Milling Sheds - Hard Lessons

Sawdust Lover · January 22, 2013, 06:57:10 PM

This is my shed. It is only 14' wide and 40' long. I wish I went at least 24' wide and 60' long. Sometimes money can tell you how big it is going to be.

sumday · January 22, 2013, 07:37:11 PM

CalebL , are you having any issues with excessive deflection on that 40' beam ?

rooster 58 · January 22, 2013, 07:50:52 PM

Those are some nice looking sheds ;) I hope my own comes out like them 8)

rmack · January 22, 2013, 07:52:08 PM

Sawdust Lover; that still looks pretty good! heckuva lot better than what I have :laugh:

I'm in kind of a tight spot, property is long and narrow, still need somewhere to stage logs and pile lumber, so I may have to settle for something smaller too.

QuoteCalebL , are you having any issues with excessive deflection on that 40' beam ?

It's Peter, but I noticed the same thing. that's a lot further span than would be done in sawmill construction, but there is no machinery sitting on it... must be pretty heavy wide flange though.

sumday · January 22, 2013, 09:00:13 PM

rmack, I was actually referring to CalebL's 40' double LVL beam back at the beginning of the thread.

Peter Drouin · January 22, 2013, 09:03:22 PM

the steel if I remember is a I beam 24" hi and the flange is 10" wide by 1" thick45' long, I had a engineer tell me what size to have for the snow load, the black stuff on the roof is water shield , then some tin, some guys just strap the rafters then tin but that will sweat and rain on the inside, your mill and all your things will be all wet, In the winter I put up constrution poly the stuff with the webing in it, and make role up doors, so when I saw I open 2 doors and Im good, the doors are 14' tall and the ridge is 22'. the shed is 24x60 and a 6" con floor, and not big enough
but mi going to fix that this spring with a 24x80 shed next to this one :D :D :D

as you can see the shed is filing up with wood too and I have all kinds of wood out side :D

WoodenHead · January 22, 2013, 09:47:23 PM

This is an early picture of the lean-to that I built for my mill.

The opening is 25 ft. The metal truss was made up of some scrap 2" x 2" x 3/16" tubing that I had laying around. The lean-to is a little narrow (about 12' of covered space), but I needed height and a bit of slope. The posts are 4"x4" x 3/16" square tubing. If I had used heavier 4"x4" square tubing for posts, I probably could have spanned much further.

My covered drying area is close by and blends into the lean-to, but now it is far too small. So, I'm slowly working on a 28' x 64' drying shed. It too will use metal trusses made of more scrap 2" x 2" x 3/16" tubing and scrap 4" x 4" x 3/16" square tubing.

Peter Drouin · January 22, 2013, 10:21:08 PM

Nice job WoodenHead, where did all the tubing come from

rmack · January 22, 2013, 10:51:36 PM

Quote from: sumday on January 22, 2013, 09:00:13 PM
rmack, I was actually referring to CalebL's 40' double LVL beam back at the beginning of the thread.

sorry, my mistake.

rmack · January 22, 2013, 11:08:29 PM

Quotethe steel if I remember is a I beam 24" hi and the flange is 10" wide by 1" thick45' long, I had a engineer tell me what size to have for the snow load,

thanks Peter, that sounds like a lot of coin for a beam, and now that I see WoodenHeads's truss solution, and being a welder, I can't believe I didn't think of that option. lots of strength, compact height wise, and reasonably economical. hmmn... 4x4 fir is probably still cheaper, especially if I mill it myself. Isn't that what having a mill is all about? ;)

I have also run into the problem of not having tar paper under the roofing.

Quote from: beenthere on January 22, 2013, 11:52:02 AM
Go to Arkansawyer 's photos and threads about the mill sheds he built. Good ventilation at the top, and he had a shed plan that was simple and easy to add length to as he grew (unfortunate end results losing all to a banker, but that doesn't negate his ideas).

Wanda's (his mills name) new shed

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,23212.msg330218.html#msg330218

That link to the shed with the cupola roof also looked like a good design for a milling shed or kiln building.

CalebL · January 22, 2013, 11:19:48 PM

Quote from: sumday on January 22, 2013, 07:37:11 PM
CalebL , are you having any issues with excessive deflection on that 40' beam ?

My cousin is a structural engineer and he was the one that talked me into it. Using a laser I put a string line an inch under the beam on each end. I ended up have about a 1/2" sag at the middle of the beam. We had a big snow (3") a few weeks ago and it didn't show any problems of supporting the weight. Truth be told, I was worried more when me and 3 other guys (all over 250lbs each) were putting the metal on the roof but there were no problems.

The beam is made of up (3) 2"x18"x28' (actual size) that was screwed and glued together.

Satamax · January 23, 2013, 01:44:10 AM

Quote from: rimshot on January 22, 2013, 02:02:06 PM
If and when I build a saw shed it will have something more subtantial for posts. No 4 X4's ALLOWED. 4 X4's just don't have the strength to avoid shake. I know I would not like the shake in the building. I want 5 X5's or better yet 6 X 6"s. Probably store bought Wolmanized because I do not have extra bed to cut beyond the length of 11' 4s" and those posts need to be at least 42" in ground so I'm thinking 12' or 14' posts of 6 x 6

I believe i will slam together some nice 4 or 5 /12 trusses however and they mjight be on 48" centers with a steel pole panel or a clear panel ribbed plastic to increase ambient light. It just might have a mixture of both. Gotta have some daylight to see my board thickness. I have to stay under 200 square feet or I'm subject to a building permit. This can be considered a yard storage building.

Rimshot.

For mine, i plan on at least 8"X8"for the hangar posts, and 10x10" for the workshop and house part. But we have aprox 800 per square yard of snow overload to take into account. (400kg per M²) Anyway, i think big timbers look better.

francismilker · January 23, 2013, 05:58:20 AM

I'm in the process of building now. If the darn tractor hadn't thrown a shoe (pressure plate collapsed) while I was drilling my post holes I'd be far underway by now.

Here's the plan: 16x24' footprint. I plan on spanning the whole 24' front opening with a beam I laminate out of some 2x12's I cut up. I'm using 2x8's on 16" centers for rafters and it's going to have a shed roof. I'm planning on making the ceiling height 12' on the front side and 8' on the low side. I have enough sheet iron to cover the roof and as time goes and I have extra ERC to put on some siding I'm planning to cover the North side as a windbreak and make it hingeable to raise slightly during summer months to keep good airflow. East side will have a small area to stack some stickered lumber under roof while waiting to be picked up by customer and West side will be open so I can use my homemade board drag back to send slabs to a pile.

I have enough utility poles to use for posts and I'm also going to build a large log cradle slanted slightly downhill towards the mill for loading logs.

One things for certain, anything will be better than what I have now which is nothing. 8)

bandmiller2 · January 23, 2013, 07:52:48 AM

As far as the exhaust goes,a extension pipe can be added to blow it out the side of the shed or a cupalo and one of those whole house fans will pull it out.If you use an extension be sure to rebrace it to take the load off the manifold. We build what we can afford,any roof is better than no roof.2x12's laminated with plywood corner braces will do the deed, theirs no one sleeping under it [hopefully].If theirs a heavy snow comeing cock a 4x4 under the middle if your nervous. Frank C.

WoodenHead · January 23, 2013, 08:01:22 AM

Peter,

The square tubing scrap are left-overs from manufacturing solar mounting systems like this one:

It was cheaper for me to buy full lengths and live with the waste. However, the incentive program for solar changed drastically around here and now there's no demand. I built dozens of systems over the last couple years, but I was forced to lay-off my employees last summer when the program changed. Things are so slow right now that I am forced to be a full time sawyer. (And I'm finding that a very tough path to follow.)

Anyway, the scrap accumulated and I'm putting it to good use.

Peter Drouin · January 23, 2013, 08:10:50 AM

rmack the beam was 1700.oo not bad, I think if you go to a demo guy he might have something around you can use for less money

Peter Drouin · January 23, 2013, 08:16:13 AM

Well thats to bad, but good you had the tubing , good luck with the mill

rmack · January 23, 2013, 08:42:04 AM

Quote from: Peter Drouin on January 23, 2013, 08:10:50 AM
rmack the beam was 1700.oo not bad, I think if you go to a demo guy he might have something around you can use for less money

Thanks Peter, I will look into it, but I bet a beam like that would cost >5k$ here. Cant think of a scrap yard that might have something like that closer than 4 1/2 hours away. Thats some serious iron though. :D