Dome tightened and tarp free.

This afternoon I put in some more nuts and bolts around the inside of the dome where all the parts come together.   I had them all just finger-tight and had to loosen them and jiggle things around to get all  (ok - most) of the holes to like up.   All the holes were drilled by the previous owner of the dome, so it took some work to get them all lined up and bolted together.
It was another stormy day today with showers, wind and even a bit of thunder.  I was out there working on the inside during a heavy shower and didn't notice any major leaks, so I figured I'd ditch the ugly tarp and see how it goes.  I still have to squirt RTV in the seams and maybe try some foam sealant in some of the bigger gaps, but I'll need a dry day.

Tarp on.

Tarp off - after proving it was fairly water tight.

Painted!

I spent most of today (we had a nice sunny 70+ degree day on Oct. 19!) painting the observatory since this is possibly the last dry day for a while if the forecast holds true.  I spent about 6 hours painting the observatory and pretty much got it done.  I think the walls could use another coat, but for now it's fine.  Maybe in the spring (or if we get another dry day) I could put some more paint on it. 

The next task is to seal up the gaps in the dome, add some new screws and get it all tightened down and water tight.  Then the tarp will come off and we can call the main structure done.   Door still needs to be completed too. 

Traci was doing some work on the roof today and got a "low aerial" shot of it.  We designed it so it matches the house and the existing shed.

Backside.

Front.  This was before the roof trim was painted.

Notice it matches the house and shed on the ramp. 

Siding - just a few short.

Oops.   Just 4 pieces short. 

I screwed up a cut on one of the 12 foot Hardiplank siding pieces.  WHY did I cut it to 43 inches when I did measure 73 inches?  I don't know, I just totally failed the "measure twice, cut once" rule - badly.   Anyway, even if I did cut it right, we only get 1 piece out of each 12 foot chunk anyway since it's slightly more than 1/2 the plank.  No matter what, it was still short 4 planks anyway.
At trip to Home Depot again with the Corolla "truck".  Twelve foot, fragile, floppy planks just won't drag behind the car nicely, so we had to improvise with some parking lot cuts to make it all fit.

Using the Home Depot public curb workbench.
These had to fit in the car behind me!

Full size door shortened to 4 feet tall.

Since we build the observatory low (yes, there is plenty of headroom inside) we had to make a smaller "Hobbit" door from a full sized door.   We looked for something at a window/door salvage yard nearby but they wanted a lot of $$ to cut the door.  Home Depot had steel doors pre-hung on a frame, so that was the answer - shorten it ourselves!

Reducing the door
frame. 

The top hinges were in the right place, so those stayed.  The frame was cut down and reassembled to the 4 foot rough opening height of the door opening.  Then the fun of cutting the steel door.  To make a long story short, just look at this web site on how to do it.  Pretty much what we did, but used a chisel rather than a router.  

Door frame in place.  It's proper style to wear an "Astronomer"
t-shirt when building an observatory. 

It all fit nicely when done!  The frame was mounted and then the door fell right in place.  The doorknob holes will be filled/covered with a kick plate later.  A hole will be made for deadbolt on the top of the door - probably get an electronic keyless thing with buttons. More on that later - I'll have photos of the process when it happens. 

It fits perfectly!  

I stood on a chair, for this photo. It's a short door, but
plenty of headroom inside. 

Window and siding (most of it) done.

Last weekend we spent a bunch of time cutting the siding and installing around the window and the wall on the west side.  I did get some of it done after work, but the time is getting so short with the early sunset these days.
It was all pretty easy, but took some careful cutting to make the siding fit around the bottom of the window.  The dome is still full of gaps and will leak when it rains this week, I'll leave that up there until I get the sealant done and the rest of the screws installed to hold it together.

Two walls of siding installed.

This morning we wake up to sunny skies and look out the bedroom window and see something out there  - an observatory dome!  Also, we saw a deer out in the yard nibbling on stuff on our grass.  Just another cool indication that we aren't living in the city anymore.

Dome, a deer, a male deer....

Another nice sunny day, sunscreen needed since we were out back all day in the sun. Today it was time to start installing the trim on the corners and the siding.  I was hoping to get all 4 sides done, but we had a learning curve to deal with when installing the Hardi plank siding.  Kind of weird stuff, reminds me of glued sawdust with cement mixed in.  Better quality than Ikea furniture, but but probably just as fragile. 

I look like a dork, but probably how I usually look after
whacking my finger with a hammer.  First side is done. 

I was really hoping to have all four sides done with the siding this weekend, but we just ran out of daylight once again.  We got the last siding plank installed after sunset in the dark on the back side of the observatory.  After it gets dark watch where you are hammering,  whacked my finger pretty good in the dark with the hammer and had Tracy pass me a cuss jar to fill. Ouch. 

Next week - probably buy a door with a frame and modify it for the 4ft tall doorway.  We are probably stuck until next weekend until we get the rest of the siding done.  

Work has a way of getting in the way of pretty much anything important.  

The last piece before sunset installed.

Wrapped and dome installed.

Window is in.

We had another rare sunny and nice October weekend this week. Temps in the mid-70s.  Again we did more work on the observatory, getting it closer to being completed - at least on the outside.
Window was installed after work last week in the brief daylight we have left in the early evening.
Yesterday we got the weatherproofing tar paper on the walls and got the dome installed.

Take the tarp off, and get dumped on!
It was a short and heavy shower.

The dome is just put up finger-tight right now, I'll need to get a few more nuts and bolts of the stainless-steel type, and a few springs that were rusting and leaving ugly stains on the dome.
The dome flange needed a little coaxing (and yes, a little cussing - that's a requirement with anything with astronomy) to get it all lined up on the flange.

With some tweaking and nudging, it fit on the square
support pretty well. 

Ring around the dome, and wrapped walls

Half dome installed. 

Once the flange was up, the dome ring with the roller wheels was next.   This was easy, but it always takes a lot of tweaking to get the rolling ring to line up and not stick in certain parts.  The dome halves went in easy enough, but will require some adjustments as expected to get a good smooth rotation.   Always a pain...I think I  mentioned that already?
I spent all of Saturday working on the dome install and other things with Traci's help.  She did all the tar paper while I was up on top.
Our shortening days (Sunset around 6:45) is really making this a race before darkness to get done.  As seen in the last photo, darkness doesn't stop me from the last few adjustments!

At least I'm on a short ladder this time.  The last observatory
I was balanced dangerously on top of the "don't step here" step
on the step ladder.   

Just one more attachment do to before putting tools away for
the night!