Tuin sheds anyone?

Anyone had any experience with Tuin sheds/log cabins?

Looking at this 5x3m model with 28mm timber, space enough for bike storage, camping gear, work bench and maybe a turbo:https://www.tuin.co.uk/Zutphen-Modern-Log-Cabin.html

Or this one 5×2.5m with 40mm timber, but larger windows might make it trickier to obscure bikes in case of nosey neds: https://www.tuin.co.uk/Justine-Log-Cabin-5-x-2.5m.html

I’ve a 58mm Tuin Riina 3×3, built it last year, it’s brilliant. Was pretty simple to put up, tbh doing the shingling took the longest.

Ah that’s good to hear, thanks.

What did you do for the floor – their option or DIY?

I took the upgraded floor option, can’t remember the thickness, and varnished it. Turned out pretty good tbh.

They deliver it with a forklift, drop it on your drive, and as it’s completely shrink wrapped, no need to worry about getting it moved quickly if the weather’s shite, ideal.

I bought myself a summerhouse that has been transformed into my office. Also have the floor and I couldn’t be happier with either the product or quality. Highly recommended

We built a Tuin Lukas a few years ago, all very straightforward

Yep, as above for me a couple of years ago. Very easy to put together. I’d recommend the composite base blocks. I put mine on a concrete base. The floor was ok, but I couldn’t help thinking I could have got something together faster and cheaper from my local timber merchants bearing in mind how much mud I track in.
Shingling took a while, and I’d consider insulating the roof straight of the bat if I was doing it again.
One thing to bear in mind is how much it grows in the winter as it absorbs moisture – about 1.5-2″ in height. Don’t bolt stuff to the walls across multiple timbers, basically. I’ve mounted a few bits by hanging sports off a single timber – small storage treats and a rack for shoes and helmets – but everything else is freestanding. Great sheds, really easy to build (took me and a friend an afternoon for a fairly big ‘un) and very easy to do from begining to end.

We had a 28mm 5 x 3 for about 15 yrs. It was OK. Replaced it with a 44mm, 4 x 3 this last Spring (From Dunster House) and spent the extra time insulating the floor and ceiling with 40mm celotex/kingspan.
I’d definitely recommend the thicker timber, far more solid obviously and better insulation. With a small 1kw fan heater we can get it from minus 3 to plus 15 within an hour. Cheap roller blinds over the windows (£30 for 3 from Argos)

Aye, I need to get some roller blinds too.

I would thoroughly recommend Tuin – quality cabin with fab support and advice but in your case: “5x3m model with 28mm timber” ?

Ours is 4.5×4.5 in 58mm thick. When we were looking around: longer lengths seemed to get bendy / flexy / seem lightweight in the thinner wood options.

Floor wise: we paid for the heavier duty floor: which is fine – but in retrospect I was pissed that it is made of “standard sized” boards that were just a tiny bit too small for 2x to fit to fit the width or lenght: basically we had to use 3 cut boards for each span (lots of cuts and waste plus figuring out a pattern that didnt look hamfisted).

Im afraid I have nothing to offer of any use here, just wanted to know if anyone else misread this title and thought it was about Turin Shrouds? Asking for a mate, like.

I brought a round barrel shaped office/sauna one from them a few years ago.the instructions were missing, so they sent them over electronically. I’ve had a big issue with water ingress ( several inches deep) in the bottom. They were initially helpful, but as they’re suggestions failed to work they became increasingly hard to get hold of & they’re replies were becoming less frequent. In the end I gave up & covered the offending area in thick ugly plastic sheeting.

Had a good experience with them, good customer service, particularly with technical questions. The roof options caused a bit of head scratching, but went for a rubber finish. Spec was 5×4 metre with pent roof. Build took 2 people, 2 days on a pre made concrete slab. For the Interior floor i put down dpc, joists with celo text foam blocks in between, osb boards, then vinyl roll on top to finish. Roof has tongue and groove on top of roof joists, celo tex, osb then rubber sheet on top with black facias and guttering.It’s nice and dry all year round. We do heat the space with a small radiator in we’re using it during the winter and use a dehumidifier on occasions to keep the humidity/condensation down. Fitting a hydro meter is really useful for this. Painting the cabin took several days extra! We used a sadolin exterior wood paint. It’s a solid build with good quality windows and fittings, and better value for money than some of the other cabins we looked at. Watching it being delivered on a busy road with a sideways forklift was quite something!

We also fitted some small Louvre vents at a later stage, to improve ventilation and heat build up during the summer

I’d definitely recommend the thicker timber, far more solid obviously and better insulation.

I would thoroughly recommend Tuin – quality cabin with fab support and advice but in your case: “5x3m model with 28mm timber” ?

Yes I think i’ve settled on the thicker timber, seems to be worth the extra, and I’ve just seen they do an “Aiste” which is still the slightly wider 5mx3m size and with 40mm logs.

Great photos ebygomm!

I’ve been looking at these cabins and they look great, but I’m worried about exceeding the 2.5m height that permitted development needs given that it will be close to the boundary and I’m planning to build a timber frame on stilts and not a concrete pad base.

I think the 45mm wall log options are right for me as it’ll be an office. The smaller ones look better for a storage shed, but has anyone used one of the thinner walked ones for an office?

Thanks in advance!

Another vote for louvres – I’ve fitted one so far, will likely do the other three I have over the winter while I sort out proper electrics for it. I’m probably going to stick a solar powered shed fan in one of them to encourage airflow. No damp or mould last winter, but it’s an ongoing pain in our (non-insulated) 80s garage, so I want to avoid it if at all possible.

One thing to add: last weekend I went to get into the shed on Sunday and the contents of the Euro cylinder shifted out a few mm and left me locked out of the shed and without much in the way of tools to get into it – they were all locked up in cabinets inside my now-permanently locked shed. I was able to borrow a pipe wrench from a neighbour to snap the cylinder and get in without breaking anything expensive. I had a spare cylinder, so all fixed quite quickly, but in retrospect I should have replaced the cylinder it came with – it really was made of cheese.

@surfdad

I have a 44 mm walled one as an office. I’d not want it any thinner.

Floor and roof are insulated, but it is still cold in winter until I pop the heater on. Mine is sat on a concrete base and  the first frame sits on their optional recycled subframe/first layer. Inside then has a DPM and rigid foam insulation under the floor.

Only thing wrong (or could be better) would be the lock and door fit. Other than that it is hard to fault Tuin.

Aye, the locks no the best, but tbh there’s nothing in mine other than a sofa, papasan chair and a treadmill!. Don’t bother locking it.

Do you need planning permission, if you stuck one on your drive? Asking for a friend.

has any one insulated the walls on them? any issues?

How often are you treating your Tuin cabins/sheds?

Mines been up for 2 years now, still looking pristine, but I’ll give it a coat before the end of summer.

I built a Helge 7 years ago that is now a therapy room for my wife to do her work in. The walls were up in a day, and i used heavy concrete blocks with some wind up steel bases rather than concreting etc. Basically steel plates with a big not and bolt welded on.
Flat roof, I made the mistake of lining the T&G boards at the front edge so they overhang at the back, and initially heavy rain drove water under the boards. The supplied felt was worse than useless, so I used some cheap shed underlay from Screwfix, stapled on and overlapped, then painted with 3 coats of the rubbery Thompson’s Waterseal that goes on wet or dry for flat roof repairs, and it’s been ace.
All I did for the floor was use turbo screws to fit some blocks round the base, joists in between and green T&G chipboard on top, with kingspan between the joists. Kingspan and OSB on the T&G roof too. It’s now carpeted over a layer of the Rolson interlocking foam tiles from Halfords.
Initially there was some expansion/contraction and it warped all the conduit for electrics, but a couple of coats of Cuprinol paint sprayed on sorted that (the opaque waxy stuff vs. timber treatment)
One finding: The window frames don’t obviously look like, but have, got a packing strip nailed on. I didn’t remove it initially and the expansion ended up pushing an inch gap in the boards, that was a nightmare then to get the tightly squeezed window frame out (had to cut the nails with an oscillating saw) but since then it’s been fine. The door is a bit tight but that’s more down to my fitting.
The Helge has an annexe for tools etc, so I fitted a Chinese diesel heater in there, and added an Afterburner controller so it’s easy to heat as needed, although there’s a little log burner inside too and that is ace. That’s sat on a massive stone slab I found and goes through a bit enough hole and flashing in the roof.

As Marko says, supplied locks and handles are minging. I replaced them and fitted Euro cylinders. If anyone wanted to get in though they could probably peel the lower door layer off with their fingers. My lad managed to kick it out when he got stuck in there (due to the aforementioned finicky door fit).