*
Sunday morning: I cut a 10" wide strip 7m long from the
EPDM. Then drilled the flashing sections and bolted a 7m length of the
"rubber" to the dome. Placing the narrow roll of unused rubber on the
octagon ring allowed me to work quickly around the dome without having
to support its weight. The skirt now misses the octagon top ring so does not affect
rotation. However, the skirt does miss the ring by a considerable
margin in places. I chose a 10" drop to produce an overlap with the octagon's top timber ring. Which will
avoid the rubber being blown up over the octagon ring. Afternoon: After doing 7 meters of skirt I have run out of M5 bolts and Eternit domed washers so will have to have a search to complete the last 3m of skirting. It is nearly 20 years since I last used these aluminium washers. So there may be more hiding somewhere amongst my collection of storage jars. The skirt doesn't actually look too bad on the dome.
I
shall have to order 100 stainless steel screws and nuts to do a proper
job and finish the last 3.5m. The usual zinc flashed coating on steel fixings
will rust within weeks, look awful and become immovable.Monday: Completed the remaining 3 meters of rubber skirt with the last of my temporary screws. I still have to decide how best to protect the area under the shutters. I was going to use extended shutters but they strike the flashing if made too deep below the drawer slides. Fitting the flashing behind the drawer slides is doable but pushes the flashing outwards much too far. The flashing would not be continuous with the rest and would leave two gaping holes. I may have to use two lengths of flashing in a shallow 'V' below the shutters.
The rubber skirt is very well behaved in today's very gusty wind. With hardly any movement.
Tuesday: The stainless steel screws have arrived and I started fitting them to the skirt. After two, warmer, dry days I took a chance and completed the sealing of the dome in the afternoon. This consumed two more full cartridges and I used a small spatula to smooth the sealant. The following days are promised to be quite warm and sunny. So should help the sealer to harden off enough to allow sanding. The dome panels themselves need sanding because moisture has raised a sharks skin finish on the exposed surfaces. I ought to think about a breathable primer to help protect the plywood until I can paint it.
Wednesday: I replaced all the original skirt holding screws with stainless steel ones. Using new Eternit washers and gaskets. For the shutter skirt I fitted a 10" drop of EPDM behind the drawer slides. Since this is higher than the flashing noses I ought to cut a deeper strip for this length of skirt to form an overlap like the rest. Or, I could buy a similar flashing to the others but with a shorter reach to better match the rest of the dome. There is a narrower, 60mm wide version of the profile. While I chose 90mm for the skirt flashings to ensure clearance. The 60mm one might just look neater. More perfectionism, I suppose.
Instead of finding another profile I flattened the top bend on the wider, 90mm flashing. Then made a new bend at 50mm so that I could fix the flattened top behind the drawer slides. Then I added the same depth of rubber as the rest of the skirt. It's not exactly perfect [yet] but is an improvement and finally closes the dome against direct rain and wind incursion. I used a new pair of punch pliers but it hurt my hands to use them repeatedly. 64 neat holes were precisely placed in the edge of the rubber.
Click on any image for an enlargement.
*
No comments:
Post a Comment