Finnlife Mirva Log Cabin

The light and airy Finnforest Mirva Log Cabin has a tough shingle roof, and comes available with the option of under floor heating from selected retailers - see individual sites for further details!

The Finnlife Mirva has a pair of outward-opening windows, double doors and additional panels; all of which are fully glazed. The walls and floor are constructed using 28mm thick logs, the walls have an interlocking layer design at the corners that is both decorative and aids in making the log cabin building more rigid. The roof overhags at the front, which makes is great for use as a veranda, and is covered in shingles giving both attractiveness and durability.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

Windows
Mirva 2 side opening windows
Mirva with underfloor heating 2 side opening windows

Door Opening Size (w x h)
Mirva 0cm 0cm
Mirva with underfloor heating 0cm 0cm

Material Pine

Cladding Style Tongue and Groove Interlocking Boards

Glazing Material
Mirva Styrene
Mirva with underfloor heating Styrene

Floor Material Tongue & Groove

Roof Material Tongue & Groove

Cladding Width
Mirva 2.8cm
Mirva with underfloor heating 2.8cm

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How to build your Finnlife Mirva Log Cabin

Relaxing, lounging sunshining afternoons might be beckoning, but don’t hasten to construct your Finnlife Log Cabin. Spend the time to figure out how it is constructed, and you're guaranteed to get pleasure from many years of hassle-free pleasure. No specialist skills are required. Anyone can build a Finnlife Log Cabin, although some tasks may require more than one pair of hands. Construction times will alter dependant on your experience and the number of people who help you. Obviously you don’t have to do it without any help!

You might show this document to a handyman then take it easy until he presents you with the keys to your finished Finn Life Cabin. Having said that, whosoever finishes the task, the initial stage is to get to know these instructions. The trick is to be orderly and to plan ahead. Although Finnlife log cabins share many options in common, each model style is exceptional. This set of overall instructions cover the basics of wooden cabin construction and are applicable to all Finn Forest cabins.

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

Gravel option: Remove all organic matter prior to starting work on the foundations. Foundations must always be laid larger than the base of your Finnlife Log Cabin – 300mm wider in each 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 begin to erect you should check that you have a full set of parts. Tick off every part against the part 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 part or that a part has been broken in transit get in touch with the distributor, quoting the Finn Life Log Cabin reference number displayed on the packing label of the transit packaging. As you check off each part put them out on the ground around the site of the log cabin. Put every part near to where it will be utilized. Laying out helps you visualize how the Finnlife Cabin goes together and it means that parts are available to hand when you need them. You can utilize the Building Plans and Parts List as a guide to what goes where. Be wary not to put parts too close to the Finnlife Cabin footprint. Give yourself ample room to work in.

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

Start with the half-height wall boards. They form the first and bottom level. Place them across the ends of, and at right angles to, the floor beams. Note: If your Finnlife Log Cabin comes with internal walls, also put the half-height wall boards that make up the bottom layer. Refer to the Building Plans and Parts List for assistance.

Pay specific attention to the location of any notches in the wall boards of multi-roomed cabins. The position of these notches determines where the interlocking walls will go. Place the first set of full-height wall boards across the ends of, and at right anglesto, the half-height wall boards. The overlapping corner joints opening together. Please note that if your full-height boards include spaces for doors, make sure you Place them in the desired position.

When laying the roof boards, you will need to temporarily tack an eaves fascia board to the ridge beam as a guide batten, and use it to ensure that all roof boards end in a flush ridge line. Mark the centre line on the front and rear faces of the ridge beam. Begin nailing roof boards on one side of the roof, starting from the front. The leading edge of the first roof board should be set 5mm from the ends of the ridge and roof beams. The uppermost end of the roof board may be flush with the temporary ridge-beam guide batten. Nail each roof board to the ridge beam (V-Joint facing downwards) and each roof beam, driving 2 nails per board - per joint in at right angles to the roof slope.

Nail an eaves fascia board temporarily with nails to the ridge beam so that one edge is flush with the marked centre line. Do not hammer in all the way. You will have to take it out later on. When making the Finn Life Log Cabin during the hotter months, we advise to leave small gaps between the roof boards to accommodate expansion of the boards during the colder periods. Where building during the winter period we would advise tapping the boards together, to reduce any gap appearing during the hot and dry periods.

Work through, board-by-board to the rear gable. Make sure that the eaves line
made by the lower edges of the roof boards is as straight as possible. The final roof board may project beyond the rear gable. Nail it down lightly and mark on the underside where it meets the ends of the ridge and roof beams. Remove the final roof board and saw it length ways 5mm inside the marked line. Place it back on the roof and nail down. Remove the temporary guide batten from the ridge beam, then repeat steps for the other side of the roof.

Ensure that the eaves line made by the roof boards is approximately straight. If necessary use a saw to trim it flush. Attach the eaves fascia boards perpendicular to the roof boards, and flush with their upper surface. You need one piece for each side of the cabin. Fix by nailing into the ends of the roof boards with 50mm nails.

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

Place the initial row of shingles with the green/black face uppermost and the green flaps 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 fascia board. Adjust until the edge of the black bitumen extends about 10mm out from the edge of the eaves fascia board.The 10mm overhang is known as the 'water drop edge'. Fix the shingle with four clout nails driven through the bitumen patches on the shingle into the roof boards. Finish the row by laying more shingles edge-to-edge until the full length of the eaves is covered. Trim 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 uppermost and the green flaps at the bottom. Align the second row of shingles so that the bottom edge of the green flaps 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. Trim the final shingle to fit. Retain cut pieces for later use. Place the initial shingle in row three so that the mid-point of the left-hand flap aligns with the edge of the roof. Adjust its height until the tips of the decorative flaps align with the tops of the slits between the flaps 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 each 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 total length. That means that the middle of the flaps of the current row will align with the gaps between the flaps 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 keep cut pieces for later use. Carry on putting rows of shingles from left to right, giving each row an extra half-flap offset to the left. Where possible, use the remove pieces you have already saved as the first or final shingles in the row. When you reach the final row, the upper edge of the shingles will extend beyond the roof ridge. Bend the extra 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 flaps right through the bitumen layer. You may do the same with any 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.

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