The pros and cons of your 1st sugar house

[Maple Hugger]

If you could go back and do it all over again, is there anything you would do differently in the construction or design the second time? Especially those of you that started with a smaller sugar house and then had to add on to it later when your operation expanded. I'm trying to keep a running list of things to keep in mind as we start plans for our own sugar house. It seems that no matter how much I plan there is always something I seem to overlook.

Also, I'd love to hear about what your favorite sugar house feature is. It could be anything from the way the doors open to the overall layout in general.

Looking forward to learning more from your experiences. I've really enjoyed looking at the photos that all of you have posted of your own sugar houses. Beautiful! My boyfriend and I are starting to think about the design of our first sugar house. Hopefully it will be ready to go by 2011. I can't wait!

[danno]

If you're laying a cememt pad, finish your cement smoooth and add floor grates!

[dschultz]

Maple Hugger
I have a 4x14 and it sits on a 10x18 slab 1 foot higher than the main floor so I don't have to bend over much to fire it.
That's the one thing I changed

[dano2840]

i would have built it my self and made and over hang on the coupala and sealed up the rafter spaces also made a stairs to get over the beam to get into the wood shed im going to do that any way also i would have made a seperate lean 2 for my feed tank instead of having it in the way

[red maples]

I think the biggest thing is make sure its big enough when you think you have enough room make it a few feet bigger. becasue there are many things you don't think about besides the evaporator like, where will you put tyour wood to feed into the evap will you have a chair or 2, how many people might visit while your boiling your going to need at least about 2 square feet at the draw off spigot, maybe a small wall mounted work bench and stool, a finisher, bottler, a space for all of your bottles, jugs, filters, extra tubing, 5 gallon cans, and what ever else you might need to store. I put a small loft in mine so I can get stuff up and out of the way. a place for a coffee maker. a nice little pump pot to put some syrup in so when people visit they sample, and also a nice little cabinet or something to put a few full jugs to sell when people stop by. I have already had people come to visit in the summer when when I was building it and the word got out about a new sugar house going up in the town.(small town)
so I expect to get a few visitors and to sell some as I'm boiling!!!! I know I made mine too small so I will expanding by another 6x 12 or something for next summer. and make the wood easy as possilbe to access. OH working windows helps with steam column to copula.

Hope that helps.

[Maplewalnut]

Draw up your plans, figure if everything will fit and then make it 12 feet bigger in each direction!

Seriously-smooth finish floor and floor drains are a must. Make sure you have a people door and a larger bay door for moving in big and small. Put some windows in, more the merrier in my mind, I have a bank of them facing south and love firing up before sunrise. Plan on a few closets or storage areas. I know if sounds feminine but you need some room to store stuff, whether its boxes of jugs, an RO, tubing etc, etc.

[Fred Henderson]

I would not cahnge a thing the way I built. I first made a plan then I worked the plan. As I expanded all I had to do was add some more length and cut a doorway in the now partition and put a door way in the end. The addition became the canning room.

[red maples]

I was going to get a smaller hobby evap so I would have a had alot more room in a 10x12 sugar house, but I went with a 2x6 and 200 taps with more to come instead. but the add on should be easy. just going 6 more feet out the back and wider and just bring the side walls down to 6 feet instead of 8 and make it 6x12 or 6x 14 or what every it come out to be!!!

[Haynes Forest Products]

First thing I would do is either Marry the guy or make sure you build it on your land:evil: :o :lol: As stated think about making your first sap shack the last sap shack. 220 power, running water, Alot of outlets, nice gas heater for all the time you want to spend in the shack when your not cooking, I just installed a big window in the end of the evap room after 18 years and it made it seem twice as big.

[JoeJ]

My first official sugar house 1987 was 10' x 14' with a 2' x 4' Leader evaporator. The building was too small. As I gathered information for my second sugar house ibn 2003, (I planned a 16' x 20' building with a 3' x 10' evaporator) just about every sugarmaker that I asked said that their sugar house was too small. So I decided to build a 20" x 24'. The building is too small. As you are more overcome by the infectious maple disease, you find yourself adding a filter press, then a stainless steel canner, then a RO, then a vacuum system, then more containers to store all the syrup you are making, and finaly more storage space. My suggestion, build it bigger.

The best feature of my sugar house is the post and beam construction which I really enjoy showing off to visitors

[3rdgen.maple]

I have been thinking and thinkin on this one. The best thing about my sugarhouse well all the memories of spending time with my gramps, dad and the rest of the family. The worst thing is the stupid door that is shorter than I am tall cause somebody got lazy and did not take a row of block out for the door ,don't ask. The only advice I got is make the roof and sidewalls high enough so when you outgrow it (which you will) you can put an addition on any of the walls without having to duck or bump your noggin.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Good point 3rdGen I was looking for a sap shack that I could move to my land when a buddy called and told me about a sap shack that also came with a 2X8 with arch, buckets table, chair, flue pipe, taps for $600.00, :) and a 5' 4" door that has every visitors DNA on it

[Russell Lampron]

Other than it being too small I like everything about my sugar house. Build it twice as big as you think it should be and it might be big enough.

[3% Solution]

Maplehugger,
Don't really know what I'd do different, everything happens for a reason.
I guess we're pretty happy to have had things the way they are.
Now if you want to know about my dreams and thoughts, I can do that.
If I could have the whole building the evaporator is in (16' x 16') now that would be very nice, room to move around.
Could have a table and chairs.
But, we have the 8' x 16' with attached woodshed and it is comfy and we like it!
Sorry, no big thoughts.

Dave

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I built mine 24x48 with a 8x24 woodshed on the end and this big building has a 2x8 evaporator in the middle of it and it isn't too big, just the right size and there is plenty of room if I ever went to a larger evaporator.

[Maple Hugger]

WOW! This has been so helpful! So basically the main thing I think is to make it larger than I think it needs to be. That seemed to be a common comment.

Why are the floor grates/drains so critical? Is that so you can easily clean the evaporator with a hose or are you guys just spilling a lot of sap? ;) If we do smooth cement could that potentially get too slippery? Is there a better way to finish cement to make it safer?

I love the idea of having a huge window to make the sugar house feel larger and to let in some light. Is there a certain distance that the evaporator needs to be kept away from any windows? And while we're at it, what's the minimum amount of distance that should be between the evaporator and any given wall?

Last year, was just our second year and we still had quite a few visitors. That's a smart idea to have a presentable, clean cabinet filled with ready-to-sell product whenever you have such a captivated audience. I can see how that would really come in handy.

Haynes, I'd love to build the sugar house on my own land, except my land doesn't have any maples on it. Dang! Maybe I could just not bolt the house to the ground in any way so that I can just pick it up and take it with me if it ever comes to that. Ha ha! :D I'll ask Santa for a trailer this year.

You guys are grrrrreat! Thanks! Let me know if you come up with anything else. If any of you Wisconsin Maplers would be willing to give a tour of your operation, I'd love it. Would be great to see your great ideas in 3-D.

[PerryW]

I built a 12x16 sugarhouse for my 2x6 21 years ago. After 1 year with my 2x6 I sold it and bought a 3x10.

I added a 6x10 shed roof off one end to accommodate my 3x10. This initial mistake actually ended up working great. Because I left the top part of the gable wall in place, the steam tends to stay out of the shed addition.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y235/perryW/SugarhouseSnowSmall.jpg

[dschultz]

My evaporator is 2' from the wall by the stack,wish it was 3,wall gets very warm.
If you want you can stop by and see my setup.
Dan

[red maples]

you should put up those things they use for woodstoves so you can put them closer to the wall. they reflect some of the heat they work great a little pricey but they do the trick.

[Clan Delaney]

Let me see.....

I would have built a set of stairs to get into it.

Silly me.... I still can!

[Sugarmaker]

Maplehugger good topic!.
top 10 things I Like:
1. I can do 360 degree walk around the evaporator, and I do this a lot while boiling and checking on things. Basically I placed the feed tank about 9 feet off the floor in upper rear loft. Evap room is 16 x 24
2. I built a nice set of stairs 3 feet + wide to the sap storage tanks in the loft.
3. The area under the sap tanks became the utility room, with water heater and sink. 12+ x 26.
4. Good drains are a must. Always washing things down. and rinsing little spills.
5. good lighting we have three 8 foot florescent lights in the evaporator room and two in the utility room.
6. I ran hot and cold water lines up to the sap tanks to allow quick rinsing each night.
7. motion lights in areas of infrequent use like wood shed (10 x 24) and loft ( 12+ x 16.
8. lots of light from three windows and a man door in the evaporator room,
9. benches and seats for a dozen visitors.
10. All ceilings are 8 foot plus. (except for the loft area which is 8 in the center only)

top 10 I might improve:
1. A place to store 30 rolls of tubing, 500 taps, that I have to take down.
2. storage for the 325 gallon tank and pumping system for the pick up.
3. sealed storage cabinet for boxes of jugs.
4. I went with mag trowel finish, its rough and not slippery but does hold the dirt more.
5. walls are not insulated so it is cold when not boiling.
6. more sealed storage areas.
7. dedicated sales and display area in front of sugar house.
8. finished kitchen area.
9. not large enough around evap., a little tight on the side of the arch closest to the east wall!
10. bigger wood shed.
We do have some pictures on our web site just click on the construction picture.

Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I did forget to mention that my ceilings are 10+ feet high and not a bit too high. I have 3 courses of 8" block around the outside and a stud wall just over 8' on top of the 3 courses of block, so I never had any water getting on the wall if I want to wash down. I hope to add a bedroom and kitchen next year and the inside walls with have 3 courses of 4" block for same reasons.

[3rdgen.maple]

WVM what a great idea with the xtra block. Wish I had them. I like to hose the floor down once in awhile and that would be a big plus.

[Maple Hugger]

Chris, I checked out the photos of your sugar house on your website. (Awesome music on the home page by the way) That thing looked like it was packed to the gills with wood! You must really go through a lot.

Smart idea with the block on the bottom of the walls. I wouldn't have thought of that. Tons of great ideas. The gears in my head are really turning now. I kind of chuckled when I read that someone wanted to attach a bedroom to the sugarhouse. But when I thought about it, It totally makes sense. When we boil, we don't get any sleep at all. After a while the exhaustion makes us painfully uncoordinated and sloppy. Would be nice to be able to take a power nap here and there. If not a bedroom, at least have room for a cot... Hmmmm. Lots to think about. The plan in my head keeps getting bigger and bigger.

[Tweegs]

We are in the planning stage of our sugar house too so I’ve been watching here with great interest.

We went on a tour of several sugar houses in the local area recently. While there were many things I found of value in each set-up, the top 2 construction ideas were:

1. In one house, the concrete at the rear of the evaporator was about 3’ lower than the pad the evaporator was on. Most of the wood was stored in this area also. Made charging the firebox much less of a pain in the back, I’m told.
2. One fellow devised a motorized shelf in his bottling room. He could lower the shelf to fill the bottlers, then raise the shelf to a comfortable height to bottle. With a large open “window’ between the evap room and the bottling room, he could reach through the window to fill the bottlers. With him on one side of the wall and the bottlers on the other, it prevented him from spilling any of the hot syrup on himself.

[danno]

Chris - forgot about the good lighting - good point.

I got rid of the florescents last year, and put in standard bulbs. I did not have the newer cold air florescents units, so those things would flicker forever and drive me crazy. The arch is insualted well enough, that when I'm boiling and it's cold, sugarhouse really never got warm enough to stop the flicker.

Might use a bit more electric, but at least I'm not seing spots.

[Sugarmaker]

MH,
Thanks on the positive website comments. My son Adam designed and built the web site. The music is our favorite song from 69 while dating, and describes our business (honey and sugar) and a lot about our lives.
I have the wood shed packed more this year. we make between 100 and 150 gallons of syrup each spring. So we do go through a lot of wood.
Good luck with the sugar house plans. And hope the boyfriend thing works out for you too:)
Regards,
Chris

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

As far as bedroom and kitchen, well, I agree, definitely different. I live close to 30 minutes away and will be a plan to spend a weekend night with the kids "camping out" and before going hunting next morning with my little hunting buddy. Also good for any late night or early morning boils!

[Littlesap]

MH,
Thanks on the positive website comments. My son Adam designed and built the web site. The music is our favorite song from 69 while dating, and describes our business (honey and sugar) and a lot about our lives.
I have the wood shed packed more this year. we make between 100 and 150 gallons of syrup each spring. So we do go through a lot of wood.
Good luck with the sugar house plans. And hope the boyfriend thing works out for you too:)
Regards,
Chris

Chris, wondering about the gray plastic tubs you are using to collect sap... I am in need of 5-6 of them for next year, can I ask where you got yours? Look like stock tanks, are they?

[danno]

Chris, wondering about the gray plastic tubs you are using to collect sap... I am in need of 5-6 of them for next year, can I ask where you got yours? Look like stock tanks, are they?

Looks like the plastic walmart "tanks" to me. I've used them as well as new plastic 35 gallon garbage cans - they work too!