Astrokev

I went through 2 heavy duty tarps during my construction. Sadly the wind progressively got the better of them and they leaked like a sieve. Better than no tarp at all though!

Very frustrating when the weather holds you back. Sorting out priorities can be difficult. I reached a stage when everything seemed to be equal priority which I'm sure caused me delay due to indecision!

3 minutes ago, yesyes said:

You've probably thought of that already, but I'm glad I marked where the studding is on the top and bottom of the ply and where cables run inside the wall. It made attaching things to the walls much easier.

Yes I was going to do that (been bitten by that one on another project!), but thanks for the reminder Chris  

18 minutes ago, JamesF said:

I think if the internal skin is just to cover the structure then 6mm is probably fine.  If you want to actually fix things to it then I'd be tempted to go for something a bit thicker unless you can work to the positions of the timber in the framework (or add extras where you think you'll need them).

James

I think I will be attaching some things on the walls, but will probably use the studding. I'll certainly reconsider before taking the plunge. 

21 minutes ago, yesyes said:

But your warm room would be 6mm wider.

I can't argue with that ?

35 minutes ago, Gina said:

I used 6mm ply to line my warm room walls and ceiling - quite sufficient.

Yeah I was wondering whether 6 would be ok, but there seems to be so little difference in price that I thought I'd go with 9. I'll take another look though before I get the wallet out!

The other thought is that if I went with 6 it wouldn't be over-engineered, which would break the habit of a lifetime ?

I'll definitely be using 6 for the warm room ceiling as there's not much headroom as it is ie. none!

1 hour ago, nigelg said:

You will need to leave a gap around the edges as these tiles expand quite a bit (if we ever have a summer)

 

Nigel

Thanks Nigel. If we have a summer like last year, stopping them melting may be as much of a concern. ?

1 hour ago, LeeRich said:

 

Thanks Lee. I thought you'd left the forum. Good to see you back

51 minutes ago, Bizibilder said:

Yup - Ebay is the cheapest by quite a way.  As nigelg said leave a gap - about 1/4 inch (6mm) at winter temps of 1-5°C.  If you don't it will buckle badly in the summer months.  You can buy bigger "mats" of the stuff - look for anti fatigue matting - If you can find the right size you can create a floor covering with fewer joins in it.  It also make a good lightweight dew shield material ?

Yes, now I look, EB has lots of suppliers so will go this route. We used to use anti-fatigue mats made of this stuff in an old lab I used to manage, so may be worth exploring this option too ?.

I'm currently thinking of putting the matting "under" the wall lining, so I should be able to leave a gap that won't be seen. 

Gave the pier a second coat of primer this morning. Was hoping to give it a top coat this afternoon (I plan to use Rustoleum spray paint, which I hope will be ok), but the temp is dropping rapidly now and, according to the instructions on the tin, it's really too cold - and looks like it will be for the next week at least! Oh well. I'll turn my thoughts to other jobs in the meantime. 

Next up is to install the window and then plan what I need to line out the interior walls; probably with 9mm ply. I plan to make the panels easily removable to provide easy access for when I do the electrics. 

I also should start looking for those wonderful jigsaw foam floor tiles. I think I saw some in B&Q. Does anyone have any recommendations for other suppliers I could consider?

Before and after shots of the pier after giving it a nice coat of Hamerite Special Metals Primer this afternoon. Seemed to go on OK, but will have to wait till it's fully dry to check the quality. It probably needs another coat before applying a top coat.

Yes, well spotted!

Mine's given great service over the years. Tend to use the cordless for most jobs these days though. The Bosch only comes out for those tougher tasks :) 

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

That's not a Bosch CSB 550 drill on the floor, is it?

James

No, the 500. Had it years and gets used very rarely. It has a bit more oomph than the cordless, so used it to cut through the impenetrable concrete ?. I intended to drill 4 holes for 2 brackets, but after struggling I'm settling for one bracket!  It must be the ballast that I struggled to get through.

Picked up the warm room window this morning. Pleasingly, it actually fits the hole in the studding! Not sure when I'll fit it yet; it's probably one of those jobs to fill-in between other bigger jobs.

This afternoon I started work on the pier. This had quite a few concrete splashes, and I wanted to prepare the galvanised surface to more readily accept a coat of paint. I did this by sanding the surface with AlO2 paper. Even with the electric sander it took quite a while and I was frozen by the time I finished. This cleaned it up pretty well and I hope has given the surface sufficient tooth to help the paint adhere. I still need to wash it to get rid of the dust and then I'll give it a coat of Hammerite Special Metals primer.

I also filled the top of the pier as this was pretty rough after pouring the concrete. The final job was to drill a couple of holes to attach the power supply conduit. Getting through the metal pipe was straight forward but I blunted a drill bit drilling through the concrete. I'm wondering whether I may have used Kryptonite to fill the tube by mistake ?.

It's nice to be working on something that isn't roof shaped!

Sure you've got enough insulation there Alex?  

Seriously though - which bits do you plan to insulate? I'm just insulating my warm room walls and floor, leaving the scope room au-naturelle to aide equilibration to ambient.

Good progress being made there - excellent.

The remaining eye-bolts arrived this afternoon, so I had another enjoyable and productive hour in the observatory.

Attached the stainless eye-bolts and turnbuckles, so I now have a roof that locks down. It's solid as a rock. The weather can do what it likes now and the observatory will (hopefully) still be standing  .

Encouraged by the fitting of the turnbuckles I also attached all the fillers to cover the gaps between the rafters. The before and after pictures attached hopefully speak a thousand words. Although they were a pretty good fit, and the gaps at the seams were negligible, I still went round with caulk to ensure they were wind-tight. As stated in an earlier post, I intend to leave the gaps at the end of the rails to allow some air movement. These gaps are pretty well covered by the roof eaves, so hopefully no rain will get in that way, but I'll keep a close eye on this. If they do let some rain in I'll fit draft excluder brushes or similar, but we'll see.

Apart from possibly giving the fillers a cosmetic coat of paint I think the roof is completely finished. Hoo-bl**dy-ray !

Tomorrow I pick up the double glazed unit for the interior wall. If time permits, I'll also start tidying up the pier.

51 minutes ago, Yawning Angel said:

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.

That looks good stuff. Beginning to wish I'd known about that before I did mine. I guess I can always replace mine if it proves ineffective. 

I went a different route to deter rodents. I put wire mesh around the perimeter between the foundation blocks. In my tool shed I had mice knaw through the floorboards, so 9mm ply may not be foolproof (or should that be mouseproof). Mind you, no guarantee that wire mesh will work either!

EDIT - @Davey-Tjust beat me to it!

Spent a few hours this morning cutting all the bits of ply I need to cover the gaps between the rolling roof rafters - 14 in total - and giving them a couple of coats of the ubiquitous Cuprinol olive garden shades paint. These are, once again, drying nicely on my dining table. I'm actually thinking of moving my dining table to the shed, as it's clearly ideal for DIY projects, and gets more use for these than eating meals off  .

Baby-sitting my grandson tomorrow afternoon, and I'll be recovering from a very early morning eclipse watching before lunch, so not sure I'll get anything done on the observatory tomorrow. Hopefully the rest of my eye-bolt order will arrive, so at least that will feel like progress. I do like to achieve something, no matter how small, every day.

2 hours ago, JamesF said:

That's an excellent idea.  I shall consider doing something similar with mine.

James

Likewise!

Didn't do much on the observatory today.

The eyebolt (singular) I ordered yesterday arrived this morning. Fantastic service. Problem is - I ordered 8  . No idea what happened to the other 7. I contacted the Ebay seller, who replied a short while ago and was hugely apologetic. The rest of the order is in the post! This, of course, meant that I couldn't fit the turnbuckles today, so looking forward to doing that at some point next week.

I did, however, measure up for the ply shuttering to cover the gaps under the rolling roof, and realised that I had enough 9mm ply left over in the shed to cut and fit all the bits I need, which is a bonus. I may do a bit of this tomorrow. The next other job I'm lining up is to tidy up the pier. I need to attach the conduit that's currently waving about helplessly, and then clean-up the galvanised tube so I can paint it. I hear galvanised steel can be tricky to paint, so thought I'd give it a scrub with my wire brush on the cordless drill to provide a key, and then get some special metals primer.

Yep, I don't particularly enjoy cutting and fitting large sheets of 18mm. Too much like hard work, but I'm glad I used this and not 12mm, which I was originally going to use. 

Interesting to hear of your leak James. It hasn't rained heavily here since I did my fix, so I haven't tested it out fully as yet. It's difficult to see why it wouldn't work though.

The inside of your observatory looks huge! Hope it's dry for you tomorrow.

1 minute ago, RayD said:

Great news with the window, Kev.  That's an absolute bargain.

Getting really close to a finish now (if that's even possible).

Yes, at that price I'm wondering whether to turn the warm room into a conservatory  .

It feels like I'm getting close now, I must say. Apart from the internal door, and lining out, the only big job remaining is to do the electrics (with hindsight, I should've done this at the start). I must draw out what I think I need and give my local sparky a call.

26 minutes ago, Gina said:

For my warm room window I just bought an acrylic sheet and made my own frame out of timber.  Silicone sealant keeps any wet out.

My window is internal, separating the warm and scope rooms, so doesn't need to be water-tight.