The Astro Podium

[Swoop1]

This has turned into a proper civil engineering project! Well done.

[OK Apricot]

Feeling refreshed after the holiday, its straight back to the project! 

First thing was the finish the main build. I bought more timber and continued the paneling. I must say though, these timbers were all over the place and I'm actually a little disheartened now it's all in one piece. There are some horrible looking gaps and overhangs. I also lined the inside with some membrane so wet soil won't be sitting against the wood forever. 

With it at least built, I could crack on with sorting some kind of drainage. I bought some 80mm land drain and gave the trench a gentle downward angle to give it the best chance of actually getting rid of water. Wrapped her up in some fabric to help keep soil out, and broke out the SDS drill to persuade my way through to the gutter drain. 

With it all in place I poured on some 20mm shingle and began backfilling. I can only go so far here as I need a compactor plate to help push this soil down, so until that's sorted I'm kind of at a stand still. I had a little tidy up of what I could up top just to keep me busy, as I'm now feeling a little overwhelmed - "I need this, I need that! Aarrhh I need money!". 

I really need to get a strimmer or something as this grass is reaching for the stars! Also looking like I'm going to need a skip or a hippobag or something as it seems there will be a lot of waste. 

[AstroNebulee]

7 minutes ago, OK Apricot said:

Feeling refreshed after the holiday, its straight back to the project! 

First thing was the finish the main build. I bought more timber and continued the paneling. I must say though, these timbers were all over the place and I'm actually a little disheartened now it's all in one piece. There are some horrible looking gaps and overhangs. I also lined the inside with some membrane so wet soil won't be sitting against the wood forever. 

With it at least built, I could crack on with sorting some kind of drainage. I bought some 80mm land drain and gave the trench a gentle downward angle to give it the best chance of actually getting rid of water. Wrapped her up in some fabric to help keep soil out, and broke out the SDS drill to persuade my way through to the gutter drain. 

With it all in place I poured on some 20mm shingle and began backfilling. I can only go so far here as I need a compactor plate to help push this soil down, so until that's sorted I'm kind of at a stand still. I had a little tidy up of what I could up top just to keep me busy, as I'm now feeling a little overwhelmed - "I need this, I need that! Aarrhh I need money!". 

I really need to get a strimmer or something as this grass is reaching for the stars! Also looking like I'm going to need a skip or a hippobag or something as it seems there will be a lot of waste. 

It's looking brilliant so far, you should be proud of your hard work and once your out on the podium with your scope you'll just feel why it was all so worth the hard graft. 

Top work 👏

[OK Apricot]

1 hour ago, AstroNebulee said:

It's looking brilliant so far, you should be proud of your hard work and once your out on the podium with your scope you'll just feel why it was all so worth the hard graft. 

Top work 👏

Thanks a lot 👍 I can't wait to have it finished, buy my gear and start taking some pictures! 

[AstroNebulee]

23 minutes ago, OK Apricot said:

Thanks a lot 👍 I can't wait to have it finished, buy my gear and start taking some pictures! 

Will look forward to when you get your first light, you'll get there in time for the darkening evenings 😊

[M40]

A great build and fantastic effort 👌

[Alan White]

Don’t be overwhelmed, projects always meet a point like this for most of us.

Looking great so far.

It’s not a 100m sprint, it’s a Marathon and slow and steady as you go.

 

[OK Apricot]

Appreciate the kind words, sometimes my head just goes off on one! I'm pleased to say that the majority of the stresses have been alleviated, and progress has been made over the weekend 👍. 

[OK Apricot]

What a beautiful day! Loving the recent weather model runs - bring on the heat 😎. Been very busy recently so haven't had that much time to go at the garden. As I'd said before, I was starting to feel a bit stressed but managed to find a solution with some family who have a decent bit of land and equipment. Firstly I was loaned a whacker plate which made compacting the backfill a breeze. Secondly, I've just finished the last "tip run" - believe it or not the earth left over filled up an old Hilux bed eight times! I had no idea I'd excavated and moved so much of the stuff 😳. In all this has probably saved me in the region of £750, as it would've been an easy 3 hippo skips (normal skip not an option) and a week's worth of whacker plate hire. 

 

So here we are so far - wall is built, backfilling and compaction is done, earth and rubble has been disposed of, but most importantly my wall is still standing up straight and level 😁. 

 

After all, it would be rude not to... Cheers ladies and gents! 

Edited July 9, 2022 by OK Apricot

[Swoop1]

I bet that well earned cider went down a treat!

Good work Sir.

[M40]

Cider - yep, but Strawberry and lime????? 😜 that's almost like having a savoury pancake 😱

[Alan White]

15 hours ago, M40 said:

Cider - yep, but Strawberry and lime????? 😜 that's almost like having a savoury pancake 😱

Nothing like a savoury pancake, Galletes in France if memory is correct, 

But as you say Strawberry and Lime Cider, just a step too far 😉 for me anyways,.
Cheers, here's to a job well done 👍 

Edited July 11, 2022 by Alan White

[OK Apricot]

Nothing wrong with Strawberry and Lime gents! Wanted something refreshing and tasty - not really a fan of lager. I'll break out the big guns on completion 😂

[OK Apricot]

A little more done, really starting to take shape. Bought a few 100x200's to make the turf wall. I went for 200's as there would be less cutting and placing, and to see if they fit that more 'minimal' look - in very much a minimalist in taste for a lot of things. 

6 sleepers and 15 bags of postcrete later, we have a wall 👍. I had a nightmare trying to fill the holes with water to then add cement - it just kept draining! In the end I had to draft in the Mrs to supply water while I poured postcrete in the hopes of sort of plugging the gaps. Tried to lose as much of the clay and soil from digging the post holes as possible by backfilling and generally filling in other gaps. I'm not completely happy with the gaps at each end, but with the guesswork involved it's not too bad - function over form 🤷. 

 

Another well earned Kopparberg 😂

 

Still need to trim the posts down to the same level, and while the evening draws in and the light levels drop I'd like to make another effort of leveling the base ready for some type 1. I think at some point I will paint it... I'm feeling a grey colour?? 

[Swoop1]

Grey would look quite good on that but, I would also consider a white stripe (NOT Jack of Seven Nation Army fame!) along the drop off edge of the wall as a safety feature- can't have you stepping off the edge during an evenings observing. Especially if fueled by Kopparberg!

[OK Apricot]

4 hours ago, Swoop1 said:

Grey would look quite good on that but, I would also consider a white stripe (NOT Jack of Seven Nation Army fame!) along the drop off edge of the wall as a safety feature- can't have you stepping off the edge during an evenings observing. Especially if fueled by Kopparberg!

This is not a bad shout at all - will see what it's like in low light. 

[OK Apricot]

I got round to getting some gardening done in between astro purchases (priorities, you know!). 

Got the last of what could be seen (and reached) of left over roots and plant life out from the soil and laid down some weed membrane in the hopes that things don't start to come back through.

 

I also never thought about how the sub base would spread as it's compacted, so hadn't made any kind of border. Digging out some channels for some sleepers would've been ideal, but I'm past that point now. Instead I've just crudely rebar'd some off cuts to at least give the sub base something to react against. Threw the best part of an 800kg bag down and started spreading and compacting. Good grief that whacker plate is heavy! 

 

In preparation I bought some slabs from 'Perks, and will get some sharp sand and cement most likely tomorrow. Really getting into unknown territory now - I'm not quite sure how the laying is going to go as I've never seen it done before, let alone done it. Easy enough watching videos but it's just not quite the same... Anyway the slabs had to come out of the van before they got smashed to bits so thought the best place for them was on the base for now. It at least gives me a glimpse of the finished product...

I need to find a way to cut a couple slabs down as with all the will in the world the last four will not go. Pleased enough that my estimates were close enough that I don't have any leftovers. 

I must say though at this point in the project I'm really underwhelmed and quite dissatisfied with how it's turning out. Some of the gaps and warps in the wood are just nasty, I don't have a lot confidence in the drain, I don't think there's enough of a fall toward the drain, I'm just dreading when it starts to get wet with autumn fast approaching. I don't know if it's my own (unrealistic) expectations not being met, a general downturn in my mental state recently, confidence, I don't know. All I do know is it's a definite case of function over form but it shouldn't be - it's my garden, it should look, and I should feel, amazing, but I really don't have that buzz about it at this point. Yeah I've done the whole lot manually and mostly without any help but... Meh. I really hope how I feel about the project picks up. On the plus side, it's still standing...🙁

[ArmyAirForce]

It's probably just fatigue. I'm just over four months into my observatory build and it's been hard work. Watching the overall price of purchased items creep up and up has also been concerning, but I'm in too deep to back out now and there's still lots of landscaping and other work to do in the garden. Some mornings, as I get up and everything hurts, I have to force myself out to do stuff. I know that once complete and I'm out imaging, all the aches and pains will be forgotten - well, most of them!

[Swoop1]

It's looking pretty darn good to me @OK Apricot

As far as gaps go, wood will warp and have gaps so, learn to love the little details that are unique to your set up👍

[OK Apricot]

Cheers fellas. To be honest I think I just need to accept the cost and sweat and put down another bag of type 1, get rid of those sleepers and rebar, level the whole thing and go from there. It'll cost more but I'm hoping that approach will be stronger and 'cleaner'. 

[900SL]

Speaking as a degree qualified Civil Engineer and Chartered Structural Engineer, I think that looks terrific. Massive improvement to what you started with. Should weather nicely over a couple of years

Hybrid king post retaining wall with ground anchors. Should last a while if treated timber. Be careful with impervious membrane below planters, it traps water and leads to mould and rot and nasties that kill plants.

Angle grinder to cut slabs

Rebar will corrode and expand, splitting timber unless galvanised or passivated in alkali concrete

The liner to back of the wall is good. How is the patio area at the bottom drained? Soakaway?

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by 900SL

[apaulo]

great project, well done. i know the amount of manual hard graft it took to complete it. i think its normal to look at things after we do them and think maybe this and maybe that. your jobs well done and a great achievement. it is certainly strong enough. if its just cosmetic issues, sheet it in shiplap or similar. personally it looks great to me . set your scope up and enjoy.  thanks for sharing. clear skies.

[OK Apricot]

I bought another bag of "type 1" and spread it over the whole area. Should give the paving sub base some good strength. I questioned if this was actually type 1 as there were large rocks in there and hardly any dust/gravel. I actually threw two bags of sharp sand in there to try and get it to bind a bit better - the whacker would compact the area underneath but only because these huge rocks would move around the sides. 

Anyway, I got there with that, so set up the laser to run a string line, threw caution to the wind and got paving. Mentally I just didn't really care that much if it went wrong, as I could always rip them up and start again with some help. The result for the first several slabs... 

 

So, I mean, they'd actually turned out quite well. Nicely in line with a subtle fall. I used some M12 threaded rod to create a more or less consistent gap between the slabs. 

The next day I had an element of confidence so carried on...

I continued the with slight fall and spacing method. The drain is at the end of the wall toward the house so hopefully this fall will let water run away and drain away. On the whole, I'm actually quite pleased. I did make a boo boo with one of the slabs - I cut it fine, placed it onto the mortar, manoeuvred it by hand and it broke 🙄. So I need one more to finish the paving, and from there I can set about putting a nice finish on the overall structure. I'll get some new timbers to cap off the ends and to create the border for the squares either side, some paint, some decorative stones and we should be sweet. 

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I needed it! 

[ArmyAirForce]

At least your slabs are nice and flat. About ten years ago, I got a load of concrete slabs delivered from B&Q for a patio. Whoever cast them at the factory, was either lazy or just didn't care, as they hadn't set the mould up level. As a result, the bottom of every slab wasn't parallel to the top, with the thickness at one corner being almost 2 inches, while the opposite corner was around an inch. It made the setting and levelling of the slabs far more work than it should have been.

Your slabs and finished result look very clean and smart.

[OK Apricot]

10 minutes ago, ArmyAirForce said:

At least your slabs are nice and flat. About ten years ago, I got a load of concrete slabs delivered from B&Q for a patio. Whoever cast them at the factory, was either lazy or just didn't care, as they hadn't set the mould up level. As a result, the bottom of every slab wasn't parallel to the top, with the thickness at one corner being almost 2 inches, while the opposite corner was around an inch. It made the setting and levelling of the slabs far more work than it should have been.

Your slabs and finished result look very clean and smart.

Thank you so much. It doesn't surprise me about the slab quality - some of mine were a bit questionable as well. 

Nearly there ladies and gents...