Samtheeagle's Nest

[samtheeagle]

I'm rather more used to a sedentary existence sitting in front of a computer, so all this manual labour is a real shock to the system

Right then, another day, more aches and pains... But we have made progress! Not as much as I had hoped, but we've got the roof made and framed, and up on the walls. The runner rails are in place, but are lacking the end support posts But I just ran out of day. I couldn't ignore the wife any more than I already had done on her birthday of all days, so we had to stop. And to be fair I was beat. A fantastic mixed grill where we went out for dinner was quite the tonic, though I am getting seriously sleepy now

Our mitre cuts for the roof frame corner struts are errrr, ropey to say the least, not a patch on bizibilders neat and tidy work, but the roof is square and solid, so good enough. Tomorrow I must get the support posts in ASAP, and then try to tack some kind of guide rails on. I picked up some small bits of timber I had hoped would do the job, but it's a tiny bit too thick, and fouls against the nut of the wheel. DOH! >< And then weatherboards, I need to get those on quick smart too, before the weather takes too much of a turn for the worse...

[Bizibilder]

I don't think I mentioned how I did the support posts in my Blog - So here goes. Dig a hole for the post and put a brick ( I used a paving brick, not a house brick) flat in the bottom of the hole, and tamp the brick down hard with a piece of timber. Measure from the top of the brick to the bottom of the runner and cut your wood to that measurement PLUS one quarter of an inch. Install the support - It should be tight between the brick and the runner. Then fill in the hole with concrete - I used post-fix which sets solid in 10 mins. use metal angles to fix the top end and don't forget the braces - they really do add support! You will find that things will settle over time and your extra 1/4" will soon dissapear!

One tip - make sure that you have some sort of "marker" on the ends of those runners ! You WILL walk into them and bash your head - eventually. I know, 'cos I have......... several times.

[Gina]

Loks nice and it's coming on

[Chris]

Wow Sam thats coming on a treat, its all looking very professional and suits its surroundings very well, great effort:)

[samtheeagle]

Thanks Yeah, after loads of prep work and a couple of days slog it's really starting to look the part. I hope it fits in to the surrounding ok, I was a little concerned that it might upset the neighbours, but they're a lovely couple and seemed quite interested when I spoke to them about it. I'm just waiting for it to dry up a bit out there so I can get on with it again. My biggest concern atm is sorting out some guide rails so the roof can traverse safely. Hopefully by the end of play today the roof will be safe to roll, and it'll be weather boarded up.

Thanks for the additional advice Roger, it's no exaggeration to say that I'd never have managed this without your blog and help.

[Gina]

I don't think you'll have any grumbles from the neighbours - I think it looks nice and the green blends in very well I did my obsy green to fit into the environment well.

[Naemeth]

That looks amazing! I can't see the neighbours complaining really, it looks like an ordinary shed!

[samtheeagle]

A bit more progress today, very handy this time off work I went at a slower pace today, what with being cream crackered and all, and not having the extra pair of hands to help. But I'm happy with what I've got done, which is putting in the roof rail support posts and a cross beam, and tacking on some guides to hopefully stop the roof escaping off the side of the building!

The roof rolls very freely back and forth, I only need one hand and next to no effort to move it, so that's probably a good sign. It does tend to wander a bit from side to side along the rails, but so long as the guides hold firm it should just right itself and carry on. I'm a bit concerned about this part, as the guides didn't work out how I'd hoped they would. I had to stand them up on the thin edge of the timber, so they're tall when looking at them from the front. I've walloped in 7 screws per 2.4m section, and it's fairly firm feeling, but the roof is a heavy beast to be rubbing along it. I'm thinking of putting some joining plates on for peace of mind. Better safe than sorry!

[Chris]

When I was in Wickes last I saw some good ali u-shape channels, would something like this help as a guide for the wheels? I'm thinking of using them on mine and drilling some small holes for rain drainage. Looks like a good days work to me, feel the burn:)

[Bizibilder]

The wood will work well - mine is 3 years old and shows no sign of wear at all.

[samtheeagle]

I was looking at the ali extrusions too, I would have thought that an L section would be sufficient. All you need to do is stop the roof wandering off the outside edge, as if you do that it can't come off on the inside edge... An L also removes the drainage issue. They're a bit expensive mind, I think my wood guides will do, I'm just a worrier.

Last night it was lovely and clear so I couldn't help going out and popping the roof off and enjoying the views my obsy offers. Fan-blinkin-tastic! However, despite Roger's warning I have already cracked my head on one of the rails! :S

[Gina]

Looking good I'd recommend adding a couple of diagonal bracing timbers for the end of the rails, to stop sideways movement of the whole structure. And as for banging your head on the rails, how about a few hanging baskets for flowers/plants. Or you could add some trellis (think it's called) from the rails to the ground. You'll need some end stops too to stop it runnong off the end but I expect you've got that in hand

[Bizibilder]

I told you so!!!!! ..................................

[samtheeagle]

Another fun packed day of building, and the weatherboards are on! I'm a bit annoyed that I didn't do a very good job with the back one, the one with the awkward steps cut in to it. There's a pretty big gap between it and the roof rails and guides I'll have to look at adding a flexible strip down the edges or something. But for now it should stop the worst of the rain getting in. Rather bizarrely I'm actually hoping it will rain now, so I can see if anything leaks! Who'd have thought?

All it really needs now is a floor, and a pier. And mains power. And prolly a few other things. But it feels like it's nearly there!

[Bizibilder]

That looks like an exellent job. I wouldn't be too concerned about the gaps in the rear weatherboard - mine are about 1/2" at least and, strangely, I have never had water getting in through the gap! I might just be lucky!

I would suggest giving all the joints between the metal panels a good caulking with silicone. The method I used was to poke a couple of matchsticks in the join to open it a bit, then caulk, remove the sticks and wipe over with a wet fingertip.

I also found that with the front weatherboard - (the one over the door that doesn't move with the roof - hope your is the same! ) That the folded metal "drip strip" that is attached to the roof does not quite stick out far enough to stop rain and drips from hitting the top of the weatherboard. My solution was to bend the "drip strip" out a bit with a pair of pliers - do it a bit at a time and keep it neat. You may not have this problem, but if you do then you now have a solution!

Keep up the good work!!

[samtheeagle]

Well hopefully the gaps wont be an issue then, I think mine are about 10mm at max, so not too different from yours by the sounds of it. I took the lead from your design and I extended the side weatherboards out past the back edge of the roof, so the corners at the back have additional protection from the sides, so that will no doubt help. The prevailing wind tends to drive the rain in from the side anyway...

I'll see about sealing the wall sheets tomorrow, weather permitting of course. Then I'm pretty much done externally. Next job is setting the breeze blocks I'm going to use as floorboard supports. The plan is just plonk a dollop of mortar under each one and tap it down level to the footings. The earth floor is pretty packed down now having had me trampling over it for ages now reckon I might need a hand from the old man to cut the OSB to size, so that might have to wait until the weekend. To be fair that's fine, as now the walls and roof are up the ground inside can dry out a bit before the floor goes down.

[samtheeagle]

Right then, the last couple of days have been all about the floor. I've put the breeze blocks down, and got them level with mortar. I left those for a day to start drying the mortar out. Today I got the floor boards cut and laid down. That was a right job and a half! :S The large sheets of OSB are really heavy and hard to handle, and getting them to be a good fit, but not too snug was a bit of a faff. But I got there in the end, after spending much longer on the job than I had intended. But at least now my obsy is essentially operational! Still no mains power or a pier, but I could set my mount up in there on the tripod and use my battery as before. Some of the cut-outs on the boards are way too big, but ultimately I intend to add some kind of tiles to the floor to finish it off, so they can make it look a bit neater

And look, the roof does open! It occurred to me that all of my progress pictures so far had show it all closed up

[Gina]

I hope you put DPC between the breeze blocks and the flooring. And did you put a liberal coat of wood preserver on the OSB before fitting it? (perhaps I missed this in your posts).

[MattB]

Looking good!

[samtheeagle]

I hope you put DPC between the breeze blocks and the flooring. And did you put a liberal coat of wood preserver on the OSB before fitting it? (perhaps I missed this in your posts).

Worry ye not. It's got a boat load of moisture barrier between the OSB and the breeze blocks, and the underside of the OSB is treated with a 5 year anti-rot wood preserver for good measure In fact there's a vapour barrier over the whole floor area below the boards, I figured keeping as much moisture away as possible was the way to go. If that's a bad idea shout now, as the boards will need to come up when the pier gets installed, so I can adjust as required then...

[Gina]

Sounds good to me but I'm not a professional builder. I just build things

[Bizibilder]

Sounds OK with that vapour barrier. Very nice looking observatory! Well done.

[samtheeagle]

Well it may look very nice, but it leaks! The mental downpours of yesterday were just too much for it to handle. Nothing all that bad, but the sheer force of the rain managed to drive it through the roof panel joins in a couple of places. So today was spent applying liberal amounts of sealant to all the joins, fingers crossed that'll do the job. The obsy survived an earlier storm ok, and that was pretty heavy, so it's only the really intense stuff I need worry about. I also adjusted the floor boards a bit today, cutting one very large one into two. This makes it much easier to fit and remove them as and when required, and will also make fitting it around the pier a doddle too

[Chris]

A big congrats on getting to the stage of having a functioning obsy, you've done a cracking job it looks great!

[samtheeagle]

Cheers Chris, I can't wait to use it in anger. The nights are certainly drawing in now