Thoughts on sugar shacks

[twigbender]

I have to admit that I've only ever been inside two sugar shacks. One was a garage stall dedicated to that use and the other was a large commercial operation. I am going to start building as soon as the frost goes out this spring. I will have my arch/pans in there, finishing and bottling equipment, wood for the evaporator stove and storage for my equipment in the off season. In addition to the shack, I plan to put on a 12' lean-to for my sap storage tank and a few years worth of fire wood. I'm thinking of a 20' x 16' building. Hopefully, I'll settle somewhere around the 120-150 tap range and hope to produce 20-30 gallons of syrup per year.
What considerations should I have for this building? What do you think of the size, what about doors and their size, windows, storage, etc.?
I know there are a lot of folks on here that have built their own shacks and I would like to benefit from your collective wisdom.
Thanks!

[maplehound]

Sugar houses never seem to be big enough. My sugar house started out at 12x16 but now is 16x24. I went from a 2x6 evaporator to a 3x8 and now the sugar house is too small again. As for advice I would sugest that you have ample fire wood storage, and eas of getting it stocked in as well as a good way to get it to the evaporator. On mine I have slidig doors on two sides that I can open and drive my tractor through. That gives me easy accsess to stock up on my firewood and when the doors are closed It gives me easy accsess to the wood without going outside as well as gives me standing room for guest. Just remember you are stating out small but soon you will either grow tired of it and quit or like most will grow till you wished you had a bigger sugar house, evaporatore and woods. Also I would suggest alot of windows or at least a couple well places so you can see visitors coming and let alot of natural light in.

[tuckermtn]

we started at 12 x 20 with a 2 x 6. just added a 10 x 12 ft wood storage area. we went with the 12ft wide because we took down another building and just re-usd the trusses, plates, roofing, etc..

have a little bump-out in the back for a sap tank, but when we switched to a small round bottom feed tank, moved it inside.

wouldn't want anything more than a 3' wide evaporator in the house as it is...

plan on building some sort of bump-out eating area next summer...or may put in permanent power instead...

so always tweeking- but thats what sugaring is about...

some photos on my photobucket

[Pete33Vt]

These guys are right,a sugarhouse is never big enough. You alsways wish for more room. What you should think of on your lay out is how the whole rig will be setup. Like what side do you draw from? Where will people be coming in? And the list goes on. We have put a lot of thought into the sugarhouse we are building this spring. I like to see everthing from one area. I can sit there and draw syrup, turn around and take maybe three steps, and I am at my filter press, I can look up and see the levels in my tank, I can have people come in and not blow cold air alover my rig. And have enough seating away from the rig so company is not standing right in the way when your trying to boil.

[royalmaple]

You can take a look at our picture links to see what others on here have done.

Everyone has different features. You would be ahead of the game if you could take a drive and visit a bunch of sugar houses, then you can get ideas seeing something and then the light bulb goes on.

Your going to have some different circumstances than someone else.

I'd make sure you have pleanty of room for dry wood, depending on if you are trucking sap or collecting it onsite. Find a way to have the lines flow into your tank, and have the tank flow into the evaporator. Big help not having to pump. Or if you do have to pump, see if you can reduce the amount of pumps you need to do.

Plan for expansion.
my sugarhouse is 16x20 with 8x16 wood shed on the back. I went off the vermont sugarhouse plans you can buy and modified from there. You can still order the plans from the VT. ext.

[SapSuckers]

check out:

http://www.desjardinsmaple.com/

and go to the section on sugar house pictures. Many of these pics are from fellow maple traders and can give you good ideas on building your own sugarhouse.

[twigbender]

I did check out the sugar shack photos. Wow!! I've got some work to do if I'm going to keep up with you Nor'easter's and your shacks. I'm going to put steel on the roof and a board and batten siding. I'm thinking of raising the floor about a foot around the evaporator just to make loading wood easier. As soon as I get my syrup done and the equipment put away I should be able to start putting the footing in. Can't wait!! And thank you, guys.

[Sugarmaker]

Sam,
Good Questions and good luck on the new sugarhouse! Ours was a fun project and a lot of work but we have enough room for visitors and can still boil syrup. I also followed some of the std plans for a 16 x 24 evaporator room then added on a wood shed and a kitchen under the sap storage tanks.
This is about right for a 3 x 10. any bigger and the rooms would need to be enlarged. We have about 900 SQ feet + the tank storage. 320 for Evaporator room, 240 for wood, and 320 for clean up area.

Regards,
Chris

[hholt]

Twigbender I got a pdf version of the sugarhouse plans from the Vermont Extension last year, but the file is on a different computer. I will post them on Monday. I think they are the same plans Matt mentioned. I started ripping a 24" by 17' red oak log with my chainsaw last week. My plan is to timber frame a small 12x16 shack with the beams. My saw only has an 18" bar so it's gonna take a while. It is taking a double cut just to split it, but then it should go faster.

[twigbender]

Thanks again for the advise. I'll look forward to seeing your pdf plans.

If you're ripping a 24" red oak log, with a chain saw, I can tell you're not afraid of sweat! A timber frame would be fun to build, but I've never gotten around to it. Besides, I have way too much lumber stacked up from my annual pilgramage to the sawmill with a load of logs that I just could not stand to see go to waste or into pulp. Good luck with your timber frame!

[hholt]

Twigbender It looks like the PDF file is too big to post here on the website, but if you send me an email I will attach the UVM etension sugar house design plans.