Observatory build: Boarding and DPC flashing.

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Thursday: Screwed 12mm plywood pads to the tops of the obs. walls to support 5" larch boards. It feels very warm working in the sunshine @ 80F. It has helped to keep the power saws in the shade of the tent awning. So I can escape from the relentless heat and blinding sunshine now and then. Three larch boards were duly mitered and fitted. Which, I thought, made the obs. walls look much more finished.

I used my old Record 043 plough plane to cut a water drip under the octagon's, dome support ring. It would have been far easier to have sawn a slot before its final assembly. Too late now.

A few planets have been dragging their heels along the horizon. They are so low that I have to go upstairs to look down at them through intervening trees and hedges.

Friday: 82F. Fitted the rear three boards under the octagon's top ring. I'll have to make up a short roof ladder for the shed roof. So I can work on the otherwise inaccessible side of the octagon in safety. I have two pairs of ladder ridge hooks hiding in the shed somewhere. They were handy for allowing me to sweep my own chimney each year.

Once the worst of the heat was gone I used the roof ladder to finish the board on the seventh side.

Sunday: 72F. Removed top boards and ply panels again to fit plastic DPC flashing to the base of the obs. walls. This is to ensure that most of the dome/obs. run-off falls safely outside the lower octagon walls. As it neared 1.30 the sky went dark and we were teased by a few spots of rain. Having quickly tidied all the tools away it immediately became sunny again.

I find myself rehearsing possible methods for sealing the gores together in the middle of the night. The rehearsals, I meant, not the real thing. I'm still waiting for the 90mm bolts for the bottoms struts to base ring. So can't make a start. No stock, it seems, though I could easily have been informed a week ago.

I spent time over the last couple of days fixing short joists to support cantilevered floor boards on the veranda. There was no real danger but springy floor boards don't fill one with confidence. They can also distract the user with a potential risk of collisions with the scenery. When they should ideally be relaxed and looking where they are going.

The protective "fence" is easily high enough to contain the unwary and will eventually be raised slightly to lift the metalwork clear of the veranda floor. Any puddling on the veranda could eventually eat into the galvanized metal. The support posts can soon be cut off to length. Then these uprights bolted to the wooden structure for even greater stiffness and strength.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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