Very early planning stage of a ROR your help and advice appreciated

[Danjc]

I currently have a very old concrete pre fab garage that was here when we moved in that has for some time now been begging for demolition and replacing. I did originally just want to replace it with a new garage but as I don't use it for putting my car in and don't plan on doing so I figured that why not utilise the currant garage footprint for a ROR observatory.

What I have at the moment measures 9x20 feet or metric 2.7x6m so a fair size, however I would like to split it into 3 internal sections....scope room, warm room and a storage area for tools and small diy jobs with a 50/50 roof design very similar to what @malc-c and @yesyes have with the scope room being where the side door for the garage is. The width would be slightly reduced to 2.5m to allow me to widen the current gap down the neighbors side for maintenance/access with me currently thinking 2.5x2.5m for the scope room, 1.5x2.5m for the warm room and 2x2.5m for the storage of tools etc.

The garage base is not great so will have to come up as it seems it was concrete just poured onto earth but not a big deal to break up and skip and then type 1 wacked down with cheapo slabs laid on top to give me a good base.

This is all in the very early planning stage but after reading lots of build threads and research I figured I would start a thread for those that have been through it to give there advise. I have even had sign off from the wife but I want to pay something off before I start spending so may be around 12 months before I even start but this gives me loads of time to get my head around it all so to minimise problems that I will inevitably come across.

 

Currant garage.

 

Site.

 

 

All comments, advice and constructive criticism welcome.

 

Dan.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Danjc

[carastro]

So are you saying you are now going to convert the garage instead of demolishing it and starting again?

Carole 

[Danjc]

1 minute ago, carastro said:

So are you saying you are now going to convert the garage instead of demolishing it and starting again?

Carole 

No demo the garage and start from scratch. 

[spillage]

I would try and keep the old building and make the roof ror.

[carastro]

Quote

keep the old building and make the roof ror.

I must admit I'd be inclined to do this too, saves expense and a lot of work.  Assuming there is no practical reason why it can't be done.   

The ROR can slide over the Warm room. 

Carole 

Edited November 25, 2019 by carastro

[cfpendock]

4 minutes ago, spillage said:

keep the old building and make the roof ror.

So would I.  What is the existing roof - not asbestos I hope as this is a pain to get rid of.

Chris

[Danjc]

2 minutes ago, spillage said:

I would try and keep the old building and make the roof ror.

I would genuinely love to but the current garage must be Around 30 years old and is not great especially the concrete base. I’m also doubtful the current structure would be up to the weight of a ROR and would require strengthening and lots of costly modifications.  
I’m always doing on going repairs so want to get away from that and have something I can just maintain. 

[Danjc]

3 minutes ago, cfpendock said:

So would I.  What is the existing roof - not asbestos I hope as this is a pain to get rid of.

Chris

I’m sure it is but my council will take it from me if I follow the correct procedures for £80. 

[carastro]

OK, so the garage and base are not good enough to convert.  Does seem a shame but so be it.

You have a good space there and I would still consider having the scope room (as you say) where the door in the photo is and the warm room nearer the house.  Make the scope room slightly smaller than the warm room but a fraction higher - then the ROR can slide over the warm room save having to have the usual extension posts.  Also include a little slope away from the scope room, so rain doesn't go down the join in the two rooves.  I think Gina did a similar design maybe you can pick her brains. 

Says me who has all the designing knowledge but not the practical skills - Lol.  

Should look really neat.

Carole

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by carastro

[spillage]

You could use some wooden support posts on the outside to support the sliding roof. If the floor is that bad I would cut a square out large enough to dig out a .5m x .5m square as a base for the mount.

[Yawning Angel]

Some general and sometimes light hearted guidance here: 

 

[Danjc]

The roof is currently supported and each vertical concrete post braced every 850mm with an metal frame that would have to come out so would need to almost build a frame inside or outside to make it work. 

 

The base has 2 huge cracks in it across the width that let moisture in as it’s just earth and no dpm.

I would genuinely have liked to keep the garage and this was certainly my first consideration but it’s to far gone in lots of areas... it will cost more but I want to do it right and not work round something that will give me more problems in the future.

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by Danjc

[Danjc]

A few mock up drawings to get my head around possible layouts. 
 

 

[Swoop1]

Will this be for imaging only, visual only or a combination? I ask as it will probably make a difference to your pier height and therfore your scope room wall heights.

[Danjc]

7 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

Will this be for imaging only, visual only or a combination? I ask as it will probably make a difference to your pier height and therfore your scope room wall heights.

Imaging only mate, the things you mention all requires research on my behalf but advice is more than welcome. 

[Owmuchonomy]

If you are storing kit in there I would steer clear of a concrete floor completely.  Condensation becomes a primary concern.  A wooden suspended floor with access for your block and pier is a much better solution.  Allow a 150mm air gap underneath.  I did this with my build by having the floor suspended on 150mm joists and condensation is a thing of the past.  A civil engineer friend always told me that concrete takes 99 years to fully dry out?? As @Swoop1 says, think long and hard about pier and wall height.  I checked my designs 3 times and still ended up with the pier too low.  Fortunately it was easily remedied.  Enjoy your project, it made my life much easier having a permanent set up.

[Danjc]

5 hours ago, Owmuchonomy said:

If you are storing kit in there I would steer clear of a concrete floor completely

Cheers, I totally agree I was considering decking risers as I did with my summer house and deck. Each one is able to take up to 800kg at maximum height and are pretty solid. 
 

[Owmuchonomy]

54 minutes ago, Danjc said:

Cheers, I totally agree I was considering decking risers as I did with my summer house and deck. Each one is able to take up to 800kg at maximum height and are pretty solid. 
 

Perfect solution.

[fifeskies]

The quality of the roof runner system will be a major factor in the success of your ROR.

I can 100% recommend the products from FH Brundle.

I used the 300kg wheels and my ROR glides easily with a finger push.

 

https://www.fhbrundle.co.uk/groups/13SWR300__300_kgs_Weight

[Gina]

+1

[Swoop1]

On 29/11/2019 at 17:55, Danjc said:

Imaging only mate, the things you mention all requires research on my behalf but advice is more than welcome. 

My thinking was that if visual, the height of the pier needs to be good for your back and neck. For imaging, the pier height is not as critical for physical comfort.

Wall height, or designing in walls that can be folded down out of the way will be dictated by your surroundings- horizon, light pollution sources etc.

[Danjc]

I have had a play with Sketchup and came up with this (some ideas nicked from previous builds 😉). Its not finished yet with noggins to put in and the roof to design but gives me an idea of what's what.

I was thinking I could pre build the wall frames and store them in the garage until im ready to go.

Keeping it high enough so I don't have to constantly duck down and keeping within the permitted 2.5m height is proving tricky.

 

 

[Danjc]

I have amended my original plan and done away with the up and over garage door as this will just take up valuable storage space but whilst I definitely want a side door From the garden side to the storage space I’m unsure as to have a normal door where the up and over garage door currently is ? 
Any thoughts ?
I also have decided that an interconnected door between warm room and storage area can go, while probably handy is not a necessity and again uses valuable wall space for storage on both sides. 
 

 

[Danjc]

A few questions, I notice from reading many build threads that there seems to be a couple of ways to put the floor down which will be18mm external ply.

1st way is to construct the base and lay the ply floor to the same size as the base as in my Sketchup pic and @RayD pic

 

 

2nd way is to have the wall frames directly onto the base and fit the floor around it as in @yesyes pic.

I can see the obvious benefit to the 2nd method is if you have to get under the floor its just a case of a few screws and its up. The 1st method seems to lend itself well to ease of construction especially as the width of the obbsy will be 2440mm so would require me to just cut 1 8x4 sheet down.

Another question is I see some go OSB for the walls and roofs and some ply....or a combination of both one way or another. Is there a preference ? personally I reckon external ply for the lot but happy to hear your recommendations. 

I have had a closer look at my currant garage base and it seems it may not be as bad as I first thought with just a few repairs to make it good....this would be a massive bonus for me.

Can anybody see any problems with using 2x4 or 47x95mm C24 timber for all the base work(see below Sketchup pic) there will be no large spans as I plan on using decking risers so going 6x4 seems overkill and also saves a little in height especially as I have to keep within the permitted 2.5m guidelines.

 

Cheers, Dan.

 

[Danjc]

So I reckon I have just about finished my final Sketchup design albeit without external wall noggins and a support beam for the warm room/storage room roof.

If anybody could take a look and point out anything I may of missed, not taken into account or have just done it wrong It would be massively appreciated.

 

 

ROR DRAFT 2.skp

 

 

 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Danjc