Log cabin foundations
Please note that advice given here must be adjusted according to the ground conditions and undulations on your particular site.
In general log cabins do not exert tremendous loading on to the base. The weight of the building tends to be distributed over a great length of perimeter wall. The majority of the foundation is actually supporting the floor alone plus the contents of the cabin, so very often the base is somewhat overkill for the internal loadings.
The best base is a concrete slab which is poured onto good sound ground or well compacted hardcore. The slab should be larger than the building by approx. 100 mm on all sides. It should be laid 100 mm thick or 100-150mm if the ground is undulating. Generally it is not necessary to include reinforcing mesh unless the slab is large and there is a risk of cracking. How to build a concrete base.
Alternatively the log cabin can quite happily sit on an area of concrete paving stones providing they themselves are supported on hard core or very sound ground. This does not tend to be a cost effective solution for large areas where the project becomes too labour intensive.
On occasions it is acceptable to place paving stones or concrete blocks at intervals along each floor bearer. These should be positioned so as not to allow more than 600 mm of unsupported length of bearer. Bearers are usually positioned at approx. 500 mm centre distance apart.
If the ground has a serious slope, then very often it is cost prohibitive to “build up” with concrete or even to contain a large volume of hard core, similarly it is troublesome to excavate the high ground and dispose of the spoil. It is often better to consider a timber decking structure supported on posts set onto concrete padstones. There are many suitable methods which we would be happy to discuss in more detail.
If ground conditions are very poor and it is suggested that you need deep foundations there is a wonderful technique called screw piling which involves steel tubes being screwed deep into the ground. These are placed on a grid pattern and each pile has a flat plate on top to support a timber base structure for the cabin to sit on. For more advice contact us.
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