Cabin

THeFinnlife Kopello Log Cabin: The multipurpose hall that never closes - snooker, dance or village.

The Kopello log cabin is constructed using only the finest quality softwood from sustainable forests in the Scandinavian region. The cabin features wall logs in alternate layers together with windproof tongue and groove joints which give a weatherproof building.

Why buy the Finnforest Kopello Log Cabin?

* Made from precision-cut top quality Scandanavian White Softwood
* 44mm wall logs - provides additional strength, insulation and resilience to cope with extended year-round use
* Timber joists
* Roof shingles
* Ready made, fully glazed doors
* Reinforced corners and wall battens
* All necessary fixtures and fittings
* Illustrated instructions

Dimensions:

Width:
Internal: 3.1m
External: 3.8m

Depth:
Internal: 5.07m
External: 5.36m

Ridge Height
External: 2.7m

Area:
Internal: 17.81m²
External: 20.36m²

This log cabin is also available with underfloor heating - consult your retailer for details.

Return to top

Construct the Finnlife Koppelo Log Cabin

Fantastic, lazy summer evenings might be calling, but don’t rush to erect your Finnlife Log Cabin. Take the time to figure out how it is constructed, and you will savour many years of trouble-free pleasure. No carpentry skills are involved. Everyone can erect a Finnlife Log Cabin, although some tasks may need more than one pair of hands. Construction times will change dependant on your experience and the number of people who help you. Obviously you don’t have to do it yourself!

It’s possible to show this text to a carpenter then relax until he delivers the keys to your brand new Finn Life Cabin. But, no matter who does the job, the immediate step is to understand fully these instructions. The plan is to be systematic and to plan ahead. Though Finnlife log cabins share many options in common, each model style is inimitable. These general instructions cover the basics of log cabin construction and are applicable to all Finn Forest cabins.

For items that are unique to your own Finn Life Cabin – such as exact dimensions, piece numbers, building plans and piece lists – you should refer to the individual Building Plans and Parts List. If you are building cabins Finn Life Helppo, Finn Life Helsinki, Finn Life Joki, Finn Life Kesa, Finnlife Pori, Finn Life Seita and Finn Life Valo
be aware that certain instructions may differ slightly from those found here.

Gravel option: Remove all organic debris prior to starting work on the foundations. Foundations should always be laid larger than the base of your Finnlife Log Cabin – 300mm wider in every direction and 6” thick when using dense type gravel. For dense gravel foundations you should use retaining boards to keep the gravel in place and dense.

Before you start to erect you ought to check that you have a complete set of pieces. Tick off every piece against the piece list in the Building Plans and Parts List as you remove it from the transit packaging. In the unlikely event that there is a missing piece or that a piece has been broken in transit get in touch with the distributor, stating the
Finn Life Log Cabin reference number displayed on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check every piece set them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Set every piece near to where it will be utilized. Laying out helps you see how the Finn Life Cabin is built and it means that pieces are available to hand when you need them. You can use the Building Plans and Parts List as a scheme to what goes where. Be wary not to set pieces too close to the Finn Life Cabin footprint. Give yourself adequate room to work in.

Place out the four sides of the door frame on a dirt-free and level area so that the doors open outwards. Loosely place them to match the finished frame. The top and bottom jambs are not quite the same. Place the one with the Lock RECESS AT THE TOP AND BOTTOM. Ensure that the door cills go behind the doors. Slot the joints together loosely and check THAT YOU CAN STILL OPEN THE DOORS before continuing.

Note again that if your Finn Life Cabin includes partitioning walls, also Place the full-height wall boards that form the lowest layer. Refer to the Building Plans and Parts List for assistance. Pay peculiar attention to the location of any notches in the wall boards of multi-roomed cabins. The position of these notches decides where the interlocking walls go.

Screw one end (5mm Dia x 100mm length wood screw) only of one half-height wallboard to the underlying outermost floor beam by driving a screw (supplied) through the base of the corner joint. Leave the other three corners free. If required, make adjustments to the internal floor beams to retain an even spacing between them. Screw the half-height wall boards (5mm Dia x 100mm length wood screws) to the rest of the floor beams. 10.5 Check that the structure is square by comparing the lengths of the cross-diagonals. If necessary, you can adjust by pivoting the four linked wall boards on the one corner that you have already screwed down. Momentarily lift the full-height wall boards so that you can drive screws through the three remaining corner joints into the outermost floor beams.

Begin laying the second layer of wall boards. Bear in mind that the wall that contains the door will consist of two distinct wall boards with a door-width gap between. To ensure a smooth fit, you should tap each layer down on to the layer below. Do not hammer wall boards directly. Use the provided assembly piece (a short length of wall board with a matching joint on the lower surface) to take the blows. In the event that you have not taken receipt of an assembly piece then any scrap piece of wood will offer adequate protection for the tongues. Do not hammer too hard.

Put in door frames after you have laid 3 layers of short wall boards in the relevant walls of your cabin. The door frames come as complete units with wide grooves cut into the architraves. Slide the frames vertically into the suitable gaps so that the ends of the wall boards match the grooves. Tap the door frames gently from above to make sure they go all the way to the bottom, but be careful not to exert too much pressure or to twist or distort the frames. Check that the doors open outwards properly. Put in door frames after you have laid 3 layers of short wall boards in the relevant walls of your cabin. Check that the door frames are square and vertical before you continue to construct the cabin walls. Mis-aligned doors will not open properly. Attach handles to the doors.

It’s easy to tell which way round your windows should go: the outer face has a wider cross-section and the upper architrave is longer than the one at the bottom. When you have laid the number of boards indicated on your Building Plans and Parts List, start laying shorter-length boards in the walls that contain windows until you have a window-sized gap two or three layers deep.

Windows arrive as finished units with wide grooves alike to those on the door frames. Slide them vertically into the gaps between the wall boards.Knock lightly from above to make sure they go all the way down. Be careful not to twist or distort the windows. Check that the windows open outwards and that the frames are square and vertical. Misaligned windows will not open properly.

Roofing shingles are rectangular. The bottom half of the face side is a decorative green with slits that split it into three surfaces; the upper half is black and coated with bitumen. With the exception of the first row, all shingles are laid with the green surfaces at the bottom. Ridge shingles are fashioned by cutting individual roof shingles into thirds. Place roof shingles when the temperature is above 5°C. We recommend that you use a bitumen shingle adhesive on the underneath of the tiles. This would be an additional measure to ensure longevity of the shingle life.

Place the initial row of shingles with the green/black face top and the green surfaces at the top. Put the first shingle so that one side aligns with the right-hand edge of the roof and the black bitumen overhangs the eaves face board. Alter until the edge of the black bitumen extends about 10mm out from the edge of the eaves face board.The 10mm overhang is known as the 'water drop edge'. Fasten the shingle with four clout nails driven through the bitumen patches on the shingle into the roof boards. End the row by laying more shingles edge-to-edge until the full length of the eaves is covered. Cut off the excess from the left-hand end of the roof. Retain cut pieces for later use.

Begin the second row from the left-hand end. Place this row (and all subsequent rows) with the green/black face top and the green surfaces at the bottom. Align the second row of shingles so that the bottom edge of the green surfaces are just proud of the roof edge. fix with four clout nails driven through the lower green part. Locate these nails just below the line that separates black bitumen from decorative green. Properly located nails will be obscured by subsequent layers of shingles. Cut off the last shingle to fit. Retain cut pieces for later use. Place the initial shingle in row three so that the middle of the left-hand flap aligns with the edge of the roof. Adjust its height until the tips of the decorative surfaces align with the tops of the slits between the surfaces in the row below.

Nail down the shingle. From now on each row has to be aligned with the row below to make an even pattern. Start every row from the left hand end of the roof. In each case the first shingle in the row must be offset to the left by half a flap, that is by 16 of its complete length. That means that the centre of the surfaces of the current row will align with the gaps between the surfaces in the row below. Continue laying shingle sheets from left to right, edge-to-edge, to complete a full row.remove the excess from both ends and retain cut pieces for later use. Carry on putting rows of shingles from left to right, giving each row an additional half-flap offset to the left. If available, use the remove pieces you have already saved as the first or last shingles in the row. When you reach the final row, the upper edge of the shingles will extend beyond the roof ridge. Bend the excess over the ridge and nail it down. Cut several roof shingles into thirds to make ridge shingles. Cut them by extending the slits between the surfaces right through the bitumen layer. You may do the same with other trimmed pieces left over from lower rows. To finish each ridge shingle you should taper the half containing the black bitumen. BeginStart the taper at the point where the first slit ended. Complete it at the furthest edge of the black bitumen. Take the taper in about 10mm at either side of the bitumen.

Return to top

Finnlife Models