Shack on a budget

[Pdiamond]

Sounds familiar. I built a sugar house around my first evaporator, after the first year of using a tarp and boards to keep the weather out, and off me. Man what a game changer that was. So much nicer to be warm and dry and have lights to boil at night even it it was raining.

[Swingpure]

My wife is on board with me doing the Maple Syrup, but was not on board with me putting another permanent or semi permanent structure anywhere near the house. The sleeping cabin, garage, shed, three covered wood sheds and three other areas with uncovered wood, that I have built or created in recent years, may have something to do with that. I am still building my 8x10 “sugar shed”, but it will be more sectional than originally planned. I will put it up around March 1st and take it down after the sap season is over. If I really get into this activity, I may build something larger further away.

I will assemble everything now, so I have all of the pieces and then will dis-assemble. I put up one wall today, it is actually two pieces with a third top plate piece, joining them. The opposite wall will be the same, but two feet taller. The roof will be metal. I will build that so it will be easy to take apart. The same for the end walls.

There will not be a ton of room in there. It is mostly meant to keep rain and snow off the evaporator, but there will be enough room to work on each side and a place to sit at the front corner.

I have to bring in some more fill to level off the work area. Just day one, it should look a little more substantial tomorrow. It is also a work in the beta stage and I will make design changes as I go along if I see any faults.

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[Swingpure]

I put up another wall today and some cross pieces. Since I have to take it down, I am going to measure and cut the remaining pieces, but not attach them. I will have to wait until March 1 to see what the final product looks like. My metal roofing arrives within a week. I will have to find a nice dry place to store everything, so I do not have to dig it out.

In the meantime I will add more fill around the evaporator to make for a flatter walking area and to provide more support around the deck blocks.

All of the 2x6’s were free, I just had to pay for the deck blocks, screws and the roofing, which I got a good price on. So it cost about $300 Cdn so far.

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[darkmachine]

I used recycled(free) materials on our shack too. we have a different evaporator now, but the shack is basically the same. I think we took as much pride in making sure our supplies were free or cheep as we did in our syrup, lol. I went with a shed roof too, steam vents well on the high side.

[Pdiamond]

Darkmachine, that looks almost identical to my first shack. The one exception is you have a solid door and I had a tarp for a door.

[Swingpure]

I used recycled(free) materials on our shack too. we have a different evaporator now, but the shack is basically the same. I think we took as much pride in making sure our supplies were free or cheep as we did in our syrup, lol.

I like your sugar shack! And I like the cost!

I will see how mine works this spring and how much effort it takes to build and take it apart. I would need a dump truck full of fill to level off an area away from the house, where I could build and leave a structure up. Mine is currently 8x10. I can build up to 9x12, without requiring a building permit and I could reuse almost all of the material from this one.

[darkmachine]

We were limited to 100square feet without a permit, so the posts that hold up the roof sit on an 8x12 frame. The area off to the right in the picture is considered "overhang". We were skirting the rules for sure. Our plans for a new shack are in the works, there will be mixed feelings when the old one comes down but I have plans for most of the old shack. Waste not want not, lol

[Swingpure]

We were limited to 100square feet without a permit, so the posts that hold up the roof sit on an 8x12 frame. The area off to the right in the picture is considered "overhang". We were skirting the rules for sure. Our plans for a new shack are in the works, there will be mixed feelings when the old one comes down but I have plans for most of the old shack. Waste not want not, lol

You inspired me. I am not waiting to next year, I will move everything this year. Today I took down all of the framing, and disassembled some of the evaporator. I will disassemble more later today.

I have access to some free fill that can be dumped for free, but I know it will have some clay in it, so I will have to talk to my friend with the tractor to see if he can work with it.

The new sugar shed will be 9x12, but following your lead, I will add room on the sides, one side will hold 2.5 face cords of wood and the other side storage for sap pails, that I will use that day and for off season storage. The metal that I have coming will still work with the new size of main building.

I would like to have a larger structure, but this will built on a rare somewhat flat area, on a slope and I have to keep under 110 sq feet as not to require a building permit.

[darkmachine]

Glad you are able to move forward!! I had every intention of building a new shack before the next season. However reality has set in. I can either spend my time and $$ on building the new shack, or I can put my $$ toward an RO so I can make more syrup and have more $$ for the shack after next season. I think I'll clean out the shack, re-gravel the floor and set to work on the RO.....and firewood, lots of firewood....

Looking forward to seeing your progress