Astrokev

Sadly still not warm enough to stick down the EPDM. The creases are still very evident and I'm increasingly concerned that I won't be able to finish laying it until Spring, unless we have an unseasonably hot spell. In the meantime then, I guess I'll just crack on with other bits. Bought the wood for the main door this morning, which involved cutting up an 8x4 sheet of 9mm ply in Wickes car park to enable me to fit it in my car. So much cheaper buying a large piece and cutting it up rather than 2 smaller pieces! Couldn't be bothered to do any work outside once I'd got it home, so varnished the door sill in the dining room. Will start work on the door tomorrow - probably also in the dining room where it's a bit warmer!

Lovely sunny day. Right - off to the DIY store to buy some wood to make a door ?

Seemed reasonably bright today so found time to do a little more on the build. To help me maximise the available time should it ever warm up enough to allow me to stick the EPDM down, I decided to finish off the edges of the gable ends. As mentioned in a previous post, I'd intentionally left the edging timber off the eaves to allow access to the side cladding. So, today I painted the top edge of the cladding which will be difficult to access once the edge timber is on, and then put up the edge timbers. These strengthen the edges, provide support to stick the EPDM to, and also give me a flat surface to attach the barge boards. Whilst I was in a painterly mood, I also painted creocote on the ROR support framework. Please forgive the rubbish tip underneath the framework; it's amazing how small piles of surplus timber grow into huge piles of debris. I must organise a trip to the local council tip! Finally, in my haste to lay the EPDM on the roof the other day, I noticed I'd put it on upside-down, with the blue manufacturing data on full view in the middle of the roof - not very attractive. So, with some difficulty, I climbed on the roof and managed to turn the rubber the right-side up. Imagine trying to take the bed-sheets off the bed whilst you are lying in it and you'll get the idea. This was a double pain since the exposed surface had gotten somewhat messy with bird mess, debris from the pine trees next door, and a load of mud (no idea how that got up there!) since I laid it down. So, decided to give it a rub down with an old towel to clean it up a bit before turning it over. I hope this doesn't affect how well the adhesive sticks. Anyways - a few pics -

Yes I did the same. You may have seen my SketchUp model linked in one of my posts somewhere in my thread.

Ah, I see now - excellent thanks. It didn't help that I was looking at your earlier post on my mobile, and the pic was a bit small! Kev EDIT - nice drawing by the way. SketchUp I presume. I couldn't live without SketchUp!

Yes that sounds like how I intend to do mine. Just need to work through the details. I may add a frame around the edge similar to the design by @RayD In the last pics I posted you can see the shiplap lengths I've reserved for the door, keeping dry in the warm room.

Same wheels as mine too. I opted for 6. Four would have taken the load easily, but I wanted to add more support in the centre of the span to remove risk of flexure of the beams. Probably me being thick but I'm struggling a bit to understand how the notched beams will be positioned, and how you intend to attach the wheels?

It'll certainly feel strange when I can go in and close the door behind me. I need to crack on with thinking how to make the door. Can't be that difficult surely !

Thought I'd brave the chill and try and do something on the observatory this afternoon. Since I can't do much on the roof, I wondered which of the many other jobs I should do. Initially thought I ought to spend time clearing out the scope and warm rooms - they're a real mess! Then I thought, although the roof is hopefully water-tight (after a fashion), rain can still enter through the wackin' big hole in the wall where the door is going, so reckoned this was probably higher priority than the internals. As can be seen I now have a hardwood door sill ? . The pic is before I drilled fixing holes. The sill is currently drying after a liberal dousing with preservative. Once dry I'll probably varnish it, as it's a shame to hide the lovely timber, and screw it in position. Then I'll start on the door itself - once I've designed it that is. In the pic showing the pier, you can see the rope which is hopefully holding the roof down. It's tied to a wall stud before going under a floor joist and up to the roof (behind the pier) ?

Good question. I think it's very unlikely that I'll want to automate opening the roof, no, fun thought that would be. Even to open it in advance of an observing session, to allow the kit to equilibrate, I'll probably just open it manually. I can't see myself doing remote observing.

Thanks Roger. Yes using pins and holes looks a good alternative. I'll certainly consider this ? and see if I can work it into my design.

Looks a bit brighter today but still not warm enough to work on the roof covering. So, my thoughts are turning away from EPDM-mode, and am thinking about the internals. Lots still to do... One job I need to prioritise is the fitting of some kind of latch mechanism to lock the roof down. At the moment, I've got a rope tying the roof to the floor joists just in case the wind wants to play games. The often used solution is a toggle clamp latch as in the attached image. I've been looking at my roof and I've realised a problem. The obvious place to attach this type of latch is on the sides of the internal roof ie. on the bottom beams that hold the wheels. Unfortunately, the gap between the roof beams - in particular the wheel beam - and the cross-beam that separates the scope and warm room, is too small, being only a centimetre or so. There is therefore insufficient clearance to fit the top "capture" part of the latch without it fouling the cross-beam (and when I think about it, the edges of the sloping warm room roof aswell). So, I need to put my creativity-hat on and think of a way around this. If anyone has any ideas or has tried other methods to stop a roof blowing off, I'd love to hear them ?

Ooh, that's a bit risky with frosty nights. At the very least make sure you cover any mortar work to reduce likelihood of frost damage.

Excellent. Sounds like you're making great progress. You'll be finished before me at this rate !

The law according to sod coming to bear once again. When you need it to be warm, it's bloomin' freezing. When the temperature isn't critical, it's baking and you break out into a sweat at the slightest exertion. Grrr!

Looks strangely familiar ?. Looking good Alex. A while since you've posted - any more progress made?

Miserable day today ? . Bright but chilly this morning but I knew it was deteriorating quickly so didn't bother starting any work in the observatory. This afternoon the heavens opened and it just got colder. Instead I decided to be productive and started my tax return - yep it was THAT miserable! Can't see it improving enough to allow me to get the adhesive on any day soon, so will leave the EPDM held down with clamps and left over lengths of wood. At least I can check that the inside stays dry.

I gave up trying to use a roller when I did the warm room and just used a brush (which I then binned). It's just so damn sticky! (Mind you I did do the warm room in summer and it was baking. The adhesive was drying almost before it left the brush).

?. Can't complain there! freezing here too and raining most of the afternoon. Decided to just stay in the house until it stops - probably Monday I reckon. Hopefully it'll start to warm up next week, but I'm worried I won't be able to get the adhesive on fir quite a while.

Hi Chris. Absolutely. Feels good to be on the inside without being dripped on ?

Yes, it reminds me of last autumn, when I paused the work on the foundations around this time. It was months before I could start again!

Thanks Roger. I assume you're referring to the angled edges? Good spot! I do plan to put battens along these edges, but I needed to leave them off to enable me to screw the cladding to the eaves. With these battens in place there wouldn't have been room to access the top edge of the cladding. So, the order of events regarding finishing the roof are - 1. Paint the cladding. 2. Attach battens along the eaves. 3. Glue the EPDM. Thanks for your other suggestions. I have some experience laying the EPDM on the warm room, but the main roof will be more challenging I think!

Well, the EPDM is on! This morning was taken up trying to help my daughter with her Uni dissertation (drawing parallels between art and science!), so only found a few hours this afternoon to work on the obsy. I smoothed off all the joins between the jigsaw of OSB boarding, and rounded off the edges slightly, which took an age. Plus it was freezing on the roof! Then dug out the roll of EPDM from the back of the shed and nearly killed myself getting it onto the roof. Since it's too chilly to put down adhesive, and the creases in the rubber clearly weren't going anywhere, I followed @JamesF suggestion and will leave it loose on the roof until the weather is warm enough to stick it down. But at least it's up and, by definition, I hope the obsy is technically watertight. Hooray! At least I can carry on with other work - I guess the next job is making a door. Should be interesting ?

Thanks James. I'd considered putting the EPDM in place and then waiting for the weather to warm up. This will at least protect the roof and remove the risk of the tarp leaking (which it has a tendency to do!). To do this though I'll have to buy a few more G clamps since I only have 3. You seem to have dozens!

Gorgeous day today, once the horrendous heavy dew had burned off. As planned, I finished off attaching the OSB to the roof. After playing with a few options to support the ridge, I finally opted to screw batons along the length, chamfering one side to allow both sides to sit flush. This was a bit of a faff but the end result was fine and once finished I was glad I had done it. The ridge can now support my weight without any apparent movement at all. So, here are a few in-progress pics and the finished roof. This is now ready for laying the EPDM. However, the forecast for tomorrow looks dicey, with a reasonable chance of rain and dropping temperature. I'm not sure what the lowest recommended temp is for laying EPDM - I must check on the adhesive pot. It's possible there could be a delay ?