And so it begins

[optionguru]

I just put in the main posts for my soon to be 14x16 sugar house. I figured as long as I got the posts and concrete in before the ground freezes up I can pick away at the rest through the winter and have a big push to finish in the spring. I blame all of you for posting your great pics of sugar houses and evaporators sitting in dry warm comfort. The last two years it seems most of my boiling has been in the rain.

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[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

Nice, looking good !!! it's all worth it. good luck getting it done. take care

[maple flats]

Looks like you should have good access to power, I see the power line and transformer nearby.
You are just about at the stage I was at the year I built mine. I had a pit dug to put in a footer and base for the acrh the day before thanksgiving. Then I ecked away at the job, set poles, framed it and was finally ready to place the homemade trusses on Dec. 31. We had a big work party with my married kids, their spouses, their kids, and a neighbor with a friend. We managed to raise the trusses without a tractor/loader, and place them, anchor and brace them all in one day. Then I added the purlins and had everything ready a few days later (the next weekend) and my oldest son came and helped me put up the steel roofing.
You won't ever regret building a sugarhouse, well worth the cost and effort.

[Bucket Head]

I second what Dave said. My only regret regarding my sugarhouse is that it went up two years ago. It should have gone up ten years ago.

Steve

[wnybassman]

Looking forward to seeing the progress!

[Dennis H.]

Good luck. Keep us posted with lots of pics.

[RC Maple]

Congrats on your upgrade. Maybe many here started out boiling outside but I thought if I was going to make syrup I was going to do it inside and not in the wind, rain, snow and whatever else nature could do to make it less than pleasant. I haven't regretted that but others that started outside may have even more appreciation for what many go through to be able to make syrup. Good luck with your project. Building our sugarhouse was one of the best parts of our whole beginnings of a great family tradition.

[wishlist]

I can't help but notice the obvious slope in the background. Only slope we get in mid Michigan is from the road commission over filling pot holes.

[BreezyHill]

I blame all of you for posting your great pics of sugar houses and evaporators sitting in dry warm comfort. The last two years it seems most of my boiling has been in the rain.


Well it looks great but you are missing one thing...be certain that you are getting pics of the build with all the helpers in the pics at one time or another. Some of my fondest memories were of boiling sap in our first lento that we used for 6 seasons. No pics of that. The second sugar shack was closer to the house and large enough for a 2x6. One pic of that. Then we moved into the current sugar house...26x30...yup cant find any pics of dad boiling so far or off any of the family that is dead now. So now I am snapping pics with the smart phone all the time.

So when you see something that makes you smile, laugh, and if any of those teenagers are boys...those moments that just make you shake your head; whip out that phone and save that moment, to share with others in the future.

Memories fade but photos go on and on.

Also drive a stack at a point you can take progress pics of the sugar house so you can put them in a slide show...those are awesome to watch.

Great Job!!!

Ben

[wishlist]

Well said breezy.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

Very good point. I give my wife a little crap with all the pics she takes , but they are priceless captured moments KIDS GROW FAST THEN FLY FROM THE NEST !!!!

[optionguru]

Thanks for all the well wishes and ideas.

One question to start, I have the poles with about 10 feet sticking up above grade, should I make the shack as tall as possible or cut down to 8' for more standard lumber? Initially I thought about going with 9' walls to have a little extra space but wasn't sure if the cupola being lower and closer to the evaporator made a difference.

[unc23win]

I am not sure what your plans are as far as expansion and such but if I were you I would go with 10' walls. If you are using rough cut for siding you can get it whatever length you want. A little extra height is a good thing.

[morningstarfarm]

Congrats...looks great...and the big thing I noticed in your pic is that you have plenty of room to expand!

[sjdoyon]

Go as high as you can. You might need the head room down the road and you'll be glad you have it. We didn't and had to put our concentrate tank just under the rafters. Each time we clean the tank, usually bump our head.

[optionguru]

Cupola question, I was planning on building basic trusses 10' 2x6 for the tops and a 14' 2x4 on the bottom to span the 14' width of the sugar shack. Is there a reason not to leave the trusses in place where the cupola will be or do I have to cut out the top section and frame out the opening?

[maple flats]

My cupola spans 2 truss openings, thus I have 1 truss in the center of my cupola. It seems to be just fine that way.

[COMSTOCK MAPLES]

I have 2 rafters run right up in to it. Don't see any problems yet.

[optionguru]

Thanks Dave and Comstock, you saved me a day.

[Sugarmaker]

Make the head room as HIGH as possible. I thought 10 foot ceilings were two high, but now only have a few inches of head room with all the goodies added to the arch.
Get a roof on. Get some walls up, move the arch in, and then tap trees, the rest will fall into place:)
I enjoyed building our sugarhouse. And we are just getting settled into it after 15 years!
Yes take lots of pictures, your making family memories.
Regards,
Chris

[optionguru]

Here are pics of the progress so far. Now that season is over I'm getting a few hours a weekend to work on it. Me and my two boys are working on it together. My wife and daughter come by with beer, soda and food for moral support. Can't wait to be able to boil inside next year and it will be pretty nice to have all my tubing and buckets a little more organized and out of the way.

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[BAP]

Looking good. You are going to have something to be proud of and enjoy for years to come.

[optionguru]

Little more progress.

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[optionguru]

Latest update. I was able to get a couple of 4 to 5 hour stretches these last couple weekends to get the roof done. Now to start siding and windows.

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[spud]

Nice looking sugar house.

Spud

[mudr]

Looks nice so far. May I ask, and please feel free to decline, any estimate as to how much a shack of this size is going to cost you? I will be getting a new, "real" evaporator next year, and would like to boil undercover within a year or two after that. From some of the previous shack builds Ive seen on here it costs around $8-9 a sq ft for a more basic shack. I'd like something like 14x20, and that math tells me about $2500 total. That seems to be somewhat reasonable.

[optionguru]

I would say that number is pretty accurate. I'm friends with a local saw mill owner and I believe he gives me a good deal. Lumber, siding and roofing were about $1,200. Concrete and rebar were about $600. I got a deal on windows about $150 for 4 and made my own trusses. I'm sure there's a few hundred in assorted stuff not accounted for. I already owned all of the tools and did pay someone to do the concrete since the few times I've poured it never comes out real smooth. I did most of the prep work so he only charged me $150.

Good luck with your project.

[optionguru]

Latest update pics. I just may be done before 2016 starts. Once the roof is on, it's pretty tempting to do other projects. I keep thinking, at least I'll be dry next year... Still conflicted on the stack. I think I would prefer to elbow out the back wall and then up, any thoughts?

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[unc23win]

I think the stack straight up is the best and looks the best from inside and out.

[maple flats]

I agree, the stack should go straight up, no elbows. If you were to use 2 elbows, you would need a stack with double the area that is in the stack you show in the picture. Each elbow is a rather large loss in draft.

[RC Maple]

i'm sure you'll really enjoy being inside and dry next year! Congrats on your progress - looks good.

[sugarmaker94]

I agree the stack should be straight, I had elbows on our evaporator stack for a while and the draft was reduced by quite a bit

[optionguru]

Last question about the stack (I think), If the stack is going to be twice as high as it was before would that make up for elbows? What if there were 4 45 degree transitions instead of 2 90's, still the same?

[maple flats]

If you think you must go out the wall first before going up, 45's are far less restriction, but I don't recall how much. I'm thinking 2 45's would be somewhere around 50-60% of what a 90 is, but I have no data to back that up. I'll try to see if I can get a better figure.

[maple flats]

I just did some checking but all I could find was that 2-45's are better than 1-90. They did not state by how much better.

[optionguru]

Thanks for the info everyone.