YouTube and my dad to the rescue

The gap that existed between the finished build and the distinct lack of detailed instructions was quickly remedied through a few internet searches. It turned out there were lots of sketchy schematics out there, all similar to what we already had. But there were some YouTube videos with helpful Finland nationals demonstrating how to out together a hut not dissimilar to ours. The commentary is priceless and I know how to say 'Grillkota' properly as a result of repeated views.

If I had been an accomplished carpenter, I would have probably breezed through making sense of the drawings because I would have brought experience and practical knowledge to the task. But I was worried about making mistakes that would perhaps ruin the project altogether. What I didn't know at this stage as that there would be a few idiosyncrasies to deal with along the way, beginning with the mismatched instructions - use four 60mm screws to join the parts together, matched with a drawing of three screws in situ - and ending with some odd pieces of timber that we didn't ever manage to find a use for in the construction. There were quite a few differences between the prefabricated building I was about to start putting together and the kit in the videos I found.

The floor was going to be a headache because it was completedly absent from the instructions. The assumption was that the six floor sections would just sit neatly on the ground, fitting the perfect hexagon created by the building. How to fit the 'smoke collector' was another omission from the instructions.

This was a moment when I needed advice, so I got in touch with someone I knew had years of carpentry and DIY building: my dad. A flurry of emails began and I weighed up various iterations and possibilities. In the end, I had to go with the most practical and possible idea to stay within budget. That meant doing it myself.

The type of ground was an important consideration as the spot I was building on is prone to puddles in the winter months. I did not want the hut to be sitting in water at any point. I was keen to keep it high and dry.


The system I finally settled on was the Quick Jack. This was a set of stainless steel posts that I drove into the ground. Each one was fixed to the base. Once levelled up on all sides, the oversized nuts (I am reliably informed that this is what they are!) were turned down to meet the ground, securing each post at the correct height. I become mildly obsessed with this; I wanted to get it right. There was no point to setting out with a foundation that was not level because anything built on it would be unbalanced and nothing would meet up properly, especially as the building's roof was added.

This is the system I used. In the combination of components selected for our building, it is guaranteed to hold 3 metric tonnes!