the yesyes observatory - the build

[Gina]

Hot here too but I got up early and made use of the cool part of the day Good start Chris

[Astrokev]

Just returned from my hols and catching up on all the thread builds. Great start Chris. That's a mighty big pile of timber you've got there! Which supplier did you finally go for?

[yesyes]

Welcome back, Kev. I hope you had a great time and are fully relaxed. ;-)

I ordered from a local building supplier (http://www.crescentbs.com/). Originally they were a bit more expensive than others but I was able to negotiate the price down. The main reason I bought from them is that they have smaller delivery lorries that fit on the narrow road in front of my house.

That's about £825 worth of timber. Quite a bit more than I had expected. That brings the total material cost to £1560 so far and I still need UPVC cladding, timber cladding for the front, a few more OSB sheets for the roof, rubber roofing, ply sheets for the inner wall lining... it just keeps adding up...

[Astrokev]

Yep, not cheap, but you know it will be worth it in the end. Holiday was good thanks (aren't they always?) but painful being back to work tomorrow . Still, I've got the memories and over 2 thousand photos to sort out which should be fun. Went to the States and visited some of the west coast astronomy places of interest - meteor crater, Lowell and Mount Wilson observatories. Must post a few pics when I've sorted them out.

[r3i]

That brings the total material cost to £1560 so far and I still need UPVC cladding, timber cladding for the front, a few more OSB sheets for the roof, rubber roofing, ply sheets for the inner wall lining... it just keeps adding up...

You're running total doesn't surprise me. The final figure for my build came in at around £2.7k (looks less painful than when it's written as £2,700 ).

I do marvel at how some folks manage to get their observatories built for just a couple of hundred quid!

Still, as they say you can't take it with you and it's the realisation of a long standing dream so if it costs a chunk, then so be it.

[yesyes]

Still, as they say you can't take it with you and it's the realisation of a long standing dream so if it costs a chunk, then so be it.

Agreed. And it's still less than half of what bathroom will cost us we're about to have redone. And twice as useful...

[yesyes]

Some progress after work today.

I cut, glued and screwed the shorter joists together for the short sides of the frame and for the middle below the dividing wall. So that's 3 pairs of 2.4m 2x6".

Then I checked if all for sides are level. Not too bad...

Test fit of a corner post.

Then I sealed the top gap between joists with more wood glue. They will be exposed to the weather and I didn't want water to get in between.

To round it off I cut the floor joists down from 4.8m to 2.4m. Much easier to handle now.. ;-)

[Tinker1947]

If getting it level needs to be exact then a length of plastic tube one end attached in one corner then other end long enough to reach the other 3, fill it with water to get the first attached end level with the top of the beam, then move the pipe from corner to corner, this will give a exact level and any bowing in the wood will not affect the level....it looks like your going to make a good job which ever way you choose to do it.....and get some toe protection...

[yesyes]

Then I checked the edge to edge distance of the front foundations. There I have my first problem. It's 2cm too long! The shuttering must have moved a bit. Not good. I want the cladding to overhang the foundations. Can't do that when the foundation is sticking out by 2cm. I'm not quite sure how to solve that problem. I take it there is no easy way to take 2cm off a block of concrete?

BTW, this problem has solved itself. It turned out that the 4.8m lengths of the 2x6" joists are actually 4.82 metres long. Exactly the 2cm I needed. So the obsy will just be 2cm longer.

[Astrokev]

Looking great Chris. In your last picture post you said you filled the join between joists with more wood glue as they will be exposed. Do you mean exposed just during the building phase, as when complete they will be covered by flooring and the cladding ?

[yesyes]

Ah, yes, I should have made this clearer (it was late...)

They will only be exposed during building until the floor boards are down. So only a few days really... But there is rain forecast for the next few days, I didn't want to take chances...

In the end the cladding will end below the bottom of the joists, so the joists won't be exposed at all.

[yesyes]

If getting it level needs to be exact then a length of plastic tube one end attached in one corner then other end long enough to reach the other 3, fill it with water to get the first attached end level with the top of the beam, then move the pipe from corner to corner, this will give a exact level and any bowing in the wood will not affect the level....it looks like your going to make a good job which ever way you choose to do it.....and get some toe protection...

I'm actually quite happy with how level it turned out. ;-)

I didn't think I could get these foundations at exactly the same height. The long joists are just not touching the middle foundations, so I'll shim it a little, probably with a few layers of DPC.

Oh, and I didn't mean for my feet to be on that shot. It was way too hot for socks or closed shoes. ;-)

[Lonestar70]

Hi Chris,

Good to see you making some progress reducing that pile of timber... looking good so far.

I bet you found out just how fast wood glue goes off whilst doing those long joints... especially in the HEAT.

I too, would suggest getting some toe protection... better to have hot feet than risk a broken (or worse) toe.... oh!!... and a hard hat for the top work.

It should go a bit quicker from here, now you are past all the major gluing.

Keep Happy

Best Regards.

[faulksy]

very nice chris, coming along grand

[Bizibilder]

Are you using the 30min wood glue? If so what do you think of it so far - I have bought some and havn't had a chance to use it yet. How long does it stay "useable"? (even in this heat!).

[yesyes]

Yes, I used that EverBuild Lumberjack 30min adhesive. I've seen it recommended to you in another thread and though I'd give it a try. ;-)

I haven't got much experience with gluing wood, so can't really compare. I didn't test the strength as I clamped and then screwed the joist immediately after gluing.

It stayed usable long enough to apply it in a zig-zag fashion on the 4.8m lengths and then put them together. I think there was not much time left though. When I glued the 2.4m lengths I was still able to move the top joist a bit back and forth to spread the glue in between a bit. I was not able to do that with the 4.8m lengths. But that might have been down to weight as well.

It left quite a big gap (2mm in places) between the joists on one side (the side that I didn't seal) on one of the glued joists. It seems to be expanding a bit when it sets. Not sure it is the right adhesive for gluing long flat things together. It is probably better suited for smaller joins.

[Bizibilder]

Thanks for the info Chris. I intend using it to glue the ends of my uprights to a top and bottom piece (A couple of screws into each joint as well for good measure!).

[yesyes]

Sounds like that's what it was intended for.

I also just noticed that it doesn't seem to take paint very well.

[yesyes]

More progress yesterday after work...

I painted the frame and floor joists with wood preserver paint (Cuprinol Ducksback).

I will also apply bitumen paint to the joists where they will rest on the foundations and on top of the foundations themselves. I hope to do that tonight.

[Bizibilder]

Thanks for the paint tip!

[yesyes]

Thanks for the paint tip!

here is an example...

[yesyes]

This evening I applied bitumen paint to the joists where they will sit on the foundations and on the endgrains.

I also nailed on a piece of DPC on one joist. I didn't do any more because the paint was still too wet and I didn't want bitumen all over my finger tips. ;-)

I wish I had bought the DPC one size wider. Nailing a 112.5mm DPC to a 100mm joist is a bit fiddly.

[dmahon]

Staple it. Much easier.

[Astrokev]

Fantastic progress Chris. The ends of your joists are really well protected!

[faulksy]

looking great mate,