Astrokev

Looking great Alex

Taking photos is great and we obviously all like to see them but, when pressed for time, cracking on with the build is far more important ? Sounds like great progress! EDIT - actually, you've now made me a little anxious. I untied my roof so that I could wheel it backwards and forwards while painting contact-adhesive along the edges (quicker than going up and down ladders the whole time). Just realised I forgot to tie the roof back down ?. I hope we're not in for strong winds before I can get back out there. I guess the side capture mechanism would stop the roof coming off completely, but if it came off the rails even slightly there's going to be damage.

The ones I've seen are rated at supporting over 100kg so they should be. I need to have a look at them in the flesh, so to speak, before committing though.

Returned from the west country last night after a few days visiting my daughter at Falmouth uni. Lovely time, but got a bit damp on Saturday morning! Today it was back to the routine, and managed some time on the observatory. Stuck down the top-border of the EPDM with contact adhesive, and started to stick down the rubber onto the battens around the edge of the roof. Just got one edge to do - the awkward one nearest the hedge - and then all the adhesive work will be complete, leaving just the barge boards to do to complete the roof. Feels good to be nearing completion of the roof I must say. Once done I'll crack on with hanging the door. I've been checking out hinges and will probably try parliament hinges. I'd not heard of these before, but they should allow me to screw the hinges into the main door internal timbers, instead of having to put a couple of screws into the edges of the cladding, which will be more sturdy. This will become more obvious when I've got the hinges and can post a few pictures to show more clearly what I mean. A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say...

Good to hear you've been able to start getting the EPDM down ? I'm hoping to get the edges of mine done this week then I can move inside and the weather can (almost) do what it likes. Oh yeah, I ought to try and get the door on as well I suppose!

Haha, could be, although I was "going outside" years before the twinettes arrived! One of mine's just graduated; t'other is in her final year at uni. Opportunity for a study there perhaps ? EDIT - and while I think about it, there's been no activity on the build today, even though the suns been out all day, as I've been proof reading her final year dissertation !

Thanks. Now that the roof has been rained on, and dried off, it doesn't look too bad today! If time allows tomorrow I'll try and stick the edges down, or at lest make a start.

Thanks Gina ??

Yes, mine are supposed to be identical (common placenta and all that) but they're not. The younger is actually the spitting image of her non-twin elder sibling. (I have 4 altogether ?). Yes, pleased with how the shed is coming along. Over working and over engineering most of it, but it's been a very therapeutic project! Still a bit of a way to go but feel I'm approaching the home stretch, and not before time!

Pleased to say that I managed to get the EPDM stuck down this afternoon. Although it's technically not the most demanding of chores, or indeed the most exciting, I have to say that with the weather working increasingly against us, it feels like a huge achievement. I was beginning to wonder whether I wouldn't be able to get it down before Spring! After the midday shower scare, I have to say that it stayed dry, although got pretty dark, before brightening up again with the sun finally showing it's face. So, all systems go! I don't actually enjoy laying EPDM. I always feel like I'm battling with the material to try and get it absolutely flat, and today was no different. Using the fan heater inside the scope room may have helped a little. I could certainly feel the warmth coming through the roof OSB as I clambered all over it. That said, the toughest creases still didn't flatten out, and there are places where the EPDM refused to stay stuck down along the line of the worst creases. It was perhaps folded too tightly whilst it was being stored. Anyways, it's down now, so not a lot I can do about it. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. As recommended, I left a ~4" border unstuck around the edges of the OSB. I'll stick the edges and sides down with contact adhesive the next chance I get - probably Thursday. This is less dependant on the weather so shouldn't present a problem. Until then, the clamps, boards and bricks will hopefully stop the sides lifting should we have a gale. Here are a few obligatory pictures, which also show the painted cladding. Once the rubber is fully stuck around the edges, I intend to put barge boards up, which I'm thinking of painting a different colour to the main observatory.

Sorry to hear that Gina. My daughter in Falmouth said earlier it's stormy today down in the West Country. Hope it clears up before the weekend as me and her twin are visiting for a long weekend ? Hope you managed to get your shopping done ?

I see where you're coming from there Julian. In principle I guess this could help, but not sure it would work over the width of the roof. It would also stretch the rubber which would try and return to its original size when the weights were removed. Neat suggestion, but I think it would create more problems than it solves sadly. Anyways, the big news is that I decided to throw caution to the wind and went for it this afternoon. I now have EPDM stuck to the roof! ?? I'll post a few pics this evening.

Heat is not needed to cure the adhesive; it's only to improve the flexibility of the rubber, to hopefully get rid of folds and creases. Warm water would probably work, but then I've got to get rid of the water ?

Hmmm, well the weather isn't as bright as suggested by yesterdays forecast, so looking doubtful that I'll manage to get the rubber stuck down today after all ? The fan heater is working a treat and after only 20 minutes, even with all the gaps and lack of a door, the temperature inside the scope room is already over 20 degrees. I'm hoping the heat will slowly penetrate the OSB and warm the rubber to make it more malleable. The problem is with the sky. The air is quite damp and todays forecast gives a possible shower around midday, so there's no way I want to start this morning with that threat looming. So, think I'll wait till lunch time and make a decision. At least this is proving to be a good test of being able to heat the observatory and roof. If successful, I'll just need to wait for a guaranteed dry spell.

Change of plan today. The weather is definitely warming up - it was 14/15 in the garden this afternoon, and the forecast for tomorrow is similar so, tempting fate, I'm considering sticking the EPDM down tomorrow! To give this a bit more chance of success, this evening I bought an inexpensive fan heater. I'll put this in the observatory first thing in the morning. If it only raises the temp by a few degrees it may make all the difference. To make life easier later on, I thought it would be helpful to have the roof cladding painted before the EPDM is stuck down, so todays job was to do just that, and I postponed work on the door, apart from giving the outer frame another coat of preserver. All was going well until nearing completion when I tripped whilst holding a full tin of paint. The learning from today was that you have to scrub pretty hard to get Cuprinol Garden Shades paint off your face! No picture of the roof (I'll post one tomorrow), but here's the damage to my favourite outdoor work jacket ?

Thanks Alan, that's very kind of you. Getting impatient with it now though; I'll be glad when it's finished and I can start using it!

Thanks Ray for your kind words! And yes, thanks also for your door design which I am happy to admit I blatantly pinched! I think I made a reference to your design a few pages back! Your security measures are certainly extensive. I'm not sure I'll go as far as copying your ideas on these though! Thanks loads for the hinges link; I'll take a look. They certainly look the business in your thread pics.

There's a lot to be said with that approach.

Quick update on today's progress. Finished the framework on the door, then took it apart to paint the outer edges with preservative. I'm usually not very good at angled corner joints, but I'm quite pleased with how they turned out on this occasion. Will hopefully reassemble tomorrow, add insulation and make a start on the cladding. Still need to order the hinges and sort out a lock!

Don't wish to rub it in but we've been blessed with 2 dry days in a row over here in the east ? Don't feel like I've maximised the opportunity though

@LeeRich those are what I thought you meant, and I agree with James. They may serve as a short term deterrent or delay but are not ideal. They are meant to be locked from inside the building which is obviously not much use when you only have one door! ? I will be using some sort of mortise lock in the middle. Will have to think about whether to use something additional to this. The barrel bolts certainly won't do any harm, but will give this some more thought.

Thanks Lee. Please can you explain more on what you mean by internal barrel bolts?

Thanks ? And does the middle hinge then go midway between the two, or on the centre line of the door, which would be slightly closer to the bottom hinge?

Looking at 4" stainless hinges for the main door. I note that some folks use 3 rather than 2 hinges. My door is ~1670mm high. Would I better going for 3 d'you think, or would 2 be sufficient?

Blessed with a dry and sunny day, but chilly once the sun started to go down. That said, the ground underfoot is still wet and resisting any chance to dry off. The lawn, such that it is, is therefore looking increasingly like the Somme. Made a start on the main door this afternoon. Only had a few hours so didn't get it finished, but pleased with the progress made. The first hour was spent measuring, drawing, measuring again, then some more measuring and checking that I wasn't going to cut the ply backing too small. I wasn't sure how big a gap to leave between the door and frame, so eventually plumped for around 3mm. The frame is slightly out of square by about a millimetre top to bottom, but hopefully this won't cause any major problems. Tomorrow I'll finish the cross-bar and diagonals. Then I'll take it apart again (!) to treat the outer frame with a hefty dose of preserver before re-assembling. Once done, the plan is to add insulation, cover the front face with breathable membrane and then vertical cladding. Tonight I'll do a search for stainless hinges. Also need to decide what type of lock to use - whether to go for a more traditional shed-style, or a more secure "Yale" house-style lock.