Sky Shed Ransu

[Ransu]

Hello everyone. I have been enjoyed to read stories of building DIY observatories or sheds and i decided to share my story too. I made up my mind to make my own shed last winter when i was getting equipments out of garage, middle of night for photography. And tried to get every time polar align again.. mostly -10..-20C with frozen fingers.

I like roll off roof design, because it does not look too much observatory. I planned this design myself, interial dimesions 2,3x2,3m

I have been building this about 3 weeks now.

Step 1, digging holes to ground and making concrete bases, deepest hole one abt 1m below ground.

Step 2:

After concrete work, Insulation. In Finland at wintertimes ground get frozen abt 80cm..1m deep if you dont add insulation. Frozen water makes ground raising and lift your buildings. I used 10cm polystyrene, made for that purpose.

Step 3:

Hiding what you have been done, with sand and small rocks.

And start to build base, i used this popular "summercottage" floor design.

to be continued..

[Viv]

Nice one.

Oh yes - that is cold ........

[Ransu]

Part 2:

Next step was making frame of building.

Floor 2x5", walls 2x4"

situation 11.6

And after frame.

Making roll off roof frame

I had old 125mm diameter wheels at garage and i decided to use them. Frame of roof is made of 2"x4"

Roof frame and wheels:

[Ransu]

Part 3 Roof

Made of 2"x4" and 1"x4" I will cover it later with brown steel.

Steel roof is easy to keep clean at wintertime, snow is easy to get off:)

Situation today 16.6

Roof on:

and roof off:

[Gina]

Looking very good Thank you for posting the photos - very interesting

[malc-c]

Looks good. Interesting to see how you have to deal with extreme cold by insulating the floor in such a way... looking forward to further pictures as the build progreses

[Telrad]

Ransu, your Obs build looks like it's going to be top-notch! I can imagine how cold it gets in Finland.. I like the 10cm polystyrene and roll-off frame. It looks great!

I can't wait to see the next stage of your build. Thanks for posting!

[Steep]

You are obvioiusly a very skilled carpenter/builder, the workmanship there is just amazing!

[Ransu]

Thank you veryone. Actually i'm not carpenter or building professional. Engineer. But i have always liked to do something with my own hands.

Yesterday i went to buy material for walls, it is wooden panel made of spruce.

I buy it from local small sawmill. 240m cost me 210€.

This is how it looks:

Weather forecast yesterday was not promising for today, but luckily i got only 1 hour of rain. I am guite happy for results, it is time consuming to use this kind of panel, but i wanted it look like my old house. Nowadays almost nobody build houses like this, too time consuming and labour cost too high.

Corner:

And situation today. Door is old toilet door.

[Gina]

Coming on nicely Nice looking job

[George]

Thats a nice looking build Rauno, it will make winter observing much more pleasant for you.

[Ransu]

Thank you Gina and George:)

If weather is good tomorrow, i think i can finish outside woodwork. And i asked today my 14y daughter to paint it from outside, for some money of course.

Today my 12y son helped me for a while, i teach him to use nailgun. Eyes and ears protected of course, i think it's good for childrens to learn use also other tools than keyboard.

[Seme]

Thats looking very good i just love the look it looks like a little wooden house.

Those corners are looking good worth the time doing them correct

[virtualpilot45]

I just love watching these observatories being built, there's always so much dedication put into their construction. The construction seems brilliant, wish I could pull off something 1/2 as good as that!

P.S - Finland? Is this my poor geography showing or do you have a 24 hour daylight round about this time?

[Ransu]

P.S - Finland? Is this my poor geography showing or do you have a 24 hour daylight round about this time?

Yes, you are right that we have lot of daylight this time of year.

I live 61.09N 28.45E, sunset time today is 22:47 and sunrice 3:57. Next time to get short time of darkness at night is beginning of August. So it is good time to build Observatories now:D

Arctic circle, point where you can see midnight sun, is 66.34N. About 700km north from place i live.

[Ransu]

Today i got outside woodwork almost ready.

Next steps are making floor and painting outside.

This is how it looks now:

And roof open, wide field view.

And wide field from inside to south.

And one more from outside

[Gina]

Very nice Matches your house beautifully Lovely job!

[Digz]

Great read and great build. Aesthetically it looks perfect against the house.

[Ransu]

Update 23.6.2011

Outside painting has almost been done now, little bit of white paint still have to add.

Floor is now also almost ready, need only layer of clear lacquer.

Earlier owner of my house left some floor board made of pine. I used them now.

Today i assembled corrugated? steel roof and monsoon rain can start now:)

I think soon i can start to work inside with pier, still have to wait more than month untill first short dark nights are back.

Outside today:

Floor:

Roof partly open

[Gina]

Looks lovely

[anthony]

Fascinating and very accomplished build so far. Very impressive

[OzDave]

Looking pretty neat! I love Obsy build threads!

[Takahashi]

Great job... love seeing these things coming together.

[RogerTheDodger]

Looks lovely, but when I see the inside I keep thinking "sauna"

[Ransu]

Looks lovely, but when I see the inside I keep thinking "sauna"

That was good:D , maybe i have to name it Astro Sauna.

And propably i have to find an old dobson to corner acting as sauna stove.

Thanks everyone, i have enjoyed making this project and read your response.