Modified and multipurpose building or new sugar shack

[mudr]

I am looking to buy a "real" evaporator (2x5 now, max ever would be 2x6) in a year or so and would like to boil inside sometime thereafter. Once the sale goes through in a month or so, I will own a 30x40 pole barn style, metal sided shop (and my house). The shop is about 12-14 from the concrete floor to the rafters and is metal roofed. Also in a month or so, the entire south roof of the shop will be covered with solar panels (yay!).

On one hand, this might be a good existing building to put an evaporator in. It already has 4 sides, a roof, concrete floor, and electricit, and would not be that much work i guess. On the other hand, a 4 wheeler, mid sized tractor and loader, small john deere b (that may be for sale to get $ for evaporator), generator, and lots of tools already reside in there. I could make room fairly easily, but issues regarding dirt, steam, need to close off a section,and putting a hot running wood burner in a building with $25,000 worth of solar equipment makes me leery.

My other option would be to build new. There are a few places I could put another out buidling. I would go for a 12x16ish size shack. Purposely built for maple, concrete floor, board and batten. This would be nice because it would be specifically for malpe, so it won't cause water damage on tools and equipment, and it won't share and building with other dirty equipment. But, money... so my questions:

-which way would you go?
-would the fda or nys be opposed to the evaporator sharing a building? I will be filtering and bottling in my kitchen, only boiling in the shop.
-What would a basic 12x16 run me in materials. Note, my uncle in law that introduced me to sugaring has a sawmill and could be a source of generously - priced siding.
-Regarding sizing and layout if shacks, any reason why an evaporator could be turned perpendicular to the long axis of a shack? To me, that would be a more efficient use of space. Most pictures I see have them centered under the roof peak.

Sorry for the length.

[n8hutch]

I would Figure on about 25.00$ a square Foot to build A non Insulated building. You would Definitely save some money on your own lumber but I still would be surprised if you did it for less than 4500.00$

[rayi]

Go bigger both the building and evaporator. I thought a 2 by 6 would be too big. That was 2 years ago. Now looking at an RO to keep up

[RC Maple]

You are probably right to "be leery" of having all of those things occupying the same space. I am sure it could be done if need be but you would be much happier with a building designed for what you are using it for. That is easy to say for someone replying to your question I know. When planning my building, I took the rough idea I had and had Menards feed that into their program and kick out a materials list and a dollar amount to work from. You didn't mention how you were getting steam out of the building. You could always try it for a season with what you have and plan your building for next year. That could take some of the pressure off to get it all done. Good luck.

[BreezyHill]

We had stored our snowmobiles in the sugar house in the off season and would clean the carbs and general maintance in there until 2012 when I was informed of a NYS provision that mandated no fuels, oils exhausted, etc. in a sugar house. I had even split a tractor that summer in there on the concrete floor. Nice and cool in the hot summer days.

We run a 2x6 and RO. RO is the work horse and will have 4 4x40" membranes next season when we retube to 1200+ taps.

I like to have 6' from the wall to the fire box door: chair on wheels to sit in and fire the rig, Enough space so the radiant heat doesn't singe your face is very nice. I could live with 5'. You will want enough space to roll a draw off tank/ press setup from the rig to your bottling area. If using a hood to collect and preheat you can pretty much put the rig anywhere you see fit.

As for fire risk...the value of your rig and equipment will get to $25K pretty quick. Have a few fire extinguishers handy in the event of a mishap.

[maple flats]

Similar here. I used to put my ATV in the sugarhouse during the summer, but then I was told it could not be stored there so I had to get another storage shed.
When I built my sugarhouse it was for a 2x6 and I thought I'd never get any larger evaporator. With a 2x6 it was full but not over crowded. Then I got a 3x8, an RO and a 2x6 finisher, it is now way undersized. I have a real need for about 350-400 SF more space, unfortunately it won't happen this year. Hopefully next year.