Shed over LT40 Hyd.

[brooksmill]

Planning on building a shed over my mill and was wondering what would be the correct height, width and length.  Thinking of just putting a shed type roof.  Thought I'd ask you experienced sawmillers before tackleing the Job.  Thanks

[jdtuttle]

Height =  Real Tall
Width =  Real Wide
Length = real long ;D
I couldn't resist,
I have an LT40HD and built a shed on my barn. It's 12' on the high side & 7' on the low side. It's about 26' long & not quite big enough. I put a large 20' beam in where I load the logs. Make sure you have plenty of headroom to saw & think about sawdust removal too.
Good Luck,
jim

[petefrom bearswamp]

I made mine 26 long (not long enough had to add a little "shed roof" on the end for rainy days.)
It is 12' wide which works and is open all sides.
Height is 10"
Snow does blow in however

[brooksmill]

Thanks guys;  I knew I could count on someone on here to give advice.  Haven't been on the FF for a couple years.  Been busy at work and missed it.  Have a 2002 LT 40 HD 25 and used it very little.  Been sitting out under tarp and need to get a permanent shed.  Close to retirement and want to get all my ducks in a row.  Also have a CAT skid steer with forks and it works very well.  I know theres a thread on here talking about skid steer vs tractor.  I have both and much prefer skid steer        Thanks again

[moonhill]

I am not sure there is a happy medium.  Either make it small or go all out.  I went all out with a 30' x 60' and 16' high, clear span and it is not big enough, at times.  I can get all my machinery in under cover, if needed.  I can stack material all under cover form the weather while sawing and not go out in the snow or rain. I have an edger on the back wall as well.  I can still get the forklift in and pick big timber off the saw with no hassle.  When placing the building keep prevailing winds in mind.   

Tim

[bandmiller2]

Brooks,the big thing is having no obstruction in the way of loading logs.For hight run the carriage up all the way and leave some extra space above it.Be aware of your engine exhaust if you can run a pipe so it will blow out the back fine ,you don't want to be breathing it ,a high roof helps.For my roof I set utility poles in the ground notched out for oak beams ,bolted to the poles.

[Bibbyman]

 



Our shed started out being 20x40 with 12' rafter height.  It has 19' openings on the sides and 12' on each end.  The original idea was to be able to drive and set up the mill and saw or hook on and pull out to take the mill to some mobile sawing location.   We only sawed off site one time in seven years so we went stationary.

We run logs in the front side and slabs out the back.  Lumber would be slid off the mill from either end – usually on to a truck or trailer.  We had a couple of farm wagon running gears that we'd stack onto also.

Then we got an edger.  That had to set outside at the north end.  We soon decided to add 16' sheds on each end.  One to park the truck under to offbear lumber onto and the other to cover the edger.  That helped a lot but the tail end of the edger stuck out from under roof.  So if it was raining, you'd have to slug out into the rain to pull the board off the back end. 





By this time we were running all the lumber and edged flitches out the north end.  We didn't have a good place under roof to stack it so we added a 32' long section to the north end to fully cover the edger and have a place to stack lumber.  We made the roof overhang extra long to give us more coverage.  The new addition has bypass doors across the north end that we can get to either side or the middle.  There is a 15' wide opening on the side to pull edgings out from the edger.  Two 15'-6" openings in the back side to pull out stacks of lumber.  It's been working pretty good except when we have lumber longer than 14'.  Then we have to do something different.

We added doors to the front and back and south end of the original shed.  We can close up the building except for the two openings in the back of the new addition.  We have the track and metal to make the doors but just haven't done it yet.

This building has been a work in progress for 15 years now.  It's a bit cramped in places and sometimes you have to go out one door and in another to get to something.  But we have a lot of electrical outlets, good lights, and a refrigerator.





We added a live deck a couple of years ago and it sticks out into the weather.  Usually this causes no problem but here we have an ice storm.  I had to remove the logs and take a heavy hammer and knock the ice out of the chain and channel.  The doors are notched to slide over the deck.





We've added a cutup saw in the south end. Mary would like to build another 32' extension onto that end like we did the north end.  I'm tired of carpentry work.

[brooksmill]

What a setup Bibbyman.  Sure wish I had something like that.  Thanks for all the valuable info.

[beenthere]

.........................

.......... Mary would like to build another 32' extension onto that end like we did the north end.  I'm tired of carpentry work.

:D :D :D
Mary will start it, Bibby will fuss about how it is being done, Mary will leave it, and Bibby will finish it.    :D :D :D :D

Works for her every time. 

[Warren]

Height =  Real Tall
Width =  Real Wide
Length = real long

Amen !  several years ago when I decided to saw full time, I spent a couple weeks visiting other FF members who saw full time.  They were set up in everything from simple sheds, to converted barns, to pole buildings, to "real buildings" up to 40ft x 110ft.  no matter what size, everyone could have used more space under roof.

My take away was to build as big as you can afford and allow room for expansion.  Last year I finally sprung for a 30 x 72 shed on my barn.  It is GREAT to be under roof.  But even now, when we are sawing longer than 16ft  length, someone is standing or material is being stacked out in the rain, or the sun, or the snow....

-w-