Gina's Observatory Build - Abbreviated - Main Construction

[Gina]

THis thread will describe the main construction of the observatory including foundations, floor, walls and roll off roof.

[Gina]

Following on from the Site Preparation & Foundations thread - http://stargazerslou...te-preparation/ - here we have the floor support beams placed on the concrete foundations with DPC in between and also the concrete pier. The beams were reclaimed timber (oak) cut to length, cleaned up and given several coats of real creosote then allowed to dry for several days.

[Gina]

I had four 3" square by about 6' long pieces of second hand timber (Mahogany) so I'm using them for the corner posts of the observatory.

In fact the two at the east end are corner posts but the two at the west end (nearest the camera in the photo) are supports for the roll off rail.

The corner posts were bolted onto the floor beams with 10mm galvanised coach bolts, nuts and washers.

The white thing is a 2m length of 40mm waste pipe I'm using as a cable conduit between obsy and warm room.

[Gina]

13 September 2011

1. Joists cut to length and placed roughly in position.

2. Top and bottom obsy east wall frame pieces also cut and bottom piece placed in position.

3. 40mm plastic pipe cut to length and connected up to elbows to provide cable conduit.

1. Rest of obsy east wall frame pieces cut and edge pieces fitted in place.

2. Some of the floorboards cut to length.

[Gina]

14 September 2011

1. Obsy east wall frame fastened in place. (Diagonal struts yet to added.)

2. Floorboards cut out to clear the pier and cable duct.

[Gina]

15 September 2011

Wood cut for obsy south wall frame, screwed together and fitted in position. The top timber of the south wall also forms the south roll off rail.

The brown and white "object" with four legs, is one of our young goats trying to eat the floor joists

[Gina]

16 September 2011

1. Joist cross piece to support floorboards around pier base.

2. Hole cut in cross piece for cable duct.

The other side of the pier base.

[Gina]

17 September 2011

Struts for obsy south wall cut to size and shape and put in place.

Obsy north wall frame pieces cut, screwed together and erected. Then fixed in place.

The roll off rail is supported on a post at the west end - this is currently spaced and held in place temporarily. A proper post top will be added later.

[Gina]

18 September 2011.

The wet and dull weather this morning meant nothing done on this project. The afternoon was a bit better with frequent showers.

I was able to cut another six floorboards to length and they can be seen placed in the warm room floor area in this next photo.

[Astrokev]

Hi Gina

Did you attach the joists to the floor beams or are they just resting on the beams?

thanks

Kevin

[Gina]

21 September 2011

Operations have been on hold due to wet weather but fine, though cold, weather today enabled me to further my obsy build

At this stage in the build a change was made in the design. The original staggered north wall design was replaced with a continuous wall covering both scope room and warm room. This change reduced complication. As with the south scope room wall, the top rail of the north wall forms the north roll off rail.

1. Cut extra clearance for the pier in the floorboards.

2. Screwed down joists for the north wall.

3. Took obsy north wall frame down and replaced bottom rail with full length one - covering both obsy and warm room ( as per design change).

4. Cut uprights for warm room north wall and screwed them onto the bottom rail.

5. Erected north wall frame and screwed uprights to top rail.

[Gina]

Hi Gina

Did you attach the joists to the floor beams or are they just resting on the beams?

thanks

Kevin

The joists were screwed down to the support beams with extra long 6mm wood screws and to other woodwork where available once the final position was determined.

[Gina]

23 September 2011

Today's progress :-

1. Noggins for joists.

2. Some wood preserver applied.

3. Cut hole for cable duct in warm room floor.

4. Added boarding to fill the gap between obsy and warm room south walls. Used offcuts of floorboard. Cut notch for roll off rail and also to clear joist.

5. Screwed boarding to wall parts, including new piece for warm room wall.

[Gina]

24 September 2011

Today's progress :-

1. Cut notch out of warm room floorboard to miss corner post.

2. Framework for warm room south wall.

3. Started framework for warm room end wall (west).

[Gina]

28 September 2011

Good weather today - fine and sunny with a light breeze - enabled me to make some more progress. As usual, not quite as much as I had hoped but it's coming along quite nicely.

With a very heavy dew this morning, I left the tarp on until it had dried off. Meanwhile, inside the "tent", I screwed some frameworks together ready to be erected later.

So here is a list of progress today :-

1. Finished screwing the warm room south wall frame together - well the bottom part - still have the window frame to do. The side pieces also provide extra support to the top rail which supports the roof.

2. Main structure of the warm room west (end) wall frame prepared and screwed together.

3. Most of the warm roof roof frame cut to size and screwed in place.

4. One 8x4 OSB sheet placed in position to check supporting framework.

5. Various odds and ends including bottom of middle wall, and drilling and bolting sections together with 10mm coach bolts, nuts and washers.

Finally, a section taken from the webcam which provides a different angle of view, difficult to take from ground level.

[Astrokev]

The joists were screwed down to the support beams with extra long 6mm wood screws and to other woodwork where available once the final position was determined.

Thanks Gina, it was just that I couldn't see any fixings holding the joists down!

[Gina]

I don't think they were actually screwed down at this stage but I can't remember now. No doubt it will come out as I go on through the uber-long thread.

[Gina]

29 September 2011

1. Finished off the dividing wall frame (except for the struts and noggins).

2. Almost completed the warm room roof framework.

3. Finished off the warm room south wall frame.

30 September 2011

1. Finished off the warm room roof frame.

2. Took the OSB off the roof, laid it out on the floor and cut it to length with circular saw.

3. Warm room window frame.

4. Started filling in the warm room north wall top.

5. Cut some timbers for the roll off roof.

6. Screwed down the first sheet of OSB on the warm room roof.

[Gina]

1 October 2011

Not a lot of progress today - the heat got to me

1. Cut the second (and last) piece of OSB for the warm room roof and fitted it.

2. Moved bench drill and made jig for drilling holes accurately for ROR wheels.

3. Cut wood and drilled holes in sides of one wheel assembly for ROR.

4. Assembled above with wheels and bolts.

5. Cut and screwed in one strut in the dividing wall.

[Gina]

02 October 2011

Fair bit done today - but one big job progressed rather than several small ones completed

So progress today :-

1. Further work on the roll off section. The four corner posts and the end angled pieces on one side. This photo is slightly lower quality than usual as it was quite late and the light was going. 0.8s exposure at f5.6 and 400ASA.

[Gina]

03 October 2011

More work on the roll off roof.

[Gina]

04 October 2011

With wet weaather the build has had to go under cover. One of the ROR side frames :-

[Gina]

All the timber needed soaking with wood preserver and with poor weather all the loose pieces were taken under proper cover for treatment.

07 October 2011

The weather has improved considerably - the wind has gone right down and we've had no rain this afternoon.

Taken up all the floorboards now and carried them into the goat shed out of the weather. Will move them into the big shed later where I can apply wood preservative once they've dried. Quite wet on the ends that faced the wind and rain!

Also treated most of the joists with wood preservative. The eastern half or three-quarters of the joists were dry - it's only the end/side that faces into the weather that got wet. With dry weather and a light breeze, the remaining joists dried off quite quickly with the floorboards up. I have now done all but the western ends of the joists with Ronseal Total Wood Preserver.

The tarp problem will be sorted out Monday or Tuesday - I have a larger, heavy duty one on order from a Devon based firm. Could even come tomorrow - I ordered it yesterday.

I'm planning to soak the ends of the floorboards and any newly cut ends in wood preserver. All the installed timber will get a good brushing with preserver.

[Gina]

Several timber ends now soaked in wood preservative

Also, been painting preservative on various bits of the framework in addition to finishing all the joists. Expecting a fine night and morning tomorrow, I have taken the tarp off. I've also cleared up anything that could be blown away if the wind should get up again.

I checked the roll off trolley and found I could move it easily with my little finger, so I've tied it down with rope so it can't take off in the night. Of course it will be a lot heavier when completed with more timbers and corrugated bitumen on top.

[Gina]

Once the light showers stopped the weather was quite good today so made some reasonable progress.

1. Took up floorboards.

2. Moved floorboards to shed to dry out.

3. Treated joists and noggins with wood preserver.

4. Treated parts of above floor frameworks with wood preserver.

5. Soaked ends of yet-to-be-fixed timber in preserver.

6. Removed tarp to gain access to other timbers.

7. Cleared up and roped down the roll off section in case the wind gets up again.

Now for some photos... The rectangular white object visible in some of the photos is a sheet of polystyrene insulation that will be going between the joists of the warm room.

We'll start with the dawn this morning and finish with dusk this evening complete with the waxing moon.