Finally building my Sugar Shack!

[claystroup]

After 4 years boiling outside I have finally made the move to build a sugar shack. The excavating contractor came late yesterday and stripped the top soil and hauled in a crushed limestone base and leveled and compacted it. My shack is going to be 12' x 18' with an 8/12 pitch and 6' cupola in the center. I am building it on a treated wood floor system. All framing above the floor will be with native Michigan rough sawn pine from a northern Michigan Amish saw mill. I am going to make every attempt to make it look as vintage as possible. Can't wait to boil inside next year out of the weather.

[Mead Maple]

That’s awesome clay!!! Pumped for ya! I’m excited for that day to come but will take several years in the driveway as well haha.


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[Sugarmaker]

Awesome! You will love it!
take and post lots of pictures too!
Regards,
Chris

[maple flats]

I only boiled one year outside and that summer I started building my sugarhouse. Doing it alone and cutting the trees to be sawn by a neighbor slowed it down for sure, but I wanted to be able to say my 16x24 sugarhouse was all made from trees off my land. The next season I had a roof a, walls, doors and a partial floor made of wood, but it was a huge improvement. In 2-3 years I removed the wooden floor and poured concrete.
At this point my only regret is that I only made a 16x24' sugar house. At the time I thought that was huge for what I had planned. Lots of room all around the evaporator and bottling pan. Now just 17 seasons later I have 2 freezers, an RO room, a wood rack that I can carry with my tractor and forks, a filter press, a water jacket bottler, a 2x6 finisher, a micro wave, solar inverter and charge controller, a larger evaporator, a draw off tank on both the evaporator and the finisher, a 28x36" rolling rack, 6' tall with commercial size backing sheets for shelves (often used in bakeries), a sink and a water heater, plus about 22' of 2' deep counters against the outside walls. I should have made the sugarhouse 24'x36'. I had heard the saying about barns or storage buildings, "figure what you need, double it and you will have half enough", I just failed apply it to sugar houses.
Over the years I have often planned out an addition to add a kitchen, bathroom, and a cold cellar with a hoist to store barrels of syrup but when I had the time I didn't have the money, when I had the money I never had the time.

[johnallin]

After 4 years boiling outside I have finally made the move to build a sugar shack..... I am going to make every attempt to make it look as vintage as possible. Can't wait to boil inside next year out of the weather.

Vintage is a good thing, you will never regret having a beautiful sugarhouse. I know - and have never looked back. Congrats to you for sure!

[claystroup]

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2 weeks into my sugar shack project and the sod/topsoil has been stripped from the site by neighbor who is a small excavator and 20 yards of crushed limestone base has been placed and compacted. I had to build a short retaining wall on one end due to the pitch of the ground. Today I placed (4) 18' 4" x 6"s for the foundation. Tomorrow I will build the floor joist/floor package then it will be time to start building walls with the rough sawn lumber I purchased at the Amish saw mill. Hope to be roughed and shingled by Memorial Day to beat the summer heat.

[Pdiamond]

Clay, You are really going to enjoy boiling inside. Are you planning to put in electric and water?

[claystroup]

Electric for sure. Just need to run a line from my larger barn about 15' away. No plans for water but I normally run a garden hose from the house which is about 80' away to help with cleaning things up.

[MISugarDaddy]

Congratulations on getting a good start on your new sugar shack. When we built ours, we didn't get started until early June and I wished we had started earlier because we had 80 degree days while I was laying the blocks for the footings. Keep sharing the pictures.
Gary

[claystroup]

Got the treated floor system done yesterday. 2 x 6 that are 16" on center with lots of bracing and 3/4" treated flooring. Now on to framing the walls with the rough sawn lumber from the Amish saw mill. Not bad for a 60 year old retired guy. 2009120092200922009320094

[Pdiamond]

Your new digs are taking shape.I too will have water for next year with a hose. I am going to get a tank hot water heater from sportsmans guide. I got a brand new ss sink from my nephew with all new line and faucet for nothing but a jar of syrup. I will really be in heaven with that system. You are going to really like being inside. How big are you planning the cupola?

[claystroup]

Todays update on my Sugar Shack progress. Had a productive weekend and day today until the rain started this afternoon.201042010520106

[Ghs57]

This looks great. My biggest mistake with my shack is the dirt floor. My plan is to pour concrete this year (with radiant heat), run a proper sub-panel and water line, and build an extension. But this will have to wait until later in the year.

You will never regret it once you start to boil indoors!

[Trapper2]

Got the treated floor system done yesterday. 2 x 6 that are 16" on center with lots of bracing and 3/4" treated flooring. Now on to framing the walls with the rough sawn lumber from the Amish saw mill. Not bad for a 60 year old retired guy. 2009120092200922009320094

Looks great so far. If I may ask, why a treated floor instead of concrete?

[claystroup]

I went with a treated floor system instead of concrete for purely financial reasons. I got multiple quotes for concrete and they were all $1200 to $1500 more than going with the treated floor system. Construction is booming in our area and certain trades can name their price. Small jobs like mine would have been aren't desirable when bigger more profitable jobs are plentiful. I have no concrete experience but a lot of carpentry experience so I decided to do the treated system myself along with all the other carpentry work. It only took me about 7 hours to do the floor system myself so it worked out good for me. Also in our township, I will not be taxed on the building because it is not considered permanent. Our tax assessor said it would save me about $80/year over if I had built it on a permanent concrete foundation. As this is a hobby for me all the costs had to be factored in. My estimate to build my shack was $4200 to $4500 total and so far I am right on budget.

[Trapper2]

Those are all good reasons Clay. Yours looks nice.
I have the equipment and gravel for a base, so I will be doing concrete for mine, but I will be doing the concrete with a friend so the cost will be minimal.

[claystroup]

Time for an update on my new Sugar House. Finished the rafters today. Installed all the siding last week. I made one change from my original plan and that was going with a 6/12 roof pitch instead of an 8/12. This was done in an interest of age and safety. Namely, at 60 years old the 6/12 seemed much safer for me to frame in and walk on than an 8/12 would be. So far, I have cut every board and pounded every nail myself. Only help I have had was lifting the walls up once they were framed. I am out of lumber now so going to get another load at the Amish lumberyard. Time to build the overhangs and sheet the roof with 1" x 12" then on to framing the cupola.2012220123201242012520126

[Z/MAN]

Looking great. You are going to love making good syrup inside.

[maple flats]

Looks great! You will love it. I'm impressed with the progress you've made too.
Back in the 2 or 3 seasons I boiled on a wooden floor I made a platform using concrete blocks and capped it with a sheet of 18 ga. galv. sheet metal. It gave me a raised platform of 8" with a hearth out front. The Hearth stuck out 32" in front with a 1" bend down on each side and the front to keep sparks from getting to the wood floor and on my 2x6 arch the hearth was 46" wide (also with 1" folded down on the sides. Then a second sheet of sheet metal, also 18Ga. went under the first piece about 3" and extended under the firebox. That part was only 2" wider then the base of the arch and it also had 1" bend down on all edges except where it went under the hearth cap. I then had one block under each rear leg for height.
While I never had any problems with the wood floor, I was far more comfortable (peace of mind) after I removed that wood floor and put in the concrete. I used to use one side of the hearth width to stage my next fueling of wood on, it was quite handy.

[claystroup]

I have a Bill Mason 2 x 5 arch and pans and the ash pit does not sit on the floor but is raised off the floor about 10". I am going to get a piece of sheet steel approx 3' x 5' to put under the front of the arch to keep any sparks from landing on the treated floor. With Bill's arch very little if any heated is radiated to the floor.

[tbear]

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This worked out pretty good, was easy and looks kind of cool.2014020141

[tbear]

I was doing the previous from my phone, my apologies. Anyway, 2x4 frame, cement board on the bottom (i don't recall why) lay out the brick, fill the gaps with polymuric sand (from Lowes), water it down. Easy peasy. A 3x5 piece of steel works too. Nice job on the shack! Ted

[Warpath]

This place has been so helpful as I got my setup going last year I thought I would post a few suggestions after a season under my belt. The wood floor is no issue at all, I do recommend putting down some sort of rubber flooring under the arch. I purchased 2 universal truck bed liners from tractor supply which are 4' x 8' each and they catch any sap/syrup that happens to escape the pan. It is super easy to wipe clean at the end of a boil and no sticky floor issues. I glued (pl-400) concrete landscape stones from home depot 3 high and had zero heat issues, the floor always stayed cool. And you might think the whole thing might move setting on the stones like that but it does not budge. I actually tried to move it just a tiny bit to center my stack perfectly but no go. I used aluminum diamond plate in front of the firebox and that caught any embers and again I had no issues. The only thing I wished I had done about where your last photos show your progress was to frame in an opening at the peak of the cupola roof for the stack. Having to do it after the roof was on was much more work. Here are a couple of photos before the season got started, I've made a ton of changes now that the maple bug has bit hard. :D

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[claystroup]

Time for an update. Got the overhangs and fascia framed in this week. Got 75% of one side of the roof sheeted with 1" x 12" rough sawn pine today before I got rained out. Hope to finish getting the roof boards on tomorrow then get to frame the cupola this week then onto shingles.20150201512015220153

[claystroup]

Time for another update. 98% done!!! Only have about 2 hours of electrical left and need to purchase and install the double wall Stainless chimney pipe. Other than help raising the walls, I have done everything myself-glad I am retired and had the time to do it. Just finished stacking wood inside today and need to finish splitting some more then will be ready to go. Had 110 taps last year, going up to 150-160 this year. Will be nice to be in out of the weather.202632026420265202652026620267

[claystroup]

Some more pictures.202682026920270

[Mead Maple]

Woooooow! I had not visited this thread in a while but the shack looks amazing!!! You should be extremely proud of the work you have done. Congratulations and best wishes on a successful season and many rewarding seasons to come in your new Sugar house!


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[n8hutch]

That's a very nice looking sugarhouse that you built, you've got me thinking about painting my board &Batten siding.

[claystroup]

Funny thing on the paint I used. Went to local Sherwin Williams dealer when they had a 40% off sale and got a sample quart of Rustic Red and one of Barn Red. Try them on some sample boards and one was too red and one was too brown. Said what the hell and mixed both together and tried it on a sample board and it looked perfect. Took the board to SW and they matched it at no additional cost and thats what I used. Turned out exactly the way I pictured it. Thanks for all the positive comments-it has been a fun but long project.

[OGDENS SUGAR BUSH]

looks good Clay, like you said much nicer than standing outside

[claystroup]

Give me a call Rich and come on over/ I will give you the grand tour!

[Pdiamond]

Clay,
You sir have done one heck of a job building that sugar house. That should be a proud piece to show off in your yard. You have done a very nice job both inside and out.

[ducxsterdoo]

Looks great... love the traditional look...and the color is perfect!

[Trapper2]

Very nice. Looks GREAT!