Sawmill Shed Questions

[ReinkeFandS]

With a new mill coming in a few months, I have been starting to think about the shed where the mill will go. I know the location of the shed but have only started on the design. The idea is to mill off site 80% of the time so the mill would need to be easy to get in and out but do have a tractor for that. But my question is to everyone is what works well and doesn't. What type of flooring works best (concrete is not an option right now, $$), electrical wouldn't be too hard but is it a necessary? Does it need to be enclosed for the winter or better to have open sides for dust? Just looking for insight to from someone who has already gone down this road. Thanks in advance

[kelLOGg]

Keep it open unless you provide a suction fan for dust removal. Mine is open on 4 sides but I am not in Michigan.
Bob

[thecfarm]

Someone built a wood floor for thier mill. I wonder if you could put a log tongue with a single wheel under it to help on the going in and out of the shed? Must be some way to do it easy.

[paul case]

I built a wood floor for my mill. It just sits on the ground. Mostly for ease of cleaning out under the mill. The purpose was because I didnt want to move the mill to clean out, If you are pulling it out it may not matter.


PC

[YellowHammer]

Mine is the wing of a barn, dirt floor, open sides.  Lots of access, good breeze to keep me breathing and a 5 hp blower to suck the sawdust out.

[fishfighter]

My first one I built was just to get the saw head out the weather. Did a great job doing that.



 

Now that I have my mill on a trailer, I plan on building a new building. I am still using the shed. I just back it in as needed.

Things that I think that will be needed.

High ceilings. Looking at 12' or even higher.

Rail system with a trolley and winch that will pass over the mill bed. That will be used to move logs in and flipping logs/cants.

Open on 3 sides. One side just to block northern winds. Box in a area to store tools, blades and stickers.

Wood flooring. Much easy on the feet then concrete.

Lighting and fans. So yes, I will have power ran in. Maybe one day I will swap the motor out to electric.

Maybe a saw dust chute built into the floor and install a drag chain system to remove dust. Will install metal grading over that.

Loading area for lumber and loading area for edges. Would install rolling tables.

I saw for myself at this time, but maybe will saw hardwood lumber to sell in the future. I'm retired and have nothing better to do. ;D 

[Magicman]

Be sure to orient it so that while sawing the South wind will not blow sawdust in your face.

[DDW_OR]

...mill off site 80% of the time so the mill would need to be easy to get in and out ....
....what works well and doesn't.
....What type of flooring works best (concrete is not an option right now, $$),
....electrical wouldn't be too hard but is it a necessary?
....Does it need to be enclosed for the winter or better to have open sides for dust? ....

photos of the area would be good
pull through shed
Wood or dirt/gravel floor, maybe wood slabs
run electrical in a trench, lights and charging a dead mill battery. Add an empty 1.5 inch black plastic pipe. it comes in roles up to 300 feet. the pipe is for future use, Phone, internet, intercom, Heavier power, camera, or remote light switch

enclosed vs open?
sawmill should be open. if enclosed then you may be breathing more sawdust.
maybe have an "icehouse" sized heated room to get warmed up.

I am going to hook up a dust collector to my mill.

[flyboy16101]

 

  

 

For the floor I used 2A to Dust Limestone and tamped it in (as close as you'll to concrete without the cost). Pull through is ideal but if this is not an option I would settle for just backing the mill in. As of right now I have to use a tractor to get the mill in and out until I get the rest of the hill side dug out, and it is a real pain. For dust collection I used a cheap Harbor Freight dust collector and 4 10' pieces of the clear dust collector hose. It hangs in several spots from small pulleys on a 3/16th cable that runs the length of the building. Some guys on here use the black flexible drainage pipe but I like to be able to see the dust moving so that I know that the system is not clogged. What little dust that the collector dose not get I just blow out with a leaf blower. Lights are a must, the more the better, and as mentioned earlier having the ability to plug in a battery charger or tender is every convenient. The little short walls don't seam to be in the way very much. And with the door ways open I still get a good breeze. I am in the process of building the doors so I can close it in completely to keep the weather out and keep everything secure when I'm gone. I travel a lot for work so this was a necessity. I doubt that I'll ever put a heater in simply because of the dust. When I was planning mine I probably went through a dozen different ideas and looked at several dozen different sheds mostly Amish circle mills in my area.

[DDW_OR]

side note:
have you seen this thread on sawmill mods?
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,7789.msg1397352/topicseen.html#msg1397352

[ReinkeFandS]

The picture below is about the best way to describe how the mill and shed would be set up. The red area is the area for the shed. The black lines are where the wife's horse pasture has now been moved to. The blue line is where power is currently buried. Please keep the suggestions coming I really appreciate it.

[DDW_OR]

looks like a 50 foot, 10awg extension cord will handle your power requirements

[jmouton]

we are just down the road from you near metro airport ,   we have the back of our mill to the west , we have a concrete floor which is a must, i think, but i do concrete for a living, so it was just cost for the concrete,  during the winter i had a friend make sides out of a canvas type of material, it rolls up in the summer , it works great , it costs about a 1000$,  and ours was designed to drive through , we do a fair amount of portable,  but with so much going on around the mill, the drive through option didnt work well after pilling lumber up on one end , slab wood , logs to be cut from customers and  other stuff you need so your not walking 6 miles to get them, we can get the mill in and out easy  without driving through so dont get caught up with that option,  definetly need  3 sides enclosed for winter ,the wind is a killer ,and it keeps snow out , just  a few things we have done ,,


                                                                                                        jim

[fishfighter]

OP, you didn't say if you have any support equipment.

Anyway, a log loading dock to feed the mill is a very big plus. If installing one, you got to keep in mine which side you would install one for the mill back stops to stop a rolling log. ;D

[ReinkeFandS]

Fishfighter- I have a tractor for moving logs around,
jmouton- Were not far away I've got a buddy from Monroe area
Flyboy- that shed looks great, unfortunately I have been banished to the field outside of the grass area of the 'yard'

I was already thinking of limestone but do like the wood floor idea. Sounds like electric is a must which is not really very difficult and even have a 200' roll of direct burial somewhere

[WV Sawmiller]

   Be sure to map out access to all of the output. I saw in the open and typically load the logs from the front, throw my slabs behind me on the other side of my sawdust pile and unload my lumber at the end of the mill onto a staged trailer. I could not do that with Flyboys set up so obviously he has a different process in some respects.  Some people stage flitches for edging or if you have an edger that comes into design consideration. I normally throw my flitches back on the loading arms and process them against the cant before I cut the last 3-4 boards.

   At a client site I make changes to compensate for the layout and help available there.

   I'd try to leave as much access as possible and keep everything as flexible for future changes as possible.

[YellowHammer]

Do you guys with wooden floors under your mill with semi exposed sides have issues with termites or moisture?  Do you build directly on the ground or up off the ground, using joists like a deck?  What about sawdust getting down in the cracks causes ground contact?   

[fishfighter]

When I build, the flooring will be 1' at the bottom of the joists off the ground. I will pretreat under before starting the build for bugs. Waste oil treatment to the floor boards helps too.

[paul case]

My wood floor is in a ''DRY'' barn. The boards are 1.5'' thick and are just laid on top of the ground. Snugly together
with a 1.5'' x 8 screwed down on top of the ends so the whole thing is hooked together. It has only been down about 10 months but no troubles so far. The dust does fill up the cracks, but you can still get it nice and clean with a leaf blower unless your logs are slipping the bark off, then a rake first.

Eventually the termites may eat it all up but for now its working real good.

PC

[flyboy16101]

For lumber and slabs I move them out the back door to 2 wooden racks that I built when it comes time move the mill I use the pallet forks on the tractor to move them. The racks sit about 2 feet off of the ground which makes it nice for stacking, sticking and banding. But I can also back a customer's trailer or truck in. For saw dust I found a gravity wagon in not so great condition at the a farm auction so I can take it back in the woods and dump it out in the woods away from everything. The fletches are set back on the log deck and I do the edging in between logs. I wanted to be able to put doors across the log opening so set the log deck out side and use removable heavy 6 inch channel the span the gap when loading this also allows me to be able to move around the mill easier for turning and clamping.

ReinkeFandS would be able to maybe turn the building 90 degrees putting the long side against the small green roof shown in the picture? It looks like it might be a little tight trying to get a mill in and out with that fence on the right side of the picture.

I ended up with this layout by using orange traffic paint to layout the building around the mill and pretended that the walls were there, sawed a dozen or so logs then made adjustments to the layout from there. 



 

[WV Sawmiller]

   Thx Flyboy. I see the truck backed up to the mill on your first pictures. That is about where I load too.

   I think the bottom line is we all try to set up so we have to least amount of distance to move the lumber, slabs and logs that our terrain and equipment will allow.