Grill Cabin Foundation & Maintenance
FOUNDATION
A proper foundation for your Grill Cabin is essential to extend its service life. Therefore, please read and follow the instructions carefully.
- Before preparing the foundation for your Grill Cabin, it is crucial to evaluate ground conditions on-site. Consult a specialist for a landscape assessment if you have never built on this land plot before or have doubts or concerns about it.
- Choosing the right location for the Grill Cabin is also crucial. Select a site that is not prone to flooding, soil erosion, or any other natural forces that could affect the cabin’s foundation. Keep in mind that a wooden structure can be prone to rotting, so prevent wooden surfaces from coming into contact with water or water build-up. Therefore, the cabin base should be elevated above the ground.
- Every building, whether brick and mortar or timber, should always have a strong and level base. The base should maintain its properties over time; therefore, we recommend a concrete foundation.
- For proper ventilation, please install pipes underneath to ensure sufficient air circulation and effective smoke exhaustion.
- We strongly recommend creating the foundation according to the sketches prepared by our engineers.
- If you lack building background and experience, consider hiring a qualified builder for the base preparation and Grill Cabin installation. Professionals possess the knowledge, skills, experience, and tools for the job. A professionally installed foundation ensures stability for the wooden structure and the Grill Cabin’s durability.
- We also recommend completing site preparation and foundation installation before unpacking and building your Grill Cabin.
MAINTENANCE
Proper maintenance of the Grill Cabin will prolong its lifespan, allowing you to spend wonderful moments with your family and friends while enjoying your favorite grilling for many years to come. Therefore, please follow the instructions below:
- Wood Treatment: Consider treating the wood with preservative to prevent issues such as rotting, splitting, and twisting.
- Pinewood Characteristics: Pinewood is an ideal raw material due to its strength, flexibility, and ease of recycling. However, being of natural origin, wood can be affected by changing weather conditions, altering its appearance and properties.
- Temperature Impact: Shifting temperatures affect humidity, influencing wood. Hot weather causes shrinkage, while colder temperatures lead to increased moisture, resulting in swelling and twisting.
- Humidity and Mold: Higher humidity and mold can cause cracks and discoloration. Protect the Grill Cabin with a suitable wood preservative immediately to counteract these natural effects.
- Timber Treatment: Treat the timber with preservative first before applying a color finish. This reduces the risk of blue stain, fungal attacks, and timber movement, providing an ideal base for paint or stain.
- Ground Exposure: The Grill Cabin, being a wooden structure, is prone to rot when in contact with the ground. Pay special attention to impregnating the hut’s flooring on both sides to prevent rotting and molding issues, especially before installation.
- Door and Windows: After the Grill Cabin is built, treat not only the body but also the door and windows with a wood impregnation agent, both inside and outside, to prevent twisting and deformation.
- Weather Protection: Use a weather protection paint to safeguard the wood from moisture penetration and UV radiation, ensuring a longer service life for the Grill Cabin.
- Regular Inspection: Inspect the protection coating at least once a year and re-coat as necessary. Follow the producer’s instructions for re-staining to maintain the cabin’s longevity.
By following these maintenance guidelines, your Grill Cabin will remain in excellent condition, providing lasting enjoyment for years to come.
REGULAR MAINTENANCE
Inspecting the Cabin Annually
- Perform a thorough inspection of various elements of your Grill Cabin during different seasons, particularly in spring and fall. Walk around the cabin once in spring and once in fall to fully assess the required maintenance.
- As you walk around, scrutinize for issues such as cracking, mold, and infestations, especially near doors, windows, and roof connections.
- When inspecting the roof, look for damaged or loose shingles and warped flashing. Pay close attention to the chimney – check for damaged or loose flue pipes, cracks between the flue pipes and chimney, or chimney and roof.
- Inspect the walls for loose or cracking chinking, cracks or checking in the timber, popped knots, signs of dampness, mildew, mold, and faded stain.
- Check the surroundings, ensuring plants and pots are at least 24” away from walls, and check for erosion or loose areas on decking and railings. Also, ensure proper drainage and check for standing water.
- During spring, focus on any water damage to exterior wood from freezing water and snow, and prepare the cabin for higher temperatures during the summer.
- In the fall, pay specific attention to bug infestations, faded staining, and prepare your Grill Cabin for a cold winter.
Washing the Cabin Annually
- Washing your cabin is an excellent opportunity to remove surface-level dirt like dust, mildew, pollen, bird feces, and insect deposits (e.g., spider webs, eggs).
- We recommend using a mild detergent and a soft bristle brush for washing. Mix the detergent with warm water (not boiling).
- Perform two cleaning rounds (once bottom-up and once top-down).
- Start from the bottom and work your way up. Wet the walls initially and then apply the detergent mix with a soft bristle brush by gently scrubbing in circles to avoid streaking on your boards.
- After cleaning the cabin from bottom-up, focusing on specific areas of mold and mildew, work from the top down for the final clean to prevent dirt from being washed into previously cleaned areas.
- Give the cabin a final hose down and let it dry for three or four days before further maintenance. Once dry, it’s an excellent opportunity to inspect if your cabin requires fresh staining.
Re-Staining the Cabin
- To begin, ensure you have thoroughly cleaned and prepared your cabin. The key to ensuring the stain lasts for a year or more is the quality of your preparation.
- Once your cabin has thoroughly dried, you can apply your stain. Consult a specialist regarding paints suitable for unprocessed softwood and follow the paint producer’s instructions. Professionally selected suitable coatings reduce the swelling and shrinkage of the wood.
Annual “Chinking”
- The most common application of chinking when maintaining your cabin is for sealing gaps or cracks in the timber. Splitting and cracking are natural and common characteristics of timber, known as “checking.”
- The best rule of thumb is to seal any crack or check over 2 cm to prevent water pooling or bugs nesting.
- Annual Pest Control
- Timber has always been vulnerable to bugs and insects, especially softer sapwood. Regular cleaning, filling cracks, dusting, and fumigation are typically sufficient for routine maintenance to prevent pests from entering your cabin.
Annual General Maintenance
Controlling and monitoring water flow and run-off are crucial for your cabin. Your cabin’s walls can quickly darken from splash back, leading to decay, infestation, and other expensive problems.
You might notice this during cleaning if certain patches are darker than others. Therefore, it’s important to ensure each downspout carries the water run-off to a suitable location – away from your cabin.
During your annual inspection, if you notice any gaps between the windows and doors, the best repair is to use expanding foam.
Sticking to a regular maintenance schedule is more effective and cheaper than irregular fixes. Most importantly, it ensures you can enjoy your Grill Cabin with your family and friends whenever you like, as it will always be ready and cozy, welcoming you.
BBQ
GENERAL SAFETY
- Do not use the grill until it is properly assembled and fixed, following provided instructions.
- Avoid using charcoal impregnated with charcoal lighter fluid; instead, use kiln-dried firewood or briquettes for lighting a fire.
- Do not use charcoal lighter fluid, gasoline, alcohol, or other highly volatile fluids to ignite or re-ignite charcoal.
- Do not store charcoal lighter fluid, gasoline, or other highly volatile fluids within the cabin.
- Ensure there are no combustible materials close to the grill.
- Keep decorations away from your grill.
- Keep electrical cords away from the hot surfaces of the grill, routing them away from traffic areas.
- ATTENTION! Do not leave infants, children, people with disabilities, or pets unattended and keep them away from the hot grill.
- Avoid wearing clothing with loose, flowing sleeves near the grill.
- If you have long hair, tie it securely to prevent exposure to fire.
- Never touch the cooking or pot grate or the smoke hood to check if they are hot.
- Exercise caution and avoid touching metal grill parts, which heat up during a fire.
- Use barbecue mitts, hot pads, and proper barbecue tools with long, heat-resistant handles when handling hot cooking plates.
- ATTENTION! Never leave a BBQ unattended.
- Keep a fire extinguisher within a couple of steps of your grill and ensure you know how to use it.
- Ensure there is a water source nearby the cabin to extinguish the fire in case of flare-ups.
- Never attempt to move or perform a service check while the grill is still hot.
- WARNING! Never sleep in a Grill Cabin or Pavilion when the fire is on!
- Do not remove ashes until all coals are completely burned out and fully extinguished.
INSTALLATION & USE
- All our grill sets are designed for barbecuing in our comfortable and cozy Grill Cabins or Pavilions. They are produced from strong and durable steel, finished with a heat-resistant powder coat paint in a state-of-the-art facility, ensuring good quality rust protection. To protect the grills from UV damage, it is strongly advised to store them out of direct sunlight when not yet installed. The grill set consists of many parts, easily assembled with the installation manual.
- When using your grill for the first time, the surfaces in direct contact with the flames may emit a smoky smell while warming up; this is normal and due to the paint curing. We advise keeping the door open during the first usage and refraining from cooking until the smell has cleared out. To start the fireplace, place plenty of kindling along with small, thin pieces of kiln-dried firewood of deciduous on a fire shell. To facilitate proper air replacement for the grill, open the damper and keep the door or a window open during the lighting process. As the flame rises, add more dry wood or briquettes, ensuring they are not longer than 30 cm. For added protection, we recommend using a table spark safety fence.
- Pipe installation underneath a cabin, as well as a chimney, ensures proper air circulation and effective smoke exhaustion. To prevent moisture condensation inside the Grill Cabin or Pavilion and ensure proper ventilation, do not cover the chimney or make sure it is not covered with snow.
MAINTENANCE
Make sure to clean your grill after each use to ensure hygiene and proper functioning:
- Do not pour cold water onto the hot charcoal, as it may ruin the surface finish of the grill.
- After using your grill, wait until the charcoal is cold before starting the cleaning process.
- Remove ashes from the bottom heat shield and thoroughly clean all debris and dust.
- Use soapy water or a grill cleaning fluid spray. Gently wipe the grill and grates using a grill brush and/or cleaning sponge.
- Ensure the grill and grates are clean and ready for the next use.
- Avoid using sharp objects to clean the cooking grate or remove ashes, as it may damage the finish.
- Using abrasive cleaners on the cooking grate or the grill itself will damage the finish.