DaveS's Obsy Build Thread

[Gina]

👍

[DaveS]

A quick update.

Been "fiddling" in the obsy, filling in odd shaped gaps. also been in contact with the Wickes customer service team, upshot is they will collect the 4  8' x 4' bits of OSB they sent in error, and deliver the 7 (3 more than I thought I'd need) 4' x 2' bits that will be a lot easier for me to get into position. I have Decorator's Caulk for filling in the joins.

When the roofer came, I saw in his va T&G OSB sheeting which I then remembered him using for a roofing job here, and which I hadn't seen on Wickes. TBH, after the trials I had with the T&G cladding I doubt I could have fitted it properly. Or at all for that matter.

[DaveS]

20 hours ago, DaveS said:

No, at the mo it's just damp in the air

As I'm finding out, the hard way lol.

Just had another two deliveries from Wickes, OSB (Too big, contacted customer services, but could use it) and a small circular saw for cutting up board.

Wickes customer service was brilliant. Order updated, van has just been, collected the wrong board and dropped off the correct board.

[DaveS]

Flooded again.

Job for mop and bucket, or muppet more like. Waiting for the rain to stop for long enough.

[DaveS]

The muppet went out with a mop and bucket and mopped a bucket's worth of water off the obsy floor which is now merely wet rather than flooded.

Had a go at fixing some more gaps in the tape and put a temporary ledge about the roof / wall opening.

If I had enough membrane spare I'd redo the entire roof, taking more care over getting the membrane tight and making sure the seams are well stuck down.

[DaveS]

Put three of the boards on the roof, but having to sort out work-arounds for the out-of-square errors that have emerged from the very foundations.

Saw a huge bank of rain on the radar, and playing the animation shows it coming this way. Grabbed the rest of the boards, plus another that I had laying around and overlapped them on the roof.

Will see how well I've shielded the membrane underneath.

[DaveS]

Now have 7 sections of board on, but as I half expected, although the offcuts would fill the remaining section they individually just come up short to reach across the battens.

I think I may well use the piece of 9mm OSB to fill in the gap, .

[DaveS]

Been fiddle-faddling around today. Managed to cut a piece of OSB to fit the gap in the roof and layed some exterior cladding on. Been a lot of up-down ladder, measure, up-down ladder, cut, up-down ladder screw down, etc, etc till my back hurts.

Strengthened the four hold-down toggles ready for the high winds forecast.

Now to work out what I need from Wickes to make up the exterior bits.

[DaveS]

Thought it was time for another photo.

Still have to do the west side of the roof, plus some cladding on the south and east sides. Then the EPDM will go on and be glued to the cladding with the mastic supplied with the kit.

[Gina]

Coming on nicely Dave 👍

[Nigella Bryant]

Brilliant work, nearly done. Be ready for those dark night's.

[DaveS]

Thanks both.

Been learning a lot through this project, mainly about how NOT to build an obsy lol, especially about roof timbers. The ones I've put in are too light, causing a sag which can be seen by reference to the straight edge of the lip over the roof.

When I come to build the imaging box around my platform rig I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing, especially WRT the roof. When I have the imaging box up and running I'll have another think about the obsy roof and may reconstruct it using heavier gauge timber.

There are also a lot of out of square elements, including the roof rails. Although they are parallel to each other they are out of square WRT the obsy walls, which are square to each other.. Argh! And I thought I was taking great care to get everything squared up with a builder's square and level. too tight-fisted to buy a laser level / square.

The four corner posts are also a little out of plumb, but no way am I going to take everything that far back to correct them. They'll "have to do".

[DaveS]

And now I cannot login to my wickes account, for no reason that I can see .

[DaveS]

Closed the browser and waited for CCleaner to delete the cookies. Reopened the browser and found I could now log in, but when I went to checkout found no delivery slots available .

Someone really doesn't want me to finish this obsy.

[JamesF]

Can you put some bracing inside the roof structure to remove the sag, Dave?

James

[DaveS]

Not sure, but I'll think about it.

One thing I have to take into account is the clearance between the roof and the top of the OTA when in the default ASA park position, which is 'scope west of pier, pointing to the zenith. Although it's possible to change this ASA advise against it as the software can use this as a reference for the sky model.

ATM I have a couple of inches clearance, but I think this will change when I get the camera and Pegasus APB on.

Also planning on lining the roof with some 3.6mm ply that I was originally going to use for the outside of the roof.

[Gina]

What size timbers are you using for the roof?

[DaveS]

Very light, 25 x 38 mm. This was based on an original idea of using 3.6 mm ply under the EPDM. The 11mm OSB is considerably heavier

I've been looking on the F H Brundle site and can see some 25mm square channel which I should be able to use for reinforcement, but I really want to get the membrane on quickly.

If I decide to get in some heavier gauge timber then I will also need replacement breathable membrane, and may come in above the 2.5 metre height limit for "Permitted Development", I'm very close to that now.

I can't drop the roof height as i will run into clearance problems with the 'scope.

 

Oh, and I managed to get a delivery slot from Wickes by modifying the order. Wickes really is a pain, as the timber can say "In stock for delivery" but when I try to put the order in I get a "No slots available". Closer investigation reveals that it's not in stock at Yeovil, so cannot be delivered.

Really am getting fed up with their ordering.

[whipdry]

52 minutes ago, DaveS said:

 

 

Edited August 20, 2020 by whipdry
Irrelevant post

[DaveS]

Taking a step back and having a think. The strong winds forecast make putting the EPDM on problematic. and my next delivery won't be until Sat anyway. Also looking into getting a low tower / combination ladder for access to the roof.

I think I will take the opportunity to give the garden a going over, as it's been a bit neglected while I've been concentrating on the obsy.

[Davey-T]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

I can't drop the roof height as i will run into clearance problems with the 'scope.

May have to cut the top off the pier and weld it back on Dave.

Dave

[DaveS]

46 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

May have to cut the top off the pier and weld it back on Dave.

Dave

Um Dave, the pier is one of These. Didn't cost me that much, but I still think a cut 'n' shut job is not doable.

[Davey-T]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

Um Dave, the pier is one of These. Didn't cost me that much, but I still think a cut 'n' shut job is not doable.

Looks pretty doable if necessary.

Dave

[DaveS]

Hmm..

I think you'd have to weld a steel plate over the bottom section, then weld the cut-off top section onto that.

But it's not something I want to do. Would rather push the height up and try for retrospective planning if anyone noticed.

[Peter Drew]

You could lose some pier height by removing the studs holding the upper circular plate and then bolt the plate directly to the top of the pier.  There appears to be a side aperture to access to whatever holds the mount to the pier and the mount should already have a levelling facility.     🙂