Warm in winter, cool in summer — how it works

Being precise about this is the difference between a building that works in January and one that disappoints. Floor and roof insulation are included on every model we supply. The walls are a decision you make at order stage.

Solid timber conducts heat poorly, so a log wall insulates to a degree on its own and, unlike a metal-framed wall, has no cold bridges running through it. It also has thermal mass: the wall absorbs heat and releases it slowly, which flattens out temperature swings rather than letting the room spike and crash.

In practice that means a log cabin feels steadier than a thin-skinned garden shed at the same nominal insulation level, and it is why the standard build is genuinely comfortable for daytime, three-season use. It is not a substitute for insulation in a building you heat every day through the winter — that is what the wall kit is for.

The great advantage of a garden building is that there is not much air to heat. A well-sealed, insulated 20–25 m² room comes up to temperature in minutes and holds it, which makes intermittent heating genuinely viable — you heat the room when you are in it rather than running a system all day.

Airtightness does more work than people credit. The machined interlocking log profile and properly fitted timber joinery are what stop the draughts, and a draught-free room at 19 °C feels far warmer than a leaky one at 21 °C.

Irish summers rarely trouble a masonry house, but a small building with a large proportion of glazing facing the wrong way can get uncomfortably warm. This is a design question settled before you order, not a problem to solve with a fan afterwards.

The levers are orientation, shading and cross-ventilation. Shutters are included as standard on our joinery and are the simplest effective shading there is — they stop the heat at the glass rather than after it is in the room. A roof overhang blocks high summer sun while still letting in low winter sun, and two openings on different walls give you cross-ventilation that a single window cannot.

For a garden room, simple usually wins. Electric panel heaters or infrared panels are inexpensive to install, need no plumbing, and suit intermittent use in a small insulated space — the installation is carried out and certified by the electrical contractor we work with.

For a larger cabin in permanent use, or an auxiliary dwelling, it is worth sizing a proper system rather than scaling up plug-in heaters. Whatever the heat source, pair it with ventilation: a tightly sealed, well-heated building with no air movement produces condensation, which is the one failure mode that damages the fabric.