sugar house size........

[Maple Producer]

What do you guys do for floors? Gravel? Wood? Block? Concretes out of the budget

[LMP Maple]

I am sure others will disagree but my advice to you would be if there is anyway that you can scrape together enough to do concrete do it you will be glad that you did. Beg steal or borrow. My dad built a beautiful new sugar house about 7 years ago and cheeped out on the floor and did a gravel floor. It is miserable stuff. Keeping things level is a choir. We have some older people that stop by and putting them in a chair on that stuff is a wobbling nightmare. Also rolling barrels of syrup is a challenge. My brother and I will end up moving everything out someday and doing it right however we could have done it once. When I built my very tiny sugar house at my house the first thing I did was a concrete floor. You can put drains in the floor etc. You can sit on a bar stool without falling over. That's my two cents worth and I am sure others will disagree and have other advice. Good luck.

[TapTapTap]

I am sure others will disagree but my advice to you would be if there is anyway that you can scrape together enough to do concrete do it you will be glad that you did. .

No disagreement here on any of you're points. And I'll add more sanitary compared to gravel - I regularly sweep and washdown my floor. Can't sweep and mop gravel, can you?

You can also build the concrete slab to support the building. I'd prefer a footing/frostwall system but a slab with thickened edges can work fine over a suitable well-drained subgrade.

And surface drainage is also very important. Make sure you site the building so that the final grades pitch away from the building which often requires fill and preferably gravel under your slab/building.

Good Luck.

Ken

[tcross]

i'd say, if a concrete floor is totally out of the question, packed gravel with some crushed stone over it, would be my choice. keeps the mud out! obviously nothing is going to compete with concrete. Could you possibly budget enough to at least pour a concrete curb to put your building on? and when money permits, pour the floor at a later date? i say this, because i am in a sugar house that had a dirt floor. it sucked! the building moves so much where i am located in the winter. my lines are tied to my building with barely 2% slope... some winters they'd move up 3-6" and mess up my slope. i've since added a new sap house that's on concrete which took care of that issue. i've also added a concrete floor to the boiling room... barely have to level my arch now and when i do, it's easy! if building brand new, i'd find every penny i could to at least put the structure on a sturdy concrete foundation wall!

[aamyotte]

In my instance concrete is impossible due to the access to my shack is by ATV, tractor or snowmachine. I will use pressure treated joists and plywood. It provide a sturdy level floor that can be swept. Not as good as concrete but off the ground.

[Maple Producer]

I agree concrete would be best... My budget hardly allows very much of a building.. But i have seen guys use wood floors How does that work?? also how do you fireproof a small shed? I am looking at basicly a 16x20 minibarn built out of scraps. I really do want to be able to atleast sweep the floor. thats my challenge for the day!

[wobbletop]

I built mine with wood floor. It's on the small size 10'x12'.

It's on 4x4 PT skids plus 2x6 floor joists and 3/4 plywood floor. I use left over steel roofing under the evaporator including about 3' extending beyond the door to catch any random embers falling out.

The benefit is I could move the shack in the future if I need to.

[Maple Producer]

I built mine with wood floor. It's on the small size 10'x12'.

It's on 4x4 PT skids plus 2x6 floor joists and 3/4 plywood floor. I use left over steel roofing under the evaporator including about 3' extending beyond the door to catch any random embers falling out.

The benefit is I could move the shack in the future if I need to.

So all you have between plywood and the evaporator is steel sheeting? Does it stay cool enough? I dont need a fire hazard but I like the idea of wood floors!

[aamyotte]

I have a piece of cementboard under the front part of the evaporator for embers that fall out. I put cement board on the wall with a spacer to keep the wall from getting hot.

[Maple Producer]

I have a piece of cementboard under the front part of the evaporator for embers that fall out. I put cement board on the wall with a spacer to keep the wall from getting hot.

But the floor doesnt get too hot? Thats great!