New home for the sawmill

Joel Eisner · August 03, 2007, 02:06:37 PM

We decided to finally let our mill (Lumbermate 2000) in from out in the cold. I guess it was more for us to keep out of the rain, snow, heat and cold when sawing. The structure is a basic 36x46 ft pole barn with the last 10x36 ft section with no walls. That is where the mill is going. The roof is on and we are getting close to filling it with all of our worldly posetions (our junk) including the tractors, tools, etc.

Eventually we are going to put walls up, pour a concrete floor and turn a large portion of it into a timber framing studio and wood shop.

It is covered in full in out blog (http://www.boothemountain.blogspot.com/) along with a video of the last truss being set with our home built boom pole off the front of the FEL.

Here are some photos:

Clearing for barn above house. The poles are set.

The trusses going up.

The final trusses being placed.

FYI, we could almost fit two of our timberframe houses into the foot print of the barn. I hope we did not go overboard.....

Haytrader · August 03, 2007, 03:54:10 PM

You can never build one TOO big. Trust me on this one. ;)
There will be a time when you will say "Wish we had made her a little bigger".

By the way, sure looks nice and a good setting also.

thecfarm · August 03, 2007, 08:07:38 PM

Looking forward to the finished pictures.Once you get all your toys in there you will have to add a lean to on to one side to keep the rest in. ;) Have fun.

Handy Andy · August 04, 2007, 04:13:40 PM

Looks good, how high did you set your plates? Jim

Joel Eisner · August 05, 2007, 07:24:17 AM

I assume you are talking about the top plates. We used a transit level to mark the bottom of the plates and then put temp 2x4 blocking on the lines. This was used to hold the 2x10's in place once we lifted them up. We made sure to have a couple of nails started while it was on the ground then we followed up with the nail gun. We did a double plate a set the second one once the trusses were up so we could make sure that were tight against the trusses.

8)

Don P · August 05, 2007, 08:38:01 AM

Looking good 8)
I agree on the "never too big" comments and walls tall enough for lean to's. Around here if stuff goes in before the slab it never gets poured, you can never get all the stuff out again. The dogs have murdered some poor critter in the sawshed, I might have incentive to unstack it all if he gets any riper :D

Y'all have a nice looking piece of earth

Qweaver · August 05, 2007, 10:48:02 AM

I really like your blog Joel. I often wish that I had done one for our "Cabin in the Mountains". There just dosn't seem to be enough time. I need to build another shed to house the tractor and dozer. Maybe next spring. I'd sure like to see more pics of your TF interior.
Quinton

Joel Eisner · August 05, 2007, 10:11:59 PM

Handy Andy,

I misread your question. We set the plates about 11.5 ft so we will be close to 11 once we pour a slab.

Joel

John_Haylow · August 06, 2007, 06:52:29 AM

Looking good Joel.It will be nice to have things under cover, and nicer for you as well.
John

Handy Andy · August 07, 2007, 10:55:36 PM

Thanks Joel, I need to get started on my shed soon. My neighbor has some 14' square posts he wants to sell me, might be able to get by with 3' in the ground and 11' high. Have a few round poles I could set deeper. 11' tall seems to be the height most are putting their saw shacks. Thanks for the thread. Jim

Joel Eisner · August 20, 2007, 10:09:14 PM

Well after a long hot weekend we got the grading done around the new mill house (pole barn). We moved lots of dirt to create a road around the back to the small log lot. There are already about 100 logs there ready to go. We also ran water, a 2" conduit (for elec) and a 1" conduit (for tele and cable) about 180 ft from the house.

Another week or so we are going to place a 100 AMP service panel and call for the final inspection. This fall we are going to pour a heated slab in the non mill enclosed section and enclose a bathroom and finishing room.

I think my wife is the most excited since I can get all my junk out of the garage and sheet can take it over. 8)

Photos to follow.

Joel

Woodchuck53 · April 01, 2008, 02:03:49 AM

Trust us it will never be big enough. When I decided to move my mill from the family property home I thought I would set everything up and build the shed over it. Then got to noticing how much space I would have in the old barn if I just cleaned it out and used the 14' alley way as my track area. This of course saved a lot of money and time. I work away from home 16 and 12 and have to really budget my time to get things done. The ceiling height is 10' which seems about right. I added 24' on the ramp end to handle the longer stuff and 18' on the green end so I can use the loader as much as possible for slabs and finished product. I have plans for a 24" conveyor to help move things away from the saw as I usally saw by myself. The stack out shed is seperate from the mill for safety andr fire reasons and I have the acerage to space apart. The shed is built on to the side of the shop so 80' of wall was already built. Also saving money. There is enough roof surface to keep everything out of the south louisiana rain. The knuckle boom loader is exposed right now but hopefully no for long. The only problem with using an existing built shed is that all equipment setting is a real rigging challenge. But once in place on the concrete seals and steel track it should stay in place better. Well have enjoyed the forum tonight, you guys take care. Chuck

kelLOGg · April 01, 2008, 04:34:06 AM

Joel,

Whereabouts in Chatham Co are you? I'm in the northeast just south of Durham. It's nice to see your wooded lot - our environs used to be like that until it caved to pressures of development.

Bob

beav39 · April 01, 2008, 05:51:54 AM

great job looks nice,you can never build to big ,always need more space it seems

alpmeadow · April 01, 2008, 10:18:04 AM

Nice Job Joel
I am planning(thinking stage) a better setup for milling and getting the mill and lumber out of the cold and snow. I will watch closely and like the open pole barn concept for later closing and slab.

Question that rigging for the tractor loader to lift and place trusses, was it tough to keep stable, and how did you build it?
Thanks
alpmeadow

Joel Eisner · April 01, 2008, 10:31:42 PM

The shop is pretty functional now. We poured a slab several months back and placed tubing for future radiant heat as well and bathroom plumbing. We also picked up a 20" planer and 3 hp shaper for trim work. Now it is a trim shop and storage area for the house addition we are doing. It is starting to fill up, but nothing like the single bay of the garage I was using before. 8)