Live-in Sugar house combo

[miohman]

I am looking to build a sugar house/residence combo. Has anyone built such a building and have pictures/plans that they would like to share? We will be 1000 taps or so and growing slowly each year and as far as the house goes my wife and I are pretty simple and don't need much. Any help is appreciated



Still making syrup in the Upper Peninsula,
Micah

[Ausable]

Hey! The Mrs. and I have started watching a show on TV called "Building Wild" - on the National Geographic Channel. Recently - Our Heroes built a combination Sugar Shack - Cabin for a Father and Son. The neat thing about the build was - that most of the Maple Sugar Making Equipment could be hidden or converted to other uses in the off season. The name of this episode was "Maple Syrup Motor Club" - If You care to find it with a search engine.

[mountainvan]

Thanks to a flood I have just what you want. 20x24 sugar shack, used to be my living room. 20x40 storage area, original schoolhouse. 20x24 living area, kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom. Thanks to a steam hood all the drywall is still in good shape. Have fun building your sugarcamp.

[Michael Greer]

I'm thinking that a shared space would be both dusty and steamy. I DID visit a large sugarhouse that had an attached family camp out front. They had running water, hot showers, a real kitchen big enough to feed the extended family, and couches and TV for the kids. It looked like fun, but there was a closed, weather-tight door between the two sections of the building.

[mountainvan]

Here's a picture of my sugarcamp.

[miohman]

Here's a picture of my sugarcamp.

That's about exactly what we were thinking. Do you have any plans or pictures of the layout/blueprints? We were thinking a separate space but connected buildings

Micah

[markct]

Why not seperate building near but not connected. For one thing in the event of a sugarhouse fire you dont lose your home. And in the event of a house fire you dont lose your business. Also some food regs dont allow food produced in your residence, lets not forget the regs are becoming more strict by the day. Also it may create insurance issues as your biz and home are one. Myself i would go seperate yet near. I keep my sugarhouse neat and clean but its still way more damp and dusty than my house is. And sugarhouse visitors are generaly good folk but til i know them better they can socialize in the sugarhouse rather than my home!

[mountainvan]

I can't help with plans, they did not survive the flood. All sections are seperate with there own doors outside. The schoolhouse/ barn is connected to the sugar house by a door. I want to put in sliders/ french doors between the sections so I can move around easier between them. The sugar house has a concrete slab for a floor. the only reason I did this is because the building was severely damaged during hurricane Irene, as was my old sugar shack which is a seperate building. It was either tear down our old home or turn it into my sugar spa. I do agree with mark on all his points and would recommend a seperate building for the syrup. I am very happy with my current setup and if my wife ever kicks me out of the home we bought after the flood, I have somewhere to go!

[maple flats]

You might have insurance issues after building such a structure. Many ins. companies will not insure a home if the sugarhouse is too close to the sugarhouse. Check out that end before getting into it too deep.

[Clarkfield Farms]

...and financing. If you'll be getting a mortgage, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone willing to loan on a mixed-use new construction deal. A few (at least a few used to) may be willing to finance a purchase-money transaction (existing structure), but no matter what you'll be paying a far higher interest rate. At best, yours will be a non-conforming loan. Possibly a small local lending institution with a genuine business name, not something like "Guido's Got Money," may be willing to finance portfolio (in-house) since the loan will not be very saleable on the secondary market. And stay away from "Guido" and the like. :o

Codes may not even allow you to have such a structure.

Mountainvan, you must've built that on the west side of the mountain, lol! :D

[miohman]

I think that I will build two separate buildings. There are a lot of good points here that I will have to check into.

Micah

[mountainvan]

My current sugarcamp was the home where i raised my kids, the evaporator is where we used to put the Christmas tree, and was built with permits and such. If the building did not have three ft of water flowing through it it would still be our family home. Luckily we had no mortgage and I could do what I wanted with the building, within reason. So far it has worked out well and hopefully continues to do so. having a maple syrup evaporator in your living room is pretty cool though.good luck with your plans Micah.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Really neat, especially with the picture that says it all!


My current sugarcamp was the home where i raised my kids, the evaporator is where we used to put the Christmas tree, and was built with permits and such. If the building did not have three ft of water flowing through it it would still be our family home. Luckily we had no mortgage and I could do what I wanted with the building, within reason. So far it has worked out well and hopefully continues to do so. having a maple syrup evaporator in your living room is pretty cool though.good luck with your plans Micah.