tony

Sorry to hear about the water getting in, I thought it was only me who had bad luck like that.

I suppose the worry is that the plywood will delaminate? My observatory floor got regular soakings during my build but as it was made from decking timbers it wasn't an issue. If using plywood flooring I guess one option would have been to fit the flooring after the structure was made weatherproof but this perhaps may be more hassle than it's worth?

I covered my conduit outlets with small plastics bags secured with elastic bands during the time that my build wasn't weatherproof.

The internal partition will certainly have added to the rigidity of the structure and once you get all the walls cladded you should get a further increase in rigidity.

didnt expect a brand new tarp to leak though, i have a sheet of dpm going over it tomorrow when i finish for the day, the tarp is going in the bin.

not a happy chap today, my waterproof tarpaulin isnt waterproof, a leak at the scope end and i have a soaking wet floor, and to make things worse its dripped right down the pipe for the usb and powercable so will be needing to pull some pieces of old towel or something through there at some point. approx 7.5 square metres of floorspace and it finds a 38mm spot to drip.

no rain for next couple of days so i now need to turn my full attention to the roof,i finish early tomorrow at 2pm and have sat afternoon/evening to get as much done as i can, and i'm on nightshift from sunday night which isnt going to help either. so i may end up getting another tarp from somewhere else to throw over the one i have now.

finished the noggins yesterday and made a start on the internal patition which will have built in a diagonal brace, there 'was' an ever so slight wobble when you shook the rear wall, it gets really windy here so this has now stiffened up that wall.

popped into my old workplace to see if they had any odd windows, use to have an area for damaged and missmade.

i came away with this

for the sum of.........

zero

Thanks malc. A bit of a slow up next week as i'm back on nightshift.

Wow - the rolling roof rails makes the structure look enormous. Making good and fast progress.

cheers mike.

got caught by the rain this evening whilst sheeting the front but just a shower.

all covered now and hopefully it'll be rainproof.

only an hour or so after work but a start made on the front to get the middle support in place.

and this is what that wall was for, and the reason the obsy was on hold for a while.

middle metpost missing as they were out of stock.

tomorrow i'm just going to get the front done without the noggins then 3 sheets of sterling board are going on the roof as a temp measure so i can throw a tarp over and get the sides done with the roofing underlay, rain due in tomorrow night and next few days

didnt get as much done as i had hoped, the wind is becoming a real pain in the rear end.

but end panel finished and a start made on the track supports.

a bit of bracing to hold the posts still in this wind until tomorrow when i hope to get this finished and make a start on the front.

rain due on wednesday so will be tarping over this to keep it dry.

Looking great Tony. Is that the sea in the distance on some of the shots?

yes mike, its about 4 miles to the coast.

used roofing underlay to line the rear wall, this stuff is really good stuff, waterproof and breathable.

glad i went for loglap, looks much better than shiplap or t & g.

also because of really strong winds today the decision was made to clad the wall in situ as it would have been near impossible to re - erect the wall afterwards.

and it was a little tight down that end getting past the block pier.

and all done.

nice seat in the sun for coffee, when i could get the wife out of it lol

r/h side wall partly up, will finish this tomorrow then make a start on the l/h side wall.

doorway will be on r/h side here.

late afternoon and early evening i got the last piece of ply fitted and just had to put the mount on

pieces for the rear wall all cut ready to assemble.

nearly done, a few more pieces then it'll be clad.

then it'll be the front and sidewalls together with the track supports.

wont be able to complete the tracks this weekend as the timber supplier failed to deliver some outstanding pieces.

concrete is in, a very hot afternoon not helped by having to carry everything from front of house around to back.

nightshift next week so nothing doing until next weekend where i'll make a start on the shed itself.

I uploaded the drawing used for my mount base, which does share a similarity to yours, so I can only presume I can take the credit for that

indeed you can malc

what did you use for the pin, mine was cut off from a door handle spindle, drilled and tapped and a headless hex bolt/screw used to screw it down tight.

Looks familiar

aha although mines not that bright

who put the drawing up withe the sizes etc?

Great progress Tony - the silver pier looks like some kind of rocket that you're about to launch.

lol, funny you should mention that, thats what my neighbour thought

last sheet cut and ready to fix when the pier has set. 9 inch hole for an 8 inch pier.

bracing in place ready for tomorrow afternoon, it looks really high but the top is 1500, mount and scope comes in at 330 parked horizontal and the top of the walls will be 1850,and about 10/15mm clearance for ror. i was going to go 1800 but the top of the doorway in my old shed was 1800 and i kept hitting the top of my head so not taking any chances.

12mm reebar right up through aswell.

all thats left is to align my adapter plate tonight and mark it with marker pen.

someone will recognize the pier adapter, the drawing with sizes was posted on sgl somewhere but cant remember who, i printed off a copy,bought the ali and got it machined at work, perfect fit.

yesyes, this is one of the slabs from the rafter packs, before and after compressing

today got the rest of the insulation in and the 2nd sheet.

tomorrow hopefully i will cut but not fix the last sheet, and then brace up the ducting ready for concreting on saturday, this will depend on the knee, as theres a fair bit of walking involved.

yesterday swapped the pipe for inch and a half, and i've had several goes pulling usbs through with not one snag, just wait till its done for real.

shuttering in for the top of the pier hole, now that was a struggle not being able to kneel so i did it lying down the ducting will sit level with this bringing the pier to the height i want it at.

Coming along very nicely now...

I also think that the 90 degree bends might be a problem. I would (and will) use 2 45 degree bends instead of a single 90 degree bend.

What are you using for the floor insulation? I haven't made my mind up what I will use and what you have looks quite good. I haven't found any thick Styrofoam yet...

i'm off out right now but i'll take a closeup pic later so you can see.

Coming along very nicely now...

I also think that the 90 degree bends might be a problem. I would (and will) use 2 45 degree bends instead of a single 90 degree bend.

What are you using for the floor insulation? I haven't made my mind up what I will use and what you have looks quite good. I haven't found any thick Styrofoam yet...

i bought rafter packs from wickes, worked out a little more than buying 8x4 sheets but by the time you pay for delivery theres not much difference. they come in packs of 3 and each slab is 610 x 402 x 60 and they compress into a smaller gap because of the way they're made. i've got them for the warmroom walls too as my frame is 65mm these will be a nice snug fit.

http://www.wickes.co.uk/polystyrene-rafter-insulation-boards-pk3/invt/210020/?source=123_74&tmcampid=104&tmad=c&tmplaceref=PPC_ggl_0006635&tmcustom=mkwid|W5fPyZGt|pcrid|7531858372|match||plid|&gclid=CNiM94nKp7gCFW_HtAodHmoAJA

Will get some on the way home, thanks.

Great work Tony - I'd pull some cables or cable pulls through your pipes before the floor goes down just in case they snag at the 90º bends

being done before it gets covered, still a bit more to fit yet.

training meant that i only managed a little bit today, and the obsy may be put on hold for a bit, twisted my damn knee again. we'll just wait see what tomorrow is like, typical.

anyway, insulation in and first sheet ready to go.

plastic pipe for data cable,not finished yet and need to thread a few lines through before its covered.

Looking good Tony. Have you placed a DPM on the walls under the frame that supports the joists ?

all in malc, you can just about make it out in the bottom pic.

managed a few hours after work but thats about it, too hot to be working in, but the floor is about 95% done.

i tried my best to give myself some shade

got the first piece of insulation in, only to make sure the noggins spacing were right to fit these inbetween.

some weed control sheeting tomorrow and a few more noggins and the first 2 sheets of ply will take me right up to the edge of the pier hole, just right to tip the concrete in.

Yes malc, a few more bits and noggins to go in tomorrow, hopefully get the warmroom side insulated and covered too.