Gina's Observatory - The Build

[Freff]

That's not on the camera, that's the size of them in the west. It's crawling over the obsy at speed.

[Gina]

Damn bugs

[Gina]

That's not on the camera, that's the size of them in the west. It's crawling over the obsy at speed.

Yep! They breed 'em big in these 'ere parts!

[Gina]

A glorious sunrise heralded a nice fine day though it never warmed up as much as expected and stayed cold all day. I was determined that it wouldn't stop me from getting on

I made an early start (before 8am) and got a satisfying amount done today including getting the rubber roofing up on the warm room roof and glued down.

Having lowered the warm room south wall top by 18mm as mentioned yesterday, the window frame sides needed reducing by 12mm and 6mm and the angle of slope changed from 3 degrees to about 2.5. Also the top batten of the frame needed altering to provide enough clearance for the window pane.

So, this starts off the day's progress...

1. Warm room window frame top batten thinned down one end and the spacer at the other reduced by 12mm. Then batten screwed back into place.

2. Placed second piece of OSB on warm room roof and screwed it down.

3. Sorting out the pieces for the warm room roof sides to provide the right form and height for the edge of the roof.

4. Took rubber roofing sheet and put it up on the warm room roof and spread it out. Had to turn it 90 degrees to fit the right way round.

5. Having positioned it to provide the right overlaps all round, the bottom half was rolled up to expose half the OSB.

6. Adhesive applied to OSB with a small long handled roller.

7. Rubber membrane unrolled onto adhesive and smoothed down by hand and using a long handled standard size paint roller I use for painting ceilings.

8. Top half of membrane rolled up down the slope and adhesive applied to the top half of the OSB. Then the sheet unrolled onto adhesive.

9. Adhesive applied to top member of dividing wall which provides the upstand for the warm roof roof and seal between the two roof sections. Then rubber stuck up the side of the wood.

10. Corners of a 75x22mm wood strip rounded off with a rasp and sanded smooth ready to take the rubber membrane. This was then screwed to the south side of the roof to provide a ridge in the membrane to keep rain water away from the wood.

11. Adhesive applied to the sides and top of this strip and the rubber membrane stuck to it.

This was as far as I got today, leaving the fascia to be screwed on and the other sides to do tomorrow (or when weather permits).

Now to the photos, starting with the sunrise as captured by the webcam.

The warm room window frame.

Now on to today's main project - the rubber roofing on the warm room.

Rolled up ready for applying the adhesive.

[Freff]

Good progress, good work Gina. You sound a lot more positive today. I'm pleased it's going well again for you.

[Gina]

One extra pic taken from a webcam image. Applying adhesive to the second half of the roof, with the rubber membrane rolled up towards the lower end of the roof. I didn't take DSLR photos once I'd started applying adhesive - I didn't want to stop.

[Gina]

Good progress, good work Gina. You sound a lot more positive today. I'm pleased it's going well again for you.

Thank you Tony I had a dose of the blues brought on by the continual dull, damp and depressing weather. Bit of sunshine and I'm alright again

[Gina]

Weather's looking good so far this morning. Cloud breaking up and mist slowly lifting. Flat calm ATM.

Want to get the warm room roof finished today then I can get on with the roll off unit.

[Pete Presland]

only feels like a few hours ago i went to bed,oh it was yes lovely morning and quite a nice night!

the obsy is coming along nicely,when do you think you will be up and running?

[Gina]

Started drizzling now But forecast to clear up later.

[Gina]

The drizzle didn't last long and the sun's out now so I've been getting on. Now have both sides and the top stuck down on the warm room roof.

[ryan]

Doin a great job well done.

[Aoraki]

Looking good! It sounds like your rubber roof went as easy as mine, I'm sure it was the right decission in the end.

[Gina]

Overall the weather has been good for most of the day and I've got a reasonable amount done. Not quite as much as I had hoped, but that seems always to be the case I had hoped to have finished the warm room roof and got on to the roll off.

So... today it's been all on the warm room roof.

1. Prepared the pieces for the roof edges and treated the parts that will be visible with the green wood preserver.

2. Glued down the rubber membrane over the sides of the roof and up over top of the dividing wall frame.

3. Screwed the south side edge trim pieces together.

4. Screwed the south side edge assembly onto the roof edge over the rubber.

5. Screwed the north side fascia into position.

6. Cut the drip bar for the bottom of the roof.

7. Screwed drip bar to OSB and side pieces.

8. Glued the rubber onto the drip bar.

9. Trimmed the rubber to just below the edge of the drip bar.

Now to today's photos, starting with a view of the south west corner of the warm room roof just after fastening on the fascia assembly :-

[Gina]

Weather is fine so far though a bit chilly. Working on the roll off framework today.

[Gina]

The fine weather didn't last long. Rain stops play!!

[yesyes]

The rain just came to test your warm room roof slope angle.... ;-)

[Gina]

Yes, probably When I went back out after the rain, I found the warm room roof dry except for the very top and puddles on the floorboards at that end where the water had blown after falling from the roof. Maybe I should get the guttering up

[Gina]

Been measuring and cutting some more parts of the roll off roof framework and treating them with wood preserver.

[Gina]

As I said above - mixed weather today but made some progress even if there isn't actually much to see. Well... just a few bits of green painted wood

So... progress today :-

1. Measured up for the next pieces of roll off roof framework.

2. Cut wood for the above and applied wood preserver - ends soaked and sides brushed.

3. Removed temporary pieces from roof framework, cut to length etc. as above.

4. Attached one piece of wood in order to check that everything fitted.

The photos start off with a nice sunrise again (from the webcam) but the sunshine didn't last and we had some rain. Otherwise just a photo of a few bits of green wood Might be more to see tomorrow if weather permits.

[yesyes]

You should apply for picture of the week with that 2nd image! Stunning...

[Gina]

You should apply for picture of the week with that 2nd image! Stunning...

Thank you Chris

[Gina]

Not the best of conditions for building progress today! Showers and a cold wind plus I had to go out a couple of times. Not a blow-by-blow report today but I have made some progress. Managed to get some roll off framework pieces installed and sorted out an anomaly with my design

One thing has been apparent - the roll off does tend to go off course so I've ordered some skateboard bearings to guide it. These are 22mm diameter so should be fine. Total of just under 6 quid for a set of 8 including postage. There's just a small modification required to make clearance for them. Actually, I think the reason for going off course may be that the 100x22mm side pieces that hold the wheels have warped and I'm thinking of adding some pieces of steel angle I have available, to hold it straight. The angle can also carry the guide bearings.

Now here's today's photos :-

[Astrokev]

Gina, the rubber roof looks really neat - a great solution.

For the roll off roof, how d'you intend to prevent the sides from flexing? There doesn't appear to be any way to hold them square to the roof, except for the left hand end.

cheers

[Gina]

Gina, the rubber roof looks really neat - a great solution.

Thank you I'm pleased, I have to say.

For the roll off roof, how d'you intend to prevent the sides from flexing? There doesn't appear to be any way to hold them square to the roof, except for the left hand end.

cheers

I have some more bracing to go in but the higher side (north) is already pretty rigid with the 5x2 uprights bolted to the cross members with two bolts each. I've only just started on the other side - that will be better braced when it's finished. Also, I'll probably have both wheel sets guided so any flexibility at the top of the long wall will be catered for by having the that wall held at top and bottom. That will enable me to reduce the woodwork and hence the weight.