Octagon cladding cont'd.

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Thursday: Started early before the intolerable heat arrives. A 5th panel went on before morning coffee. It is already 81F @ 10am but with a bit of a NE breeze to help cool things down. I ought to get another panel done while it is still in shade on that side.

I haven't yet worked out how to fit the panel which faces the shed. I can't tip the sheet in or out to clear the obstructions. As I have been doing with  all the other panels. I may have to cut it in two horizontally over a cross brace for edge fixing. 85F by the time I'd fitted the 6th panel. That just leaves the shed side panel to do and the doorway. Hopefully the 135cm high panels around the obs. level will be more straightforwards.

The shed side proved to be simple enough after I removed two braces between the shed and the octagon. These were only to hold the building skeleton upright until I could reinforce it with horizontal braces. The 7th panel went on fine after that.

I am delighted to report that the plywood cladding has really stiffened up the octagon. I was just able to get it to shudder slightly if I gave it a good shove from the observatory floor. Before the cladding went on it would sway an inch or so. No doubt the upper panels at observatory level will further stiffen the structure.

Now I have to decide what to do about a door or doors. Should it be a low key shed door or an attempt at a flourish leaning towards ostentation? 

Friday: I took down the obs. wall tarpaulins and fitted the sawn, roof prism profiles ready for boarding the walls. The wall height is about 134cm. Half a 122x244 sheet is only 122. Which leaves me 12cm or 5" short of full height. The 4'x8' sheets cost ~£20 each [equivalent] So that's another £80 if I buy enough sheets to do the job properly. Leaving me with eight, 110cm tall, undersized, half sheets without any obviously useful purpose. I can't even line the obs. walls with them unless I add skirting and cornice.

I could use true half height sheets [122cm] on the outside and add a decorative horizontal timber bar like a skirting board. Or even an upper cornice to make up the difference in height. I have four full sheets left and still lots of long lengths of larch flooring.

Decisions-decisions. The skirting board idea is probably riskier because rain will tend to collect at the bottom. Such a feature will be completely invisible from the ground due to the veranda flooring hiding it from view.

While an upper strip will reinforce the wheel supporting octagon of 2x6s and be clearly visible from the ground as a decorative addition. The top "wheel ring" is already supported by 2x6s on edge. So there is no great need for extra strength. Though it would use up some of my spare larch boarding and [perhaps] add a more finished appearance.

The danger now is that the project will end up with a tall, rather featureless octagon with a dome on top. Which might look rather like an oversized, scale model of stump of pencil with a worn eraser on top! 🙈 But is it art?

It is lucky I decided to add a veranda to add interest and to break up the uniformity of the tall octagon. Only a cynic would argue that the veranda looks like an inverted tutu.

I did a quick mock-up with a half sheet and it worked out fine with a larch board across the top. The image shows the general effect. There is more to it than this though. The larch boards have to be mitered to exact length to fit neatly end to end. Then they need a notch sawn in their bottom inner edges to carry rain out over the boards. I just hope the hornets don't mind me dragging the miter saw outside!

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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