Tiger Galena Log Cabin (70 mm) – Expert Review

A warm, quiet, brilliantly engineered 365-day garden room that behaves far more like a home extension than a garden building.

Some buildings in Tiger’s range feel like sheds.
Some feel like cabins.
The Galena feels like neither — it feels like stepping into a dedicated room of your house that just happens to sit at the bottom of your garden.

It’s worth saying from the outset that we haven’t physically stepped inside the Galena itself. Tiger don’t display this model at Horsforth, Otley or Tong. What they do display is its structural twin: the Obsidian, which uses the same 70 mm log system, the same insulated SIP floor, the same insulated roof panel, the same aluminium glazing, and the same thermal envelope.

The only difference is the doors.
The Obsidian has sliding glass panels.
The Galena has double opening doors with tall windows either side.

Structurally, thermally and acoustically, they are the same building. And because the Obsidian is used as Tiger’s own on-site office, we’ve spent a lot of time in it — on cold days, warm days, and plenty of damp Yorkshire afternoons. That experience gives us an unusually solid, real-world foundation for reviewing the Galena with confidence.

Inside the Cabin – Silence, Warmth, and a Sense of Weight

The sensation of stepping into the Obsidian — and by extension, the Galena — is defined by two things: quiet and warmth.

When you close the aluminium doors behind you, the outside world doesn’t fade — it drops away. Our decibel meter recorded an 18 dB reduction, the highest of any Tiger structure we’ve ever tested. That’s the kind of acoustic insulation you would expect from a domestic interior wall, not a standalone cabin.

The warmth is equally striking. Because of the 70 mm solid walls, 100 mm insulated floor, 80 mm insulated roof, and 28 mm double glazing, the Galena holds heat in a way that feels categorically different from a 44 mm or 28 mm cabin. A small electric radiator on a thermostat is all it needs to remain comfortable around the clock — even in deep winter. There’s no draughtiness, no cold patches, no condensation creeping across the glass. It behaves exactly like a real indoor room.

Light Performance – Bright Without Feeling Exposed

Although the Galena doesn’t have the panoramic sliding glass of the Obsidian, the tall double-glazed doors and side windows pull in more than enough natural light. During our light tests in the Obsidian, we measured:

• 1200 lux outside
• 320 lux inside

A 27% retention rate is extremely good for a solid-wall, fully insulated building. The result is a space that feels bright, usable and pleasant, without the overexposed feel that some full-pane studios suffer from.

The Galena’s door layout should actually give an even more even spread of light across the room, making it ideal for working, reading or simply relaxing.

Structural Integrity – As Close to a Brick Extension as a Cabin Gets

Where the Galena truly stands apart is in the way it behaves structurally.

During our inspections of the Obsidian, we ran our usual empirical tests — the kind most manufacturers would rather reviewers didn’t do, but which matter deeply to real buyers.

Floor Rigidity

With a 75 kg weight placed in the centre of the room, the floor deflected just 1.2 mm.
That’s so low that the movement is likely coming from the laminate finish, not the structure beneath. The insulated SIP floor is, in practical terms, unyielding.

Wall Rigidity

Using the same 75 kg lean test, the rear wall moved 1.5 mm.
To put that in perspective, many 28 mm cabins move 4–5 mm under the same test, and even 44 mm log walls often register 2.5–3 mm.
So when we say this feels like a brick extension, that’s not hyperbole — it’s simply true.

You can lean against the wall with your full body weight, cup of tea in hand, and the structure won’t react.

Roof & Weather Protection – The Best Roof Tiger Have Ever Made

Most cabins live or die by the quality of their roof. It’s the part that takes the worst of the British weather, and it’s the part that cheapest buildings fail on first.

The Galena’s roof is the complete opposite of that risk.

With an insulated steel roof panel system, this is:

• Rot-proof
• Sag-proof
• Storm-proof
• Zero-maintenance
• Fully insulated
• Guaranteed to last longer than the buyer will likely own it

There’s no felt, no shingles, no exposed boarding — just a permanently weather-sealed, extremely tough, energy-efficient roof. It’s the kind of thing you’d expect on commercial buildings or modular homes, not garden rooms.

Windows, Doors & Security – Aluminium Changes Everything

Tiger’s decision to use aluminium frames and 28 mm double glazing is a game-changer. These aren’t upgraded cabin windows; they are domestic-grade fixtures. The weight, the smoothness, the airtightness — everything is leagues above what timber-framed windows can achieve.

Security is on another level as well. These are windows and doors that behave like home-security units. It would take a proper, full-force domestic break-in attempt to get through them.

That means:

• Computers
• Photography gear
• Specialist workshop tools
• High-value electronics

…are safe in a way that no 28 mm or 44 mm cabin can ever truly promise.

Heating, Running Costs & Real World Use – A Genuine 365-Day Garden Room

One of the biggest misconceptions about “all-year-round cabins” is that they’re all equal. Technically, you can use a 44 mm cabin all year, but you’ll feel the cold, you’ll hear the weather, and you’ll run a heater constantly.

The Galena sits in a different world.

Because of its insulation sandwich — solid 70 mm timber, SIP floor, insulated roof, airtight aluminium glazing — it retains heat like a small home office. A tiny heater is enough to make the building comfortable all year with minimal running cost.

This is the first cabin we can confidently recommend for:

• Daily working
• All-season use
• Storing valuable equipment
• Studio or business use
• Cold climates
• Exposed gardens

It’s not just usable in winter — it’s comfortable.

Galena vs Obsidian – Two Versions of the Same Exceptional Building

The differences between them are purely aesthetic and functional in terms of the doors.

Obsidian

Sleek sliding doors, more contemporary look, a slightly more panoramic feel.

Galena

Traditional opening doors with tall sidelights, a softer and more classic garden-room style, and often easier airflow in summer.

Structurally?
They are identical siblings.

Any Weaknesses? Only Matters of Taste

This is one of the rare reviews where the “criticisms” barely touch the building itself. We’re down to whether you like:

• The laminate flooring colour
• The interior paint scheme
• The look of aluminium vs timber

Structurally, thermally, acoustically, and mechanically, the Galena is as close to flawless as a garden building gets.

Final Verdict – One of the Best-Engineered Garden Rooms in the UK

The Tiger Galena isn’t a shed. It isn’t a hobby cabin. It isn’t even a “premium summerhouse.”
It is a micro-extension, a fully insulated, fully secure, fully engineered garden room built to a standard far above what most buyers ever get to see.

From the exceptionally low movement in the walls and floor, to the 18 dB acoustic performance, to the domestic-grade aluminium glazing, to the insulated steel roof that solves every long-term maintenance issue — this is a building that is genuinely designed for year-round, everyday use.

If you want a garden space that behaves like a proper room of your home — warm, quiet, secure, comfortable — the Galena is the cabin we would recommend without hesitation. It is, in every meaningful sense, one of the finest garden buildings Tiger have ever produced.