New Sugar Shack Question - roof sheathing & steam exposure

[briduhunt]

I am working on my new shack 10'x12' with a 10' ceiling. I have a question on the under side of my roof and side walls. They are all flake board and exposed to the inside of my shack. I do not have a steam hood this year and maybe for a few more years, I was wondering if the steam will effect the flake board much like water exposure does. I do not have to much more left in my budget this year for any other work, but I do want to protect my investment. I do have a ridge vent and I am planning on putting in a 10" pipe with roof jack fo future steam hood this year. Will there be any problems with the expouser to the steam, and if so what is the best and cheapest way to protect it.

Thanks for any ideas

Brian

[mapleman3]

The question needs some more info.... what size evaporator? that will determine if there is a small amount of steam in there or a boatload !! the ridge may let some out... a steam vent is a must! so if you can get it vented out then you may be ok.... I do think though that through time that flake board(osb) with swell with the amount of moisture. you could spray a spar/marine varnish on it but not sure i would so that... in a few years it may dry up and start flaking off try to vent the steam out and you'll be alright.
even with a coupla, my last 2x6 made a whole lot of steam and it would rain sometimes in the sugarhouse off the metal roof... so even though yours is wood it shows how much steam can be up there.

[Yorkholomaple]

Brian, Like mapleman3 i think the osb will absorb alot of the moisture. Even if it doesnt look like it after this season it doesnt mean it has not already done some damage to the wood causing it to possibly flake later like he said. If ya let us know the size of your evaporator i have a homemade hood that went to the back of my 2x8 i would be willing to get rig of pretty cheap if it would work for ya. If your evaporator is smaller you could still hang it above it or shortin it if u wanted. Always willing to help out a fellow sugarer! Tom

[briduhunt]

My evaporator is a 2x6 Leader. I have seen at a larger producers shack a wood steam hood that he has finished the inside of the hood with a polyurathane and the outside is bare wood. The opperator told me that he left the outside side of the wood bare so it could breath. On this hood there is a gutter ran all the way around to catch the water from the steam. Any other ideas would be helpfull.

Brian

[Haynes Forest Products]

I have OSB on the walls of my shack and it was sheeted on the inside with 1/2 back in 1991 and was painted with latex semigloss. The trick was to not put the label side out so that the paint would soak in. OSB has a coating on it so that it can withstand rain or snow for a very short time during construction and that finish wont allow paint to soak into the wood (yes OSB is wood) we soaked the hell out of it with paint and 17 years later it is as good as ever and once a year I lightly power wash it in the spring.

[Russell Lampron]

Brian,

Build your sugar house bigger. I have my 2x6 in a 12x12 sugar house and it is tight. There's not much room at the front and it gets mighty hot when firing. There isn't much room for visitors either and I am always worried that someone is going to get burned.

[Sugarmaker]

Brian,
I built our sugarhouse in 2000 and use plywood in the evaporator room ceiling and OSB in the wood shed. I now see a small amount of mold on the OSB where heat comes out of the door. They plywood still looks great. We do have steam hoods and vents and 90% of the steam goes out the stacks. If you have a open 2 x 6 expect a lot of steam.
Some type of good moisture proof coating as suggested would be good insurance.

Regards,
Chris

[Haynes Forest Products]

There is nothing worse than trying to scoot past someone in a tight sugar shack and getting your pants caught on the draw off ball valve handle unless your in there with the farmers daughter showing her around

[briduhunt]

Well I can not do anything about the size of my shack as I all ready have it 80 percent completed. I do have another question on venting the steam and that is how big of a pipe should I use to go out the roof. I have determined that I will used a wood hood this year and seal the inside of the wood and now I need to determine the size of the vent pipe. I want to cut in the vent pipe and smoke pipe this weekend before I put the shingles on. I am venting the smoke out with 6" and was thinking of using a 10" pipe for the vent but not sure it is proper, to big or small. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Brian

[TapME]

I would think that bigger would be better because it is hard to make it bigger after the fact. Just my thoughts

[Haynes Forest Products]

My steam hood vent pipe is 12" and it works great

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have one 10" pipe venting all of the steam on my 2x8 and the front part of the hood is suspended above the syrup pan. 12" would have been better for me due to the fact the front part is suspended and pulls air outside the hood and even when it is boiling off around 70 gph, it still works fine.

[peacemaker]

my brotherin law is a painter and i asked him this ? abot my new sugar house which is old but new to me.it is osb for now my goal is some day to side the outside and put up new walls inside which are very washable ... but for now and cause i want to treat the osb which will stay up ...and be inside the walls he suggested a good bathroom or kitchen primer and then add to it some good marine varnish ...it will be white and sealed well

[dano2840]

Hi my names dan
im 16 and getting into the sugaring buisness
im building a 20x30 sugar house. i took gravel out of the river(the legal way) and was going to set some stones on the gravel and build the sugar house on them.
im going to make a concrete pad for the arch (thinking of buying a 4x12 but debating weather i want to put 2000 down or not) but i was wondering: Am i making a big mistake by not pouring the whole sugar house floor?
or will i be ok if i just put the arch on concrete?
Thanks Dano

[Haynes Forest Products]

When I came home with my sugar shack on a semi trailer and slid it into position on a bed of gravel that was compacted with a front end loader I proped it up off the ground with field stones till it was plumb and formed the outside with scrap wood and backfilled the sides with gravel and had the cement truck shoot the concrete in the door and leveled it with a shovel and troweled it smooth. 17 years later its the best thing I ever did spend it now and love life.

[tyrod2]

my brotherin law is a painter and i asked him this ? abot my new sugar house which is old but new to me.it is osb for now my goal is some day to side the outside and put up new walls inside which are very washable ... but for now and cause i want to treat the osb which will stay up ...and be inside the walls he suggested a good bathroom or kitchen primer and then add to it some good marine varnish ...it will be white and sealed well

I sprayed my inside walls of my sugar house with tsc tractor paint. Six years and It still lookes good. It workes for me. It took two gallons of paint. If I add somthing new to the sugar house I can touch it up with spray cans.

[RickinFarmington]

The new sugar house is done and a great deal was made for metalbestos stack system. For a number of reasons, poor planning ranking number one, I have a single wall stack that is eight inches from my t1-11 back wall. This feeds a metalbestos system through the roof.

Saw a product that is more or less a second single wall pipe that wraps around the stack with a one inch air space between the two. This in effect allows for a six inch clearance vs the standard 18 inch clearance to combustible walls.

Now the question I pose is what is wrong with: Insulating the wall with two pieces of 3x5 1/2 inch cement board, or insulating the wall with a three by eight foot piece of galanized roofing material.

Buying more metalbestos or moving the evaporator are at the very bottom of my option list. I really don't want to burn my shack down on the first season.

Tks Rick

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

Go with the wrap around the stack to make it double walled, you shouldn't need to do much else. If you are too concerned, staple up some ceramic blanket on the wall or trusses that are closest to the stack.

[Grade "A"]

I would do the same. double wall pipe and ceramic blanket or cement board. The good thing is that you are always there when the pipe is hot so you can keep an eye on it.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Everything helps 1/4 tile backer is a great way to sheild the wall from the heat plus the doubble wall pipe is all you need.

[RileySugarbush]

If you put anything on a combustible wall subjected to radiant heat, it's best to leave an air gap on the wall side.

[maple flats]

Most of us don't but the proper clearance from a single wall pipe is 36". Each time you add a 1" space and another non combustable layer you cut the distance in half. Thus, 1=36", 2=18",3=9",4=4.5". Never have seen the 4 layer but i have used the 3 and my area requires fire dept inspection for safety if the public is going to ever be in the sugarhouse. My rig always passed the fire inspection.