Log cabin buying guide

A log cabin is a four-figure garden building bought from photographs. The photographs all look the same; the specifications don't. Four things separate a garden office you'll use in January from an expensive summer shed.

Wall thickness decides what the cabin is for

• 19mm — summer rooms and storage. Pleasant from May to September.
• 28mm — the practical minimum for regular three-season use.
• 34–44mm+ — year-round use; at this thickness with double glazing, heating a garden office becomes affordable rather than heroic.

Thickness also buys structural rigidity: thicker interlocking logs settle less and take heavier roof coverings.

Glazing is the other half of the wall

Single-glazed styrene windows undo everything thick walls achieve. For anything beyond summer use, look for toughened glass, ideally double glazed — and check whether windows actually open; ventilation matters in a well-sealed box.

The base, the treatment, the delivery

The listed price is rarely the finished price. A level load-bearing base is required (and guarantee-critical); factory treatment is usually not included, so add a proper wood treatment on assembly; and kerbside delivery of several hundred kilos of timber is not the same as getting it through a terraced house. Read the delivery terms before checkout — we link to the exact listing so the retailer's terms are always the ones you see.

Planning permission, briefly

Most cabins fall under permitted development in England: single storey, under 2.5m overall height if within 2m of a boundary, not forward of the house, and under half the garden. Listed buildings, flats and designated land play by stricter rules — five minutes on your council's site beats an enforcement letter.

Compare before you buy

Identical cabins from the same manufacturer appear at different retailers at different prices — and "sale" prices deserve checking against history: