April Journal

[wnybassman]

As of tonight I have completely replaced all the wood I burned this year. Cut, split and stacked.

[unc23win]

I have managed to get a little work done in the woods. So far I have completely replaced one mainline including lateral and drops and picked up 67 new taps. Averaging over 50 taps to a 500' roll of 5/16" and 3 taps max per saddle. I am pretty pumped about it and I plan on working whenever I can. I took a 5 gallon pail with a lid and put my stuff in there and just leave it in the woods and run out and work whenever I can. It seems to be working well and the weather has been good for it. I am also making it so I can easily take my 4 wheeler or side by side between mainlines from the top down until they merge at the booster which will be nice.

[lyford]

I'm still finalizing plans for the new shack. Bassman, whats the pitch of the roof on your shack? Is the shack 12x18?

[wnybassman]

I'm still finalizing plans for the new shack. Bassman, whats the pitch of the roof on your shack? Is the shack 12x18?

It's only 10x16 with a 12/12 pitch

[lyford]

Bassman, are you happy with that size or do you wish you went bigger. I have 2x4 evaporator and am trying to decide if 12x18 will be big enough.

[Russell Lampron]

Bassman, are you happy with that size or do you wish you went bigger. I have 2x4 evaporator and am trying to decide if 12x18 will be big enough.

Go bigger! My sugar house is 12x24 with an 8x24 woodshed off one side and it is too small. My evaporator is a 2x6 and I can't go larger without a major redesign of the sugar house. The pitch of my roof is 13/12.

[wnybassman]

Bassman, are you happy with that size or do you wish you went bigger. I have 2x4 evaporator and am trying to decide if 12x18 will be big enough.

I am happy only because I had nothing before. Also, due to no level ground on our property, that size was about the biggest we could go and it still entailed cutting into the hillside quite a bit. If we had room, we probably would have gone a little bigger. I have had 9 people visit at once, and that was a little tight :D

[maple2]

When planning to build a sugarhouse you should figure how many taps you might have down the road, the biggest evaporator you will need,space for canning, maybe an r.o. and a big enough wood shed. After you draw up the plans, double it! I built my first sugarhouse in 1971, 12x16. I have added on seven times,including going up. Now it is 42x46. Still need more room!!

[lyford]

bassman, I was researching threads on shack builds in prep of my own build this summer. I came across your thread build but noticed all your pictures are gone. I have a couple questions for you if you dont mind. What size poles did you go with and what was your spacing between the poles. Did your use any concrete in the post holes or just backfilled with soil. I was also wondering what you used for a header. Did attach it to the side of your poles or stack directly on top of the poles. Thanks.

[mudr]

bassman, I was researching threads on shack builds in prep of my own build this summer. I came across your thread build but noticed all your pictures are gone. I have a couple questions for you if you dont mind. What size poles did you go with and what was your spacing between the poles. Did your use any concrete in the post holes or just backfilled with soil. I was also wondering what you used for a header. Did attach it to the side of your poles or stack directly on top of the poles. Thanks.

Obviously, this was not directed towards me, but I will share some design stuff with you. I just had a small company in Medina build me a pole shack design. 16x24. They specced out laminated 6x6 posts (engineered post, sandwiching three 2x6s together with staggered joints, pressure treated on the bottom and regular above), 8 ft spacing (pretty sure), with a double 2x12 header on top. They said a double 2x10 would work, but I wanted a heavier header so that it will be strong enough when I hang a lean-to on the side. Not much extra to go from a 10 inch to 12 inch post.

This is just the design for now. I just need to get on the permits, orders, and have someone do some site work. Hope to get building in August.

[Tweegs]

My shack is 12x24.
6x6 treated corner posts, 4x6 posts @ 8’ on center.
2x10 headers on the sides of the posts (one inside, one out).
A piece of 2x4 is used to fill the gap between the 6x6 corners and 4x6 posts when attaching the header.
All of the construction was done with treated wood, but I really don’t think that was necessary.

4” of concrete was placed at the bottom of each post hole.
Once the structure was complete, the post holes where backfilled with sand.

I went with a ridge beam as opposed to trusses and glad I did.
We have hoods on both the flue and syrup pans, which means 3 stacks total.
Navigating around trusses with 3 stacks would have been a pain.