Yawning Angel

Awesome progress James!

Mesh was today's job for me too, I used this stuff between my concrete corners. Ground clearance is such that 300mm did for the widest part and 200 mm for the rest.

This weekend's progress wasn't massive, but all the cladding is now finished, including a minimum of 2 coats of paint.

Following that, I've fitted the supporting batons for the floor insulation (75mm polystyrene), trial fitted some of the wall insulation  (50mm foiled PIR) and installed the rodent mesh around the perimeter (300mm stainless). All slightly fussy jobs, that take up time with little to show, however, since everything for the inside sheeting and flooring is 'on-site', I'm hoping to hit a few meatier jobs in the very near future

10 hours ago, Astrokev said:

That adapter looks really smart. A question though - the clearance between the south altitude knob and the adapter looks very small. Will this make it difficult to adjust?

I'm really please with now the adapter has turned out, thanks everyone! It's stainless steel offcut plates, 50mm stud connectors as the spacers, hex cap head bolts all from ebay and then AVX adapter from Altair. All stainless except the aluminum adapter

It only sign it's from offcuts is both plate have a tiny 3 or 4 mm slot in one edge where the cutting would have started - this is before it has been polished up a bit

The knob is quite close, but I'm hoping not to have to mess with it too much once it's installed. If it is a problem I have a shorter replacement I made up from back when I needed to use the polarscope...somewhere ?

Today saw 2 significant events, power and pier

The observatory now has power all connected up and live. A couple of sockets in initially, with more to come. A lighting circuit too, waiting for lights ?

Out from the main panel in the garage:

and into the obs 

Also the pier head gets its first assembly now all the bits have been machined up:

I think I better order the insulation and flooring, things are moving forward!

With Christmas out of the way, things can resume a little:

All the remaining cladding is now pre-treated and waiting on a free & dry day. That will be a massive landmark event!

The minor water ingress problem seems to have been delt with - The rain was tracking back in along the exposed rails. A dam of silicon on the rail, under the rolling roof but outside the scope room has done the trick, tested in drizzle, now waiting on a downpour haha

Big event this weekend should be POWER! An electrician mate is coming on Sunday to joint everything and plumb it in!

The list doesn't seem to shrink:

Guttering (arriving tomorrow, I think)
Perimeter mesh
Window
Door
Insulation
Flooring
Internal walls
Vents
Network
...

Looking amazing, James!

5 minutes ago, Astrokev said:

D'you mean the rail?

Yes, essentially working as a pipe. Might be clear tomorrow, so I’m on for investigating 

It might also run under the V, if it has access. 

In this constant drizzle, I’m seeing water tracking under the rail from the exposed side into the scope side. I’m thinking of solutions at the moment. I’m wondering if a notch under the rail at the transition might interrupt its route

Need a dry spell to investigate properly, but it’s only dripping slowly, and I’ve no floor yet. 

Thanks Alan. I have the door waiting, it's vertical T&G too, although narrower boards. I'm hoping it'll look like I planned to do it ?

It's spreading!

and yes, that is 'sunshine'. You might need to google it ?

4 hours ago, Astrokev said:

I still need to put up some guttering. The rain was dripping off the roof onto my DSLR lenses. ?

I was thinking similar thoughts as cold water dripped down my neck whilst doing some cladding. It was a way further down the list, but might just jump up in priority

Dry inside too! I was so chuffed this morning when I went to check it

Yesterday I thought it might get blown or washed away! My Dad has volunteered to carry on whilst I’m at work this week ??

Thanks James! Did well with the weather, for once ?

Cladding!

and mud!

Now the roof is coated, the rails needed to go back on for a final fix. This is where we found out just how hard it is to dead lift to rolling roof! 

Rails fixed, over centre catches added and a bit of a tidy 

Cladding begins on Sunday, if the forecast is to be believed ?

Even with land drains, its not fantastically well drained - A dusting of tops soil over boulder clay. The curse of the new(ish) build!. It has had above and beyond the level of traffic it might cope with. I'll be making a path and step, and the rest will bounce back I'm sure ?

Status update: the roof is waterproofed, although not in its finished state. It needs a top coat to smooth it over, but it’s not idea at this time of year, so it’s a job for next year now. The rails need to go back on once the coating has cured (next weekend)

So, with the roof pretty much ticked off, I’ve put up the membrane ready for cladding. 

Daylight photos! (Yes, it’s a swamp!)

3 hours ago, Astrokev said:

That's something I still need to source.

If it helps, I found an 800 x 800mm unused unit on eBay : £1.30! It didn’t seem an uncommon thing

First day of liquid coating onto the rolling roof, so of course we have torrential rain tonight. Still, it is moisture cured ?

Pics when there’s daylight

I went with these in 50mm lost head 2.65mm, but they do a selection:

https://www.silvatimber.co.uk/fasteners/stainless-steel-annular-ring-nails.html

Looks amazing!

The plate over the lock is called an ‘anti thrust plate’ if you want to look them up

Thanks! That coating is the vapour barrier, applied with what is basically contact adhesive.  Next is the liquid coating with glass fibre mat imbedded. Followed by the mid grey top coat. 

Im looking forward to the cladding too. It’ll suddenly be a building

The cladding is ready and waiting ??