Advice on 1st Observatory

[AstroGS]

OK - here it is then. The decision was made and I am in the market to build/ buy my first observatory. Before I say anything else, it is important to state the facts:

1. I am renting (the landlord has ok’d this) - anything that will be build up, should be relatively easy to dis-mantle and move to the new place.

2. It will be sitting in the garden (on the grass)

3. It should be on an adjustable height base but, not permanent

4. The budget is a bit tight so, it must say around £1K

5. I’m not looking for any automation but, roll off roof will be desirable

6. I’m really bad with DIY so, I will need someone to build it for me

7. I will not have pier - I will be using a heavy duty tripod

8. Rig will not be more than 10-12 kg eventually - initially it will be even lower (no more than 7kg)

9. No need for a warm room - Asiair will be in place here.

 

Any advice/ suggestions/ recommendations and shed builders will be highly appreciated. 🙂

[malc-c]

Personally given the current cost of building materials and the time for a builder to construct something that you will be pushed to have a working ROR observatory for under a grand. A quick google of a standard 7' x 5' shed is around half your budget and that excludes any base that would be required to sit it on.  The average hourly rate for a self employed builder is around £35-£40, so it would only take a day, day and a half to use up the balance of your budget.

If you are looking for a company that specialises in construction custom observatories avoid Home Observatories UK (HOUK) - there is a thread running where several customers have resorted to court action in order to recover their deposits and waiting over a year with no communications.   A dome from Pulsar is outside your budget unless you can find one secondhand on e-bay or Astro buy and sel.

One alternative is to buy a tool storage shed for around £300 and modify the floor so that it can fit around a pier base and place the shed on wheels and use some angle profile aluminium as tracks so the whole thing rolls back to leave the scope ready for use. 

Whatever option you end up going with there will be an impact on the garden.  Any shed will need a level base.  Any tracks need a firm foundation, and even paving slabs placed on the grass will soon kill the grass underneath.  I would get any agreement with the landlord in writing so you have a safety net,  and any remedial work needed to restore the garden should you leave is also agreed.   This will prevent any upset when what they visualise happening is totally different to what you are explaining.

Lastly, DIY is not that difficult.  You are only screwing bits of wood together to make frames and then cladding them with shiplap or similar.  Doing things yourself will save a lot of money and you'll get exactly what you are looking for.

[Carbon Brush]

Any off the peg wooden shed is only rigid when it is complete. That is all walls, floor and roof screwed together.
Remove anything (the roof) and it becomes wobbly. More timber framing is needed.
Shed roof is not strong enough to self support when sliding. you need to add timber.
You need to make runners to slide the roof, then provide somewhere to store the roof. Mine is a pergola, others use a tilt arrangement.
Lower cost sheds use thinner timber. False economy. Strengthening adds even more cost.
I reckon my 'added strength' cost nearly as much as the already decent quality shed. It was a long time back so the actual costs are not relevant.

Plastic sheds (in my experience) have even less strength when incomplete and often have flimsy floors - more expense.

With your limited budget and other constraints I think   @malc c   suggestion is more doable.
Or you can think in terms of putting two half sheds on tracks?
Don't forget when the wind blows, the shed will fly. It is sitting on rails. It is not nailed to its floor weighted by mowers, bikes, etc.
You need to anchor it to the ground.

Sorry if this sounds negative. I hope it is realistic.

David.
 

 

[Dinglem]

@George Sinanis take a look at this it may give you some idea of a cheap easily dismantled solution.

 

[malc-c]

The modified plastic shed sitting on the plastic base would be an option.  However  Argos currently list Keter Factor Apex Garden Storage Shed 6 x 6ft for £770.00.  The interlocking base used in the video (same supplier) is £75.  The track (again from the same supplier) is sold as two 1.5m lengths for £41.15  as you need to buy two packs., adding a further £82.30.  This leaves around £73 of the OP's budget to purchase the wheels, additional timber for the ROR, gravel and other misc items.  

Granted the observatory would fit a lot of the requirements and keep his landlord happy.  It would also make observing / imaging sessions a lot easier as the complete kit can be left secured in the shed, but I feel the OP would need a budget of around £1500 to replicate the observatory in that video.  It also requires a little bit of DIY to build the ROR support, and to strengthen the structure, something that the OP has said is not his strong point (even though I've encouraged him to do).  If he / she is confident enough to do that framework etc then this could be the ideal solution to a semi permanent observatory that won't have too devastating impact on the garden

[AstroGS]

@malc-c many thanks - it does seem that I need to push further my budget, probably another 50%.

I will still need to have someone to do it for me but, it might be a more viable option.

[AstroGS]

6 hours ago, Dinglem said:

@George Sinanis take a look at this it may give you some idea of a cheap easily dismantled solution.

 

Thanks - i have watched this already and it is super helpful.

[AstroGS]

I was even looking into the sheds that shedshedshed provide : http://www.shedshedsheds.co.uk/

I spoke today with David and I will try to go and see his sheds at some point over the next 1-2 weeks.

[malc-c]

12 hours ago, George Sinanis said:

I was even looking into the sheds that shedshedshed provide : http://www.shedshedsheds.co.uk/

I spoke today with David and I will try to go and see his sheds at some point over the next 1-2 weeks.

They have some experience of custom builds looking at the images on their website.  Fingers crossed that they can offer you something that fits yours and the landlords requirements within your extended budget.  At least it will include the erection of the building leaving you to just install the scope and start using it straight away.

[Carbon Brush]

Do let us know how you get on with the shed company. When I looked on their web site, I thought that I recognised the company.
The Worksop postcode is very near to where a company used to supply (decent quality) sheds and fencing. Now it is housing 🤔.
A Google maps pin shows the company are on a residential street.🥴
Hopefully (probably) they are so busy making sheds that they haven't updated the web site.

Hope it works out OK.

[malc-c]

54 minutes ago, Carbon Brush said:

Do let us know how you get on with the shed company. When I looked on their web site, I thought that I recognised the company.
The Worksop postcode is very near to where a company used to supply (decent quality) sheds and fencing. Now it is housing 🤔.
A Google maps pin shows the company are on a residential street.🥴
Hopefully (probably) they are so busy making sheds that they haven't updated the web site.

Hope it works out OK.

If you use street view it's easy enough to find  They are in Retford Road, although the pin placed them in the housing estate in Forest Rise.  Google map pins are often out by a few yards !

[Carbon Brush]

Thanks Malcolm. Found 'em! A few hundred metres from their original location. Or maybe it was a different company!

[tezz]

On 09/11/2022 at 16:45, Dinglem said:

@George Sinanis take a look at this it may give you some idea of a cheap easily dismantled solution.

 

 

 

This is so helpful for me.

Thank you.