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This may take a while (obsy build thread)


Teslar

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Progress to day 16 post holes dug. Post cut to length and postcreted in position. The last few joists fitted frame levelled

bu2u8esy.jpg

Tomorrow we dig the hole for the concrete base for the pier, frame the shuttering, mix and pour the concrete. Then the decking my chippy mate will put in the noggings and screw in the decking down. So having hired my new mate the chippy progress has been hugely better than I originally though. But two long weekends I'm a row has seriously dented my holiday allowance. It's going to be worth it though if I do say it myself :)

Edited by Teslar
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Sadly no decking down today. My new pal the chippy arrived late by which time I'd dug the hole myself I think secretly that was his plan but then he did pull his back yesterday.

One hole dug, it's not an optical illusion that was a short spade used to square off the bottom if the hole :)

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Chippy arrived in time to knock in the noggings and frame out the shuttering then it was straight onto the pour

eny2enuj.jpg

We had a little panic that 24 bags of ballast and 4 bags of cement might not be enough the place where we picked it up said six bags of ballast to one cement was the recommended mix. It certainly looks a strong mix but the overall quantity was judged by me so it was a nervous time when the last load was in the mixer but we made it right to the line with only a couple of shovels worth to spare

upe6yby9.jpg

It's going to take a few weeks for this to cure enough to use it. But hopefully we can remove the shuttering tomorrow and crack on with the decking :)

Edited by Teslar
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I had a couple of iron bars sticing out to key the pier (concrete tubed pier) Are you using bolts Tom?


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Yes I'll be using epoxy bolts. I done have the pier yet so no idea what pitch to allow for

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looks like the obsy will be a fair size looking at the decking area, coming on nicely


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Cheers Rob. The dome will have about 400mm around it and about 1.2M in front where the door is. Should be a workable area :)

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Rain stopped play after two hours this morning I got the deck fixed to the Postcrete posts with coach bolts 16 off and a start to the decking before the rain got so heavy I had to pack up

dapyta4a.jpg

Hopefully it will dry up enough to finish today :praying:

I took a chance and removed the shuttering early and it's worked out well it seems. The plinth is holding nicely it seems. Ran the armoured cable underneath and have hopefully brought it through where the edge of the dome wall will fall

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If that's Oil Seed Rape in the field behind Tom, it's a long way behind ours! It's been in full flower here over a week!


Decking looking good by the way! I used  some armoured cable over the weekend, it's tough stuff to use!!


 


Cheers


Ron


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Thanks Ron. There was another short dry spell so I've got it all cut to length and in place but I couldn't find the other box of decking screws to finished for this week. If they don't turn up somewhere I'll get some on Friday to finish at the weekend. Used to many holidays for this it's back to weekends only :)

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Finished the decking this afternoon :)

una9u3y3.jpg

And straight into putting up the dome. Some sealant and some van door rubber seal stuff for the drip rail to make it look a bit tidier and to hopefully stop some rain driving underneath

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Managed to fit some drain pipe underneath to allow for a cable run from the Pier to the side wall of the dome

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Fitted the dome ring too before packing up for the day. Hope to get the dome built and fitted tomorrow :D

hagaregy.jpg

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That's really coming on well Tom, hope the weather's kind and you get the top on to kkep it all dry!!


keep the photo's coming!!  :)


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Gales predicted tomorrow Ron. I'm a bit nervous about that. I've got some coach screws to put in tomorrow 8" ones right into the joists if I've positioned it correctly :)

Edited by Teslar
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Today with all the digging over and the decking in place it was all about building the dome. There were so many screws involved and fine tuning if the shutter mech. I seem to have misplaced a few vital screws to couldn't get to the point of lifting the dome on. This was just as well as the wind was gusting to 50mph by tea time. So a quick trip to screw fix or B&Q tomorrow will be needed as I can't put a part assembled dome up in this wind :(

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Thanks Ron. But today wasn't my day :(

We or should I say my chippy pal came up with plan to get the dome up top

4ere8epa.jpg

Manoeuvred into line and slid up the decking planks

busenyse.jpg

And with little persuasion it dropped into place

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So far so good and the dome rotated well so the clips to hold it down were put in place and a quick prayer offered up as the wind was really picking up

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We had a decision to take as the wind was really picking up

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It was either take the dome off again or carry on in the wind and get the sliding shutters in place, sadly this is where thing started to go wrong as the wind was gusting heavily both options were risky. We decided to bash on with the shutter but the wind had other ideas. The shutter was whipped out of our hands by an almighty gust just as it was about to be clipped under the guide rails right at the apex. It landed about 20 Meters away in a field and broke it's back :( we still had no option though so with a floppy spineless sheet of fiberglass we waited for another drop in the wind to try again. This time we succeeded and got the panel secured in the rails. No photos of that performance as desperate measures were being taken.

2yha8uhu.jpg

But the aftermath was a "completed" dome liberally covered in duck tape as we were seriously worried that the panel was now susceptible to folding in the middle if the wind were to get under it and with the spine broken there was not enough strength to resist the full force of the wind.

Oh well such is life, next week I'll be applying liberal layers of fiberglass and chippy will make up some cedar wood sections to form a new spine / frame and we will repair it and make it even stiffer

Oh! And a serious scrub and polish with t-cut to restore the faded finish to the dome

Edited by Teslar
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looks great, shame weather wasn`t a bit better for you, 


i`d give it a good clean and give it a nice coat of paint, will look like new


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Mark the Spark has just arrived the wire up the consumer unit. Laura refuses to let me tinker with mains cables :)

eje2ere8.jpg

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I managed to repair the shutter today. A few layers of fibreglass and some gel coat seems to have done the job.

zere9avy.jpg

It took ages to sand it down and adjust the mechanism till it was running smoothly but all seems well for now :)

e7abetym.jpg

Then it was onto fitting a better lock to the door

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