Mill Shed - Finally

[ncsawyer]

I've had my new mill since the spring.  I have finally found time to get started on my mill shed.  It is going to be a simple 20x48 pole barn with poles set 12ft on center.  I left out the center pole on one side of the barn and will clear span that 24ft section with a piece of steel.  That's where the mill will sit.  Don't want a pole in the way of loading logs on the mill.  I plan on building my trusses when I take a week off my regular 9 to 5 job.  Hope to post more pictures as I progress. 

  

  

  

 

Those last couple pictures are of me setting a piece of 8x8 - 1/2 inch angle that came from an old power line tower. 

[tmbrcruiser]

Congratulations on the building!

[Magicman]

That will be a fine sawmill shed.   8)

[sandsawmill14]

good looking shed

[ayerwood]

Very nice.  I will be following you as I need to build one sooner than later too.  Congrats!!!

[fishfighter]

Great start.

[WDH]

Looks like a shady spot, too.

[deepsouth.us]

This will be a fine shed indeed.
How tall to your top plate? And how deep did you set your poles? Is that an old industrial massey?

[Ga Mtn Man]

Nice spot for a shed and that angle iron was a great find.

[btulloh]

Nice looking shed.  I will be following your progress.  Great find on the steel.  Maybe I'll be lucky enough to find a piece of steel like that to build a shed around.

[WV Sawmiller]

NC,

    Your design looks very much like my lumber storage shed below. I used locust poles cut off my place and partially squared on the side where nailed. I left openings in the front over 18' in case I ever wanted to load 16' lumber with a future forklift/tractor. I got used tin/roofing off a guy tearing down a barn and have enough left to add another 20' extension which I will do one of these day (after deer season and such). That is all the space I have left on the lot there for expansion. My whole shed is costing me under $400 especially since I sold some left over tin/roofing a month or so back.

   Good looking work. Be careful. Too many falls reported by members recently while working on such projects. Don't add your name to that list.


 

[ncsawyer]

This will be a fine shed indeed.
How tall to your top plate? And how deep did you set your poles? Is that an old industrial massey?

The top of the plate is 10.5 feet.  I dug my holes 4 ft and put 6 inches of concrete in the bottom of each hole to set my poles on.  This will hopefully keep them from settling.  My plates are 10 inches, it's just under 10 feet at the bottom of the plate. And the tractor is an industrial Ford 445.  I've had it 3 years and it's definitely paid for itself.

[beenthere]

How much of the steel angle header is sitting on the posts at the ends? Doesn't look like much from the pics.
I'd worry about bumping a post with log or loader enough to knock it off the post and the roof fall.. maybe that is an unfounded worry here.

[ncsawyer]

WV,

That's a nice lumber shed.  I wish we had locust around here.  I had to buy my poles, so I'll have more invested in mine than yours, but it will certainly be  cheaper than hiring somebody to build it.

[ncsawyer]

How much of the steel angle header is sitting on the posts at the ends? Doesn't look like much from the pics.
I'd worry about bumping a post with log or loader enough to knock it off the post and the roof fall.. maybe that is an unfounded worry here.

The posts are 6x6, so it's sitting on 3 inch of post on either side.  I bolted it to the posts with 5/8 inch galvanized bolts.  Also there will be a 10 inch plate bolted to the steel that will tie the piece of steel to the post it is sitting on and run back to the end posts to tie everything together.   I'll post some more pictures in a couple days so you can see what I mean.  Hopefully I won't bump a post hard enough too test my design.

[ncsawyer]

I've made some more progress on the new mill shelter.  It is to the point where the trusses are ready to be set.  It supposed to rain for the next couple days and some next week.  As soon as it quits raining I will be able to saw the lumber for the trusses, build them, and get them set.  I also have a guy coming to weld brackets on top of the piece of angle to bolt my trusses to.   

  

 

These pictures show where I have finished putting the plate and braces all the way around.  I bolted a 2x10 plate to the angle iron as well.

[Buddyw]

Looking good.
Always nice to have a new building.

[ncsawyer]

After two solid weeks of rain, it has finally dried out enough to get back to work on the building.  I hope to have the roof on it in a couple of days.   

 
This is a picture of some of the trusses I made before that were put up.  They span 20 feet and have a 2 foot overhang on each side.


  

 
Those are two pictures of my truss setting apparatus.  Which is just an old piece of gas pipeline pipe slid over one of my forks on the tractor.


 

That's just a good picture of me in action with the mill in the background.  My wife took that one.  She's makes a better photographer than carpenter.

[CaseyK]

NC sawyer, project is looking great, thanks for sharing your build with us. Be safe.

Casey K

[WDH]

Good idea on the boom lift.

[thecfarm]

All is looking good.

[Sixacresand]

Looks Good, NCSawyer

[Magicman]

You are moving right along and looking good.   8)

[tburch]

It's looking great!!   

Is your property such that where the mill will be (permanently) you don't have to worry about curious eyes from passer-by's?   

[stanwelch]

Great looking shed.

It is much nicer milling under cover for the operator AND the equipment.  8)

[Ohio_Bill]

Nice Job and your tractor looks like a very handy piece of equipment for the mill .

[ncsawyer]

It's looking great!!   

Is your property such that where the mill will be (permanently) you don't have to worry about curious eyes from passer-by's?

The mill is about 100 yards from the road and if you are looking you can see the mill from the road, but its a very rural farm community.  Usually there are just a handful of cars that pass by my house all day long. 

[ncsawyer]

Great looking shed.

It is much nicer milling under cover for the operator AND the equipment.  8)

Thanks!  I have followed your shed build thread and I am extremely impressed with your mill shed.

[ncsawyer]

It rained me out today, but I managed to get all of the trusses set yesterday and cut about half of my sheeting boards.  The sheeting boards will have to wait until Monday to be put on.  My metal arrives Wednesday, but I probably won't have time to get it put on until Saturday.   

 

Here is the latest picture of my progress.

[tburch]

What is your span and how did you arrive at your truss layout?

[larrydown60]

Shed is looking great. Do you have to have your lumber graded?

[ncsawyer]

What is your span and how did you arrive at your truss layout?

The trusses clear span 20ft with about 2ft of overhang.   

 

This is the only picture I have of them on the computer right now.  There are actually 4 trusses in that stack.  The top cord and the vertical piece in the center are 2x6 and the bottom cord is made of 2-1x6's, one on each side of the truss.  Then there are four short 1x6's at the peak (two on each side of the truss) to hold the top cords together at the peak.  I didn't really have any plans and don't know that I have ever seen any trusses built that way, but I built some just like that for another smaller building and they worked really well. I just started building and that's what I ended up with.  If the span had been longer than 20ft, I would probably had to design a little differently. 

The roof pitch is 4/12 by the way.  Down here with no snow, some folks go as flat as 2/12.

[ncsawyer]

Shed is looking great. Do you have to have your lumber graded?

In cases where a building permit is required, then yes, the building inspector will require graded lumber.  However, agricultural purpose buildings do not require a building permit in our county.  Even large commercial hog and poultry operations don't require a building permit around here.  I suppose someone could argue that my mill shed is not an agricultural building, but it also doubles as my tractor shed too. ;D

If I were building a carport or garage then I would be required to get a building permit.

[stanwelch]

Looks like an ag building to me! 
Bet you can fill that tree line with sawdust milling with your LT40- nice machine

[ncsawyer]

 

 

All the sheeting boards went up today...metal is supposed to be here this week!  I am in the short rows now!  8)  I need to add a couple of braces from each post up to the truss that is sitting on top of that post.  That should eliminate the little bit of sway from side to side.  I also plan on milling some 3/4 by 12 poplar for board and batten siding to close in the two end trusses. 

Can't wait to see some orange paint under shelter!

[ncsawyer]

Here are the last few pictures of the mill shed.  I got it all framed up and had to wait on metal.


 

Now I finally got some orange paint under the new shelter!!  No more worrying around with that old huge heavy tarp I used to use to keep the mill out of weather. 



 



 

The new shelter should see its first sawdust on Saturday.  Have a guy brining a 42" by 8' red oak.  That one should be fun!

[larrydown60]

Fantastic job, been waiting to see the progress. Looking forward to seeing whats next Enjoy

[Ljohnsaw]

What is your span and how did you arrive at your truss layout?

The trusses clear span 20ft with about 2ft of overhang.   

 

This is the only picture I have of them on the computer right now.  There are actually 4 trusses in that stack.  The top cord and the vertical piece in the center are 2x6 and the bottom cord is made of 2-1x6's, one on each side of the truss.  Then there are four short 1x6's at the peak (two on each side of the truss) to hold the top cords together at the peak.  I didn't really have any plans and don't know that I have ever seen any trusses built that way, but I built some just like that for another smaller building and they worked really well. I just started building and that's what I ended up with.  If the span had been longer than 20ft, I would probably had to design a little differently. 

The roof pitch is 4/12 by the way.  Down here with no snow, some folks go as flat as 2/12.

When I built my wife's horse barn 24 years ago, I had a 16' clear span isle-way and 18" overhang.  I made my trusses the same layout but from 2x4s (single layer) and 1/2" CDX plywood gussets for all the joints.  I didn't think 1x boards would hold up to the stress (splitting) - plus I glued all the plywood joints.  Those things were indestructible!  (no snow load)

[WDH]

The mill looks good under there.

[rasman57]

Be proud of your effort on that nice shed.  Nothing quite like building it yourself and getting good functional use out of it.  Good work!

[DeerMeadowFarm]

Nice job!

[Kipper]

Looks Excellent !! I am very envious...  What was the total size of it?

[ncsawyer]

Looks Excellent !! I am very envious...  What was the total size of it?

It is 20x48 with about 1.5 ft of overhang on all 4 sides.  That gives a few more feet under roof.

[fishfighter]

Nice, just about the size I need, but I need it higher up. 13'+ to be able to park my backhoe under. ;D

[Kipper]

How do you plane to get the sawdust up from the backside of the mill?

[samandothers]

WOW! Love it. ya done good... or did well! :D

[ncsawyer]

How do you plane to get the sawdust up from the backside of the mill?

I have a shavings bucket for the tractor that I usually use to clean up all my sawdust where ever my mill is.  I think I may board up that back wall just behind the mill to catch the saw dust.  That will give me something to push the sawdust against with the loader to make it easier to get up.  Most of my milling is not done on my site.  Most of my jobs are mobile, so I usually don't have to worry about cleaning up too much sawdust. 


 

[ncsawyer]

I haven't been on the forum regularly for a while.  We moved to the western part of NC a little over a year ago and we sold our place in Eastern NC with the mill shed I built that is outlined in this thread.  

I have finally gotten caught up enough, that I have started on a new mill shed.  The new one will be an almost identical design, just bigger.  The new one will be 32x72.  We have gotten the posts set and have acquired enough pine to frame everything.  I will still have a 24 foot opening at the mill.  I have a 10 inch I beam to span that opening.  

I plan to get pictures of the progress as I go.  Here's what we have so far.

The last picture is my log pile.  Hopefully I have enough to get it dried in



 

 

 

[caveman]

That is a good looking whack of pine to saw and I am surprised you could have such a flat spot in western NC.  I look forward to seeing your progress.

[thecfarm]

Bigger is better!!

[ncsawyer]

That is a good looking whack of pine to saw and I am surprised you could have such a flat spot in western NC.  I look forward to seeing your progress.

We are in the foothills.  The problem with that particular flat spot is water.  That is where all the water from the higher areas flows.  We had to move quite a bit of dirt to build up a good building pad.  We had to bring the low side up about 2.5 feet to get it nice and level.  

Bigger is better!!

That's always been my opinion!!

[ncsawyer]

This is a long awaited update.  I am finally putting the finishing touches on my mill shed after starting it in 2019.  We milled everything except the posts and we made our own trusses.  The building is 32x72 with posts 12ft on center with a 24ft opening (skipped post) right in front of mill.  I am going to leave open on three sides.  All there is left to do are the batts on the siding on the long side of the barn and pull power over to it.  Between my 9-5 job, farming and adding to the family, I didn't think, I'd ever get there, but finally did!




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[beenthere]

Very nice. Congrats for getting it this far along. 

[Resonator]

Like the half-wood, half-tin wall idea, easy to fix or modify down the road.

[Andries]

I thought the first version was looking pretty darn good.
But this second version of your sawmill barn is looking even better, well done!
Question: when you built your trusses, is the bottom cord 1x or 2x material? Construction screws or air nailer? 
Perfect photo sequence, shows the build from start to finish.
I'd say you're getting to be pretty darn good at this building thing. 👍

[ncsawyer]

Question: when you built your trusses, is the bottom cord 1x or 2x material? Construction screws or air nailer?

The bottom cord is made from 1x6s. On one side of the truss the 1x6s are joined in the middle of the truss.  On the opposite side they are joined about halfway between the middle and end with a 2x6 block, so everything wouldn't be joined in the same place.  I used an air nailer with ring shank nails.  Here's another view of a truss that might help.

 

[ncsawyer]

Like the half-wood, half-tin wall idea, easy to fix or modify down the road.

Thanks! Using metal at the bottom should prevent rot and deterioration from water splashing back on the building from the drip line of the roof.

[barbender]

Nice, nice, nice!! I am in envy! I like the metal at the bottom, and your trusses are out of the box. Did you design them yourself, or see them somewhere else first?

[Bruno of NH]

Very nice Sir

[fluidpowerpro]

I agree. Looks great!

[ncsawyer]

Nice, nice, nice!! I am in envy! I like the metal at the bottom, and your trusses are out of the box. Did you design them yourself, or see them somewhere else first?

I guess you could say that I designed them myself.  I built a platform and attached to the back of my gooseneck trailer so I would have a large enough flat area to build them. I had a picture in my mind and built one and it turned out good, so I screwed down blocks and made a jig and made duplicates of my first one.

[BoomerMT]

WOW, that is a super impressive shed....Nice work

[scsmith42]

That really came out well!  I need to hop on the bike one weekend and stop by to say "Howdy" and check out your operation.

Sweet job on the trusses too.

Scott

[jpassardi]

Looking good - no small amount of work/time to get that done part time with little to no help. I know that drill...