Shanty sizing

[calvertbrothers]

What a good size sugar house for a 4x12 evaporator and ro? To work comfortable and maybe a clean room for making candy and cream?

[madmapler]

I have a 4x12 evap. and mine is 30x36. I stack my wood in it and have my RO room in it along with a 12' stainless sink. There is plenty of room and I can store 20 or so full drums without much trouble. My tanks however, are in a room adjacent to it.

[calvertbrothers]

I have a 4x12 evap. and mine is 30x36. I stack my wood in it and have my RO room in it along with a 12' stainless sink. There is plenty of room and I can store 20 or so full drums without much trouble. My tanks however, are in a room adjacent to it.
Did you have cement floor you build off of?

[BreezyHill]

Wow that is a loaded question. The Bigger the Better. LOL

Seriously, I have been in sugar shacks that have maybe 4' around the evap on the sides and back and 6 on the front for loading wood, to ones that the evap looks like a coffee table in a suite. They all wish they had more room.

I would suggest doing a drawing of what you want to do. Get a drawers scale so you can make it to scale.
I got a stainless sink and counter at an auction and it was the best $75 I invest all season. Problem is I left it near the canner so I could remove the old sink and cabinet and it has become a great place to set bottles of syrup for labeling. I found on ebay there are many different widths and heights of stainless tables. I like the back splash guard feature. These can be added to a wall along the evap leaving plenty of room to can during boiling with room for both activities at one time.

My room is 26 x 30 and I am enclosing the ro in a quite room and a cold storage room for bulk and bottled syrup. Rest is for tanks, bottling and candy area. Releaser and main collection tank is inside to keep a close eye on them and it aids in tour flow.

I do have a good helper crew since the three sons enjoy helping and their girl friends and often added friends so it is nice to have extra space for all to sit and talk while boiling.

Plus we just got the griddle from an auction 30x36 to cook pancakes on for easy meals...guess that means the wife wont be bring dinner down anymore :o

Keep your eve height so that you can expand out when you need.

[calvertbrothers]

Wow that is a loaded question. The Bigger the Better. LOL

Seriously, I have been in sugar shacks that have maybe 4' around the evap on the sides and back and 6 on the front for loading wood, to ones that the evap looks like a coffee table in a suite. They all wish they had more room.

I would suggest doing a drawing of what you want to do. Get a drawers scale so you can make it to scale.
I got a stainless sink and counter at an auction and it was the best $75 I invest all season. Problem is I left it near the canner so I could remove the old sink and cabinet and it has become a great place to set bottles of syrup for labeling. I found on ebay there are many different widths and heights of stainless tables. I like the back splash guard feature. These can be added to a wall along the evap leaving plenty of room to can during boiling with room for both activities at one time.

My room is 26 x 30 and I am enclosing the ro in a quite room and a cold storage room for bulk and bottled syrup. Rest is for tanks, bottling and candy area. Releaser and main collection tank is inside to keep a close eye on them and it aids in tour flow.

I do have a good helper crew since the three sons enjoy helping and their girl friends and often added friends so it is nice to have extra space for all to sit and talk while boiling.

Plus we just got the griddle from an auction 30x36 to cook pancakes on for easy meals...guess that means the wife wont be bring dinner down anymore :o

Keep your eve height so that you can expand out when you need.
The problem I had with my old shanty was I had to open the door to clean the the evaporator lol. And I have alot of friends it was to crowd for people to come over and have a few pops. I was thinking a loft in the shanty to have my concentrate tank to feed the evaporator. And to store extra supplies like sap buckets, line and jugs.

[unc23win]

I built mine 24'x36' and 10 foot walls with scissor trusses. I have 3.5x14 evaporator oil fired. I built my RO 12x12 in one corner. I was going to partition off a store room but I decided to wait. I have my evaporator to one side 5 feet from the wall and about 5 feet from the back wall it seems to work pretty good. I like the open space yet it is not too big in case I want to heat the building some day. I use the space over the RO room for storage. All my tanks are outside. Vacuum and such are in a shed above the sugarhouse I built mine into the bank at the bottom of the hill so I didn't have to build elevated decks for tanks. Tall walls are good for space for pre-heaters and if you were to add on some day by shedding off the sides you will still have good height on the addition.

I like the coffee table metaphor I guess some people either expect to have lots of friends over or just dream a little bigger. I sure wouldn't want to heat anymore than I had to. To each his own though.

[maple flats]

I have been in one where the evaporator looked "like a coffee table". That operation gets huge crowds of visitors regularly and they can't even fit everyone in all at once. In fact they charge for parking and the 200-300 car lot fills up at times.
My sugarhouse was built for a 2x6 and I never thought I'd ever need bigger. Just 3 years after building it I got my current 3x8 and with everything I have it is crowded for sure. I now believe it is like any storage barn, decide what you need, double it and in short order you will have half of what you need.

[madmapler]

Did you have cement floor you build off of?

I do have a cement floor.

[GeneralStark]

I do have a cement floor.

And this is the only way to do it. Put in floor drains and seal the cement once the slab is poured before you do anything else.

[Chicopee Sap Shack]

I second the floor drains. I didn't and regret it all the time. Also pitch the floor to the drains. A row of cinder blocks around the base is a good idea too it allows for washing and not spraying the walls


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[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I second the floor drains. I didn't and regret it all the time. Also pitch the floor to the drains. A row of cinder blocks around the base is a good idea too it allows for washing and not spraying the walls


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I laid up 3 courses of 8" blocks on top of concrete and then 8' walls on top of blocks. This gives me 10'3" ceiling and it isn't 1" too high. 3 courses of blocks allow me 2' of walls to not worry about splashing water on wood walls.