Bizibilder's (New) Roll off roof Observatory build

[malc-c]

Looking good...

[SnakeyJ]

Couple of blokes came round today - very odd they looked ..........Look what they did to my little old obsy :eek: Took the lot!!!

(Hope you had a good journey home! Hope you manage to reassemble it and have as much fun with it as I had!! )

Darn it! Looks like we left a couple of bits - the plinth and porch posts

Seriously, can only say thanks Roger, from my little brother and I (mostly from me). All has been safely transported from deepest Norfolk to the sunny IOW and has now been off loaded on to a double pallet at my office, pending construction of the base. We managed to catch a slightly delayed 17:30hrs sailing and I managed to offload and get home for 20:00hrs.

Amazing progress with your build this afternoon (whilst we sweltered and queued along the M25/A3) and looks like you should be getting on to the roof and reaching a weather protected stage in very short order. Hope you took time to enjoy a nice cool one after all this work under the sun - and that the earlier solar images have worked out successfully.

God Speed and thanks - Jake

[Bizibilder]

Absolutely chucked it down first thing this morning! I managed to get out side to find a good "bathfull" of water in the tarpaulin - fun and games getting it out and now it has the indignity of a broom balanced on top of the pier to try and keep things under control.

[twintin]

Thats exactly what i had to resort to on mine! except i clamped my broom to a step ladder as i could get it central

[Bizibilder]

Quite a number of hours put in today with the main frame of the roof constructed. The rails will be outside the shed with the roof overhanging on both long edgas and across the "doorless" end. This should keep the rain out! The door end weatherproofing is still under consideration! Originally I was going for a flat roof but have changed my mind again - now it will be a ridge roof. Hopefully the weekend will be dry so I can get the roof on and the rubber glued down. The castors and runners will be the last things added - all I will have to do is lift the roof a few inches and screw them in having first mounted the runners.

A couple more pics showing how I bent the 90° brackets in preparation for the 8° roof slope. Eight are 98° and eight 82° - one of each to the ends of the roof beams: (The "machine" is a bending machine I bought from East Germany, very useful but, I think, unobtainable today)

And snug for the night:

[SnakeyJ]

That's a nice bit of tarping and looks a whole lot more satisfactory than the broomstick approach - hope the weather stays clear for you for the rest of the weekend so you can press on with this.

[Bizibilder]

O bother! I've bent all those lovely 90° brackets ready to use and have just realised that I can only use them on the two end roof beams! I'll have to devise a way of unbending them all again!

[Bizibilder]

About six hours today spent putting the roof together - one whole side framed. Unfortunately I forgot to take the pics! So there is just the "goodnight" one - but you can see the progress on the near side (I'll take a few proper pics before I start tomorrow!)

[Bizibilder]

Quite a bit of progress today - lots of sorting and stacking my timber as I will need to buy a bit extra due to the roof redesign. I've finished the basic roof structure toady and remembered to take a few photo's!

And the "goodnight" pic:

[SnakeyJ]

That's looking super Roger, very strong construction - its going to give you a lot more headroom inside.

[yesyes]

I see it has been a good day for observatory building today!

What are these brackets called at the top of your roof. I've not come across those yet and they look very handy...

[Bizibilder]

Chris - they are mini joist hangers. I found them at the local builders merchants. They come "flat" (with just the two pierced flaps turned out) and I bent the top to go over the centre joist. I was dead lucky as when I put one each side the holes lined up perfectly!! Doesn't often happen like that! (btw the timber is nominal 1 1/2 by 3 inches)

Jake - the headroom is 7 feet (but will be about 2-3" less when the floor goes in).

[Stargazer33]

Looking good Roger!

I must say I am very jealous of everyones obs builds here on SGL & I am living vicariously through all your updates! Still, you are all inspiring me to get other jobs done in the garden, so my wife thanks you all!

[yesyes]

ah, I see. There are 2 of them, one on either side. I thought that was one piece...

Thanks for clearing that up.

[Bizibilder]

Todays work - ordered the timber for the roof (the extra T&G to go round the sides) and a very noisy couple of hours nailing the back and end walls into place. Everything also now has two coats (of the 3 required) of paint, luckily as it happens, as we have just had a short sharp and quite heavy shower.

And a rather damp goodnight!

[Astrokev]

Great job Roger

[Bizibilder]

The extra timber turned up today so I spent a considerable part of the day measuring and cutting all the pieces that I need. I also managed to bang in a few more nails - the front wall is now complete to a level just under the tarpaulin - I can't go further until I have measured and fitted the door (I will reuse the door that I made for the "old" observatory).

[wxsatuser]

Excellent!

[Bizibilder]

Today's task was fitting the main runners for the roof. It took most of the day but they fit. There was a design error here - the coach bolts that hold the runners on are fine except for the two at the extreme ends as they go into solid timber with nowhere to put the nuts on them! . I had thoughts of cutting slots and "finding" the bolts and the putting the nuts on via the slots - but this seemed a bit complicated. i think I will bung some epoxy glue down the holes and hammer them in!!! Shouldn't be a problem as the nuts are onlt there to stop the bolts sliding out - all the strength is across the shaft of the bolt.

I put the wheels on as well - it makes all the difference - the observatory has a rolling roof at last

Pics of the days work:

And all wrapped up for the night:

[michael8554]

Re your two problem holes.

Is there enough depth of solid wood to give hex-headed coach woodscrews a good purchase?

[SnakeyJ]

Great progress for 1 week Roger, at this rate you should be operational very soon!

Re the blind bolt, you could just fill the hole with dowel and put a couple of long screws here!

[Bizibilder]

I have thought of screws but I already have the coach bolts and have drilled the holes a full 150mm deep so there is nothing for screws to bite on - the "superglue" I'm using says it will stick metal (as long as the other material being stuck is porous - like wood) so I intend to squirt some down the 'oles and then follow up with the bolts - as long as the glue solidifies within the threads of the bolts it should hold them. All it has to do is keep the bolts in place, there is no load on them in the longitudinal direction.

Its raining today so I intend to prefabricate as many remaining roof parts as I can. I really want to get the roof and rubber sheet on asap then I can start fitting out the internals. I checked this morning and the basic building is watertight.

My other concern is do I really need to "bolt it down to the base"? The building is very heavy (and will get considerably heavier!) and will be held by the overhang of the boarding around the base, the runner supports and the porch supports - so movement is unlikely. My 8' x 6' standard wooden garden shed has not moved in nearly ten years of free-standing in all weathers and it is considerably lighter then the Obsy - even with a few gardening tools inside.

[Astrokev]

Coming on really well Roger. What sized castors are you using?

[Bizibilder]

The castors are from Screwfix - http://www.screwfix.com/p/rubber-tyres-fixed-50mm-pack-of-4/94751 Nominal 50mm (wheel diameter). I have 5 per side and (although still lightweight) the roof slides easily and silently - I can push and pull it with just my little finger.

[SnakeyJ]

Difficult to give an opinion on wether to bolt the base down or not, but think I would probably be inclined to do so as a belt and braces approach for security and to ensure no movement. However, if the T&G is clamping around the base this may well be overkill!