The draft. It seemed easy on paper...
::Satourne::
How I built my observatory...
Here is a description of the way I built my observatory which is attached to a garden shed. I built the two at the same time.
The first step: I put in the ground several 30 cm-height chimney blocks - 4 for the observatory and 9 for the garden shed. Here you can see the ones of the observatory.
The garden shed is in the background and the observatory in the foreground. I put common rafters with a section of 35 x 63 cm that I assembled using carpenter's squares.
I installed vertical posts with the same material and technique as above. I filled the chimney blocks with concrete.
I installed the top wooden frame for the observatory comprising 2 rafters extending to the garden shed. These 2 rafters will be used as the rolling track of the roll-off roof. I also installed a tube made of bakelite in the ground of the observatory (1 meter deep). I then put concrete in the hole for the tube and in the tube itself.
I finished filling with concrete the hole for the bakelite tube. I installed a part of the roof for the garden shed. This roof is made of steel. It is not cheap but does not require any other material to avoid water ingress.
The roof of the observatory is now finished and ready to roll off.
The walls are nearly finished.
Detail of the roof attachement to the fixed frame.
The observatory is nearly completed. Only the door is missing and an adapter plate to install my mount.
The observatory completed now with the roof rolled off.
Claudine is painting the door to protect the wood.
Inside the observatory. Many things still have to be done such as a desk to put my computer on for instance.
Detail of the mount support.
Detail of the mount support.
It took about 6 months for 2 people to build this observatory. Of course we did not work all the time but mostly week-ends and not of all them, say 5 days per month on average.
The total cost is difficult to calculate because I bought materials for the observatory and the garden shed at the same time. But I can estimage the cost for the observatory only to be about 500 euros. This is not so much considering the price of off-the-shelf garden sheds.