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the yesyes observatory - let the planning begin


yesyes

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Some updates...

http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1423.l2649

Again, this is a lot lighter than wood and maintenance free and as an added benefit would let some light in during the day.

Can anyone think of any reasons why I should not use these for the roof?

Greenhouse effect - it will get like an oven in there! Unless your insulating under the acrylic sheeting to reflect heat back out...

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Greenhouse effect - it will get like an oven in there! Unless your insulating under the acrylic sheeting to reflect heat back out...

Good point. I don't think even ventilation openings would really help with that. If you wanted to be able to do things in the obsy on the rare occasions when it rains then you'd need ear defenders, too.

James

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I've used this http://www.ebay.co.u...=item51a0947acd on top of a lightweight wooden frame with insulation sheets in between. It works really well.

Helen

Obviously weight was not an issue with your build Helen. I looked at the Wickes version but had to rethink due to weight, ended up with 1 mm ali sheet and sticking insulation (25mm Cellotex) on the inner surface.

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Greenhouse effect - it will get like an oven in there! Unless your insulating under the acrylic sheeting to reflect heat back out...

Good point. I hadn't thought of that. Although it might save some electricity for my soldering iron... :D

I had hoped I wouldn't need to build a window..

I found about 20 sheets of something in between MDF and OSB on the loft of the house we bought. I might be using that then plus the rubber sheets that Gina was using.

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Good point. I hadn't thought of that. Although it might save some electricity for my soldering iron... :D

I had hoped I wouldn't need to build a window..

I found about 20 sheets of something in between MDF and OSB on the loft of the house we bought. I might be using that then plus the rubber sheets that Gina was using.

As long as its not chipboard!!!!

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Good point. I hadn't thought of that. Although it might save some electricity for my soldering iron... :D

I had hoped I wouldn't need to build a window..

I found about 20 sheets of something in between MDF and OSB on the loft of the house we bought. I might be using that then plus the rubber sheets that Gina was using.

I can recommend the EDPM rubber roofing. I've fitted it to a shed that I built this summer and it's excellent stuff. Much easier to put on than felt. It took me no more than 2 hours start to finish to stick it down, batten the edge and trim the excess off. I ordered a large enough piece to curl under the drip edge that I'd placed round the ply sheets, and simply screwed pressure treated 2 x 1 tile batten under the edge sandwiching the EDPM between it and the drip edge to prevent any chance of wind from getting under it and lifting it. :)I

It'll be going on the obsy I've got planned for next summer.

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I can recommend the EDPM rubber roofing. I've fitted it to a shed that I built this summer and it's excellent stuff. Much easier to put on than felt. It took me no more than 2 hours start to finish to stick it down, batten the edge and trim the excess off. I ordered a large enough piece to curl under the drip edge that I'd placed round the ply sheets, and simply screwed pressure treated 2 x 1 tile batten under the edge sandwiching the EDPM between it and the drip edge to prevent any chance of wind from getting under it and lifting it. :)I

It'll be going on the obsy I've got planned for next summer.

+1 for EDPM roofing :) I'm still very pleased with mine. And yes, very easy to put on. I did it myself in just a few hours :)
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That light oak soffit board is very nice indeed, good find:) As for the roof I don't think you can go wrong with either the rubber roof over board, coroline over a timber frame, or even the polycarbonate with the under side painted to reflect the heat. The last two would be the lightest I would imagine but that also means that the wind can pick it up easier so you need a good mechanism to lock the roof down when not in use. I used eyed M10 steel bolts right through the obsy wall and the RoR timber above in all four corners, then I connected the corresponding eyes with large chain clips and took up the slack with 5mm chain between the clips on each side. I'm thinking about swapping the chain for bungie though.

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My ROR is only held down with bungies, there are 5 of them and last year the wind got up to 30mile and hour and it never moved. just two eye loops into the timber frame, they are extremely tight though

30mph isn't a particularly high wind. Our record wind speed here is well over 100mph. We've got gusts of 60mph forecast for later this week and that's average. I wouldn't trust a bungee to hold down what is basically an aerofoil especially given the fickle nature of UK weather. That 100 year storm could be here next week and where would you be then? I wouldn't skimp on roof tie downs myself for the sake of a few minutes convenience.

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I thought the same James, hopefully this should hold. Also its very quick release, just unclip the top chain clips, let them dangle down, and slide back the roof:) I think bunglie would be better than chain for taking up slack, with this system you can't have much less slack without making it difficult to undo the chain clips. Just an option to consider a bit further down the line Chris:D

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Hi Gina, on the roof section the M10 bolts are going through 67mm x 36mm timbers with heavy duty washers. The eyed bolts are not welded but they are pretty hardcore and loop all the way closed, the wood would give way before the bolts in my opinion. Should I add some extra protection do you think? My obsy is pretty sheltered from the wind as I have a large fence and tree on the south, a large out bulding to the east, my neigbours shed to the North, and my house to the west. Theres no point me having any drop down sides:(

I'm not jealous of your stepping down southern view Chris honest :D

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I think the hardware is quite adequate Chris. I agree the weakest link is the timber but with the sheltered location I think you'll be alright. Here we are in a very exposed position on the side of a hill with several miles of lower ground to the south and east. The gust that lifted my roof off was from the east within a storm gusting 60-70 mph. My roof timbers are 75mm x 47mm.

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Time for me to post here again... ;-)

Been busy with other things so didn't have much time to think about the obsy.

Regarding securing the roof there are 2 options I had in mind. One is like what Gina has retrofitted, some sort of pin-in-hole arrangement that engages when the roof is fully closed. That would also need some mechanism that keeps the roof from sliding open. In the long-ish term I'm planning to motorise the roof so that I can open it remotely. So that locking mechanism would have to be something that can be done electrically.

The other option is to run the castors in a U-channel turned on its side with the open side facing outwards on either side of the obsy. This would keep the roof down in any position, not only when it's fully closed. But I think the roof itself would be more difficult to construct.

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Not much. We haven't really decided yet how to remove that wall and what to do with the space there. Looks like we need to get someone to remove it and pave the area that will be in front of the obsy. My girlfriend wants a small tool shed first (about 1 x 2 metres). That will be standing along the fence but the wall must go before we can put a shed there. The tool shed will then be used for my obsy building tools so that they do not have to be brought back into the house. This will delay the obsy a bit.

But I have done one thing today. I have disconnected all the old wires from the outdoor electrics. There were wires all across the garden like a spider web connected to old lamps and the pump that was in the removed water feature. There are still some wires that I have no idea where they are going and what they are / were for. But it's all disconnected now and I have 2 junction boxes with just armoured cable going in and nothing going out.

Now, when I switch on the RCD it stays on. A bit of success at least... ;-)

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I also had quite a lot of ground work to do before I could start so I've been there. It will be really good to be able to grab tools from virtually the same place your working though, it might make quite a bit of difference to your build, I had to grab tools from the house and to be honest it really slowed me down, e.g get talking to my wife, play with the baby, forget what I've come in for etc, you get the idea:D

Your pre-existing wiring sounds as dodgy as mine:D mines all got to be replaced before I can hook up the electric, what gauge armoured cable are you using? The RCD staying on is a good start:D

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Line your tool shed Chris (especially if your going for a cheap ready made job), even with some of the vapour barrier material tacked to the inner frames or you'll end up with some rusty tools. Doesn't need to be fancy - just functional :grin:

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