More octagon work. Bracing and cladding.

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Sunday morning @ 80F was spent cutting 2x4s to frame around the base of the observatory walls. Not only will this support the bottom of the cladding ply but will provide a base for flexible, plastic flashing. A strip from a long roll of wall DPM for block laying is just stiff enough to throw rainwater clear of the base of the observatory walls.

A gap was deliberately left between the veranda and the obs. flooring to allow the DPM to be tucked neatly under the veranda floor.  Or the horizontal portion could be left flat on the veranda floor to throw the dome run-off further out. I'll have to see what looks and works best before making a final decision.

Tuesday I started fitting 12mm, ½" cladding panels onto the octagon walls to help to stiffen it. I imagined the extra weight of the dome on top might set it into resonance if the wind really picked up.

Fitting 4x8 sheets is hard work when they have to be trimmed to exact size and the sun is beating down in 83-84F heat. The table saw can cope with B&D work benches providing in-feed and out-feed support for trimming the panel width. Then I used the router and a 45° trimming bit to bevel the vertical, meeting edges.

I am trying to avoid needing trim strips to hide the vertical joints. There is a lot of preparatory work on the octagon skeleton to sink large screw heads flush and to pull back protruding 2"x 4" noggins which have twisted over time. Two panels done so far.

Thank goodness I chose to size the octagon sides to allow full sheets with minor trimming. I've had to saw off only a 2cm strip so far. Pictures later, though it is hard to see the octagon base with a camera. This is thanks to deliberately grown, decorative shrubs designed to provide some shade and to soften the appearance of the building. These shrubs have just been cut back to make them more bushy. While allowing me to pass while carrying a 4'x 8' of ½" ply without too much hindrance.

It reached 88F by lunch time but I had still managed to fit the third panel. The fourth [or north] panel is out of direct sunshine so should be slightly easier to work on. I am having to trim the boards around the timber brackets and floor joists under the awning first. It proved just too hot for me to cut the 4th panel so I took a siesta after lunch.

The hornets, which are busy building a nest in the shed, were kind enough to let me take an old 12" electric fan away for use indoors. The hornets have been very good so far. As I go in and out collecting tools as they are needed. Wasps are grazing the shed and observatory timbers too but haven't troubled me so far.

I've told them that if I get one sting I shall eradicate the lot of them. Probably with a soapy water bath in the workshop vacuum cleaner. They have built nests in the shed in previous years and it has resulted in only a single sting. Which inevitably resulted in an extinction event that year. Provided they pose no threat I'll let them carry on.

I managed the 4th panel before cycling off to do some shopping in 86F heat. My dark grey T-shirt was literally black with dripping sweat when I stopped work.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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