Shingles

Today I had another excellent day of construction.

I put the shingles on (including felt paper and metal edging):

I bought a single package of shingles from the Habitat for Humanity store (at my wife's suggestion), not knowing how many I needed.  Today when I installed them, I had 1 shingle left.  Sometimes things just work out.

I also got the gravel in and the pier mounting plate cleaned off in preparation for putting the hardware in:

and installed and leveled the pier and wedge:

I have to caulk all the seams and install some foam to seal a couple of joints, but short of being pressure washed I believe it is ready to use right now. With the singles on, it also needs a couple of handles so that I have something to grab a hold of to open and close it, but that will be easy.

I've been on the fence about replacing the bearings in my telescope.  It came with nylon bearings, and there is a really decent internet tutorial on how to replace them with stainless steel bearings.  I already bought the bearings, but have been trying to decide if I should break the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" maxim.

I've decided that before I put it in and spend the time to precisely align it, I should do any maintenance that I can to prevent me from having to take it out again anytime soon. So today I bought the grease I need to do the job.  The internet guide claims that people with absolutely no mechanical skills should be able to do it in less than two hours, so I'm figuring on 4... :-)

I did have to get the telescope out of its case and walk it past the Dogservatory, so I had it stop for a photo op:

As soon as I can get to it , I'll be able to mount the scope and start aligning. I still have to figure out where all the "stuff" gets mounted, but until then I can just cable/uncable the other pieces. I think I'm going to attach it all to a piece of pegboard with wire ties, and hang the pegboard from the wall.  That will securely hold it, but allow me easy access if I need to do some maintenance. 

I lowered the pier, shut the roof and called it a day:

Finally - A good construction day

Today I put together the front and attached the rails and put the roof on.   The roof even rolls like I had hoped. I will need to put on a bit of caulk and foam to make sure it is weatherproof, but things went mostly my way, and I'm really happy with the results. Here are a couple pictures of it open. I didn't realize how much my hard slanted until I opened it up.

I also did a bit of prep work on the interior - I had put in a bunch of dirt and drenched it (twice, actually) to make it settle, and the second batch of dirt didn't settle as much as I expected, so today I got to use a shovel to take out a couple buckets full of dirt.

I'm going to put some pea gravel on the floor - it should help keep the dust down, and I've heard that mice don't like gravel because they cannot burrow, so that is a plus.  A long time ago, we had some gravel delivered for a yard project, and there was too much so I put the extra the window wells. Today I scooped a couple bucket fulls out and rinsed it (it was really dusty, and dust and telescopes are not really friends).  I expect I have about half of the gravel taken care of.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll get the shingles put on, put in the gravel and I'll be pretty much done.  I probably need to put another coat of paint on, but that can wait.

Then it will be time to install the pier and telescope and start aligning aligning things.

Real men build with oak

My life gave me a few days off from Dogservatory construction, which has given me an opportunity to think about how to proceed.

I'm not going to change the plans radically in response to my wood splitting problems.  I think it was caused by the choosing the wrong wood and I'm not sure that making a bunch of changes is a smart thing to do.

I'm rebuilding the roof rails using oak instead of pine, and I'm going to get a couple metal L-brackets to reinforce the joint that had the problems.  I'm also toying with a minor change in the design that would eliminate the bolt holes that caused the split, but I haven't decided yet.

To get back on track, today I went to the hardwood store and bought a serious hunk of red oak (it was approximately 2" x 6" x 130" - 10 board feet for those of you who know what that means). I milled it, planed it, sawed it and then glued it up. Tomorrow I'll redo the fancy woodworking.

1 Step Forwards, 2 Steps Back

I really (really, really, really) wanted to to finish the construction this weekend, but it isn't going to happen.

First, for the 1 Step Forwards part, Deb and I painted it to match the house, and I got the corner posts set in concrete, so the Dogservatory is sitting where it is going to live.  Here is a picture of in place, with the roof sitting on and the facade in place:

After the concrete has had some time to set, I need to fill in the gaps in the base with dirt and drench it a couple times to help keeping water from accumulating.

On the two Steps backwards front, I was working to attach the facade to the roof rails when both of the roof rails split.  I had made them out of 4x4s, and I think the pine is just too soft for what I want to do.  So I'm going to have to remake them out of hardwood.  I have some Oak left over from another project that I might use, or maybe I'll get some poplar.  Unfortunately, the two roof rails are the most difficult bits of woodworking on the whole Dogservatory.  They have an angled side and 5 cutouts for the wheels.

I'm also having issues with the facade.  At least one of the boards is warped, and it doesn't quite sit flat against the front.  So I'll likely end up rebuilding it as well.  And naturally it is the second most difficult bit of woodworking.

Getting close to done

My last post said I had three things left to do:
- facade
- digging/concrete
- shingles.

Since then, I've added two things to the list:
- apply primer to both sides of roof
- square up pier hole.

I've done both of the new items, and I'm done with the digging (I hate shovels), including getting everything leveled. The places where I was digging had a lot of loose dirt, so today I went out with the hose and thoroughly soaked all the dirt so that I won't get any surprises after I put the posts in concrete.  Once that is dry (hopefully tomorrow) I'll put the posts in the concrete (should only take a few minutes - it is fence post concrete and you don't have to mix it - just dump it in the post holes, and then fill with water.  It dries in less than an hour).

I have the facade also almost done, but the fit is a little snug and I need to do a little wood working to get it so it opens smoothly.  I figure a hour or two, depending upon how far I have to disassemble before I can remove wood.

That leaves just the shingles.  I have the felt paper, shingles, and drip guards so all I have to do is put them on.  I think it will take about 24 shingles, which hopefully won't be too bad.

In order to  make sure that after leveling all sides were below ground level to prevent a river from running through the Dogservatory, I put boards between the posts.  I've tried to describe it, and it was hard so I took a picture.  Adding these boards seems like it will keep it much drier inside, but required me to do a bunch more digging.

Here is the what I dug.  You can see the post holes in the corners and the trenches for the boards described above connecting them.  This picture was taken after I soaked everything, so you can see that it is still wet.  

The roof is done

Yesterday I finished the roof, as you can see in the picture below.  It is starting to look almost done, which is good given how much effort I've put into it so far.  I also bought some shingles from Habitat For Humanity for $7.50, so as soon as  I attach the roof to the rails (which shouldn't take too long  -- famous last words again :-), can start putting the shingles on.

I also unboxed the  pier last night, and am happy to report that it arrived safely, seems to work correctly, and the bolt pattern works for my wedge. 

Much progress, but not quite done yet.

I've been working some every day, and I've been making steady progress.  This was spring break week, and I took the week off of work.  At the beginning of the week, I did quite a bit of construction, but later in the week I did more spring break activities with the family.

At this point I have the structure built, and today I worked on assembly the pieces of the roof.  I have it almost done, but the wind came up later in the afternoon and I decided to wait to finish it. All I have left on the roof is to attach the plywood to the bottom of one side of the roof, and then I need to run the router with a flush trim bit around the roof to line up all the edges.

Once that is done, there are three things left to do:
- buy and put on shingles
- finish the outboard legs and facade on the pull out part of the roof
- finish digging the holes, level and set in concrete.

None of these is trivial, but none are all that difficult either.  I'm hoping that I can find some time this week after work to work on them (the changing of the clocks last weekend will help), and finish up next weekend if I need the time.

The pier arrived at the end of last week, and I have resisted opening the box because I don't want to distract myself, but I'll probably open it soon just to make sure it is alright.

If only it never rained or snowed here

The Dogservatory now has 4 walls.  It it didn't rain or snow here, it would be done :-)

I didn't get quite everything done yesterday that I wanted, but it took less than an hour this morning to get there.  If I hadn't had to make two trips to Home Depot yesterday I probably would have been right where I wanted to be. Those people are so picky - show up without your wallet and they won't let you take any of your stuff home with you...

I think I've worked out my roof issue, so I can continue to make progress.  I have some other things to do today, so I probably won't get the roof done today as I had hoped, but that's OK.

I was surprised how heavy it has gotten today when I moved it. I've been carrying pieces out one at a time and attaching them, and while none of them were heavy by themselves, all of them together are.  It is also really getting sturdy, which is good.

Pier is inbound, ready to put on the siding

I have a Fedex tracking number for the pier, so it looks like it will be here Thursday.  I'm hoping to have everything ready to install it on Friday, but we'll have to see.

Yesterday was a much better construction day.  I managed to salvage all of the pieces I thought were scrap from the day before, and I finished the roof triangles, which were the part that was giving me issues.

I spent some time last night going over the plans making some tweaks because I realized after I cut the wood for the roof that it was 2 inches short. I had forgotten about the 2 in facade that supports the roof when it is in the open position.  Messing with the plans, I figured out a way to save all of that wood by making the roof 1 inch more narrow (it used to 58x30.5, now it is 60x29.5).

I also marked where the posts go on the ground and have dug 2 of the 4 corner post holes.  It has been warm here, and the ground isn't frozen near the surface.  It seems to get harder about 6 or 8 inches down, but since I'm only going 8 or 10 inches, it isn't bad.

The plan for today is to get the siding on, dig the other two post holes, and start working on the roof. I've realized that I have the same 60/120 degree angle issue with the roof peak as I had with the triangles, so I still have one issue to work out.

If I can get that figured out, I'd like to get the roof  built and on tomorrow, and do the rest of the digging to get everything level.  That leaves Thursday to put the shingles on and if it stays warm enough I might set the post holes in concrete.

Work is progressing

Yesterday I went to Home Depot and bought what I hope is the last wood for the project.  I still need shingles and paint, but I'm hoping to have all the wood...

I started cutting the angle pieces which will support the roof.  In order to do that, I needed to cut some 60 degree angles.  I have more than one way to cut precise angles up to 45, but nothing that goes up to 60.  I have one miter gauge that will go that far, bit it isn't very accurate. I ended up making a lot of test cuts, and getting frustrated, so I made myself go find something else to do, which turned out to be a good call.  This morning it occurred to me how to use those pieces, so I've gone from a bunch of wasted work to almost none.

I also spoke to the company making my pier, and while it was supposed to ship already (well, a few times now...), he promised me it would ship today, and even called back to make sure about something that gives me some hope it will be in the hands of Fedex today, and hopefully will be here Thursday.  I'm going to try to have everything ready when it arrives.

Assembly

I have been building pieces in my basement, and today it was nice and a weekend, so I went out and assembled most of them.  I was pleasantly surprised that they fit together.  Here are a couple pictures of the current state.  I need to put a couple 2x4's along each long side, and 1 on each short side and then I can start putting on the siding.  I have the siding for the long sides cut and ready to go. The short sides are rough cut.  Then I just have the roof to do.

I talked to the pier people, and they hope to have the pier to me next week, and the week after that is spring break here, so I'll be off work. I'd love to have it put together by the end of spring break (famous last words, I expect...)

The "stilts" sticking out the bottom will be buried and set in cement, and the lower rails will be on the ground.

Construction update

We had some nice weather, so I took the opportunity to build some wooden walls and put the into the hold in the back yard.  The dirt on the sides of the hole had began to fall in, and I needed to prop it up.  To accomplish this, I had to square the hole, which involved moving more dirt than I would have guessed.  It took more time that I had anticipated, but it is done now. 

I put the box together with 3" drywall screws.  I had a partial box, and began to get nervous as I neared the end because I was running out of screws and figured I would end up having to go to the hardware store to buy a couple more.  In a total failure of Murphy's law, I ended up with 1 screw left over.  I suppose I should have bought a lottery ticket...