Construction pictures of the Dogpatch II Observatory
Perhaps you are curious how it
came to be called the Dogpatch II Observatory. Well it goes like this. My wife
and I are dog lovers. At the time of the original Dogpatch observatory
construction, a lot of our neighbors had dogs and we babysat the dogs when they
went on vacation or away for the weekend. Well over time the dogs came to
associate our house as their house so at any given moment there could be up to
nine dogs in our yard… our three Pound rejects, a Golden Retriever and
Chocolate Lab, a Pomeranian, a German Shepard, my son’s Poodle mix, and maybe
the Black Lab from up the street. Our house became the Dog Patch but it didn’t
look like something out of Dogpatch. It was a very contemporary 3200 Sq. Ft.
three story in the woods. The name just seemed appropriate for the observatory.
These pictures were shot prior
to my owning a digital camera so you have to excuse the sometimes poor quality
of the scanned image.
So here we go…
Here I am staking the shed and observatory out. The white object behind me is the
PVC pipe that will run under the concrete floor from the
computer to the pier.
Looking south.
All done although it’s sort of hard to see the string. Got
the pipe dug in.
Looking North.
Got the forms in place and waiting for the concrete truck to
arrive tomorrow.
Didn’t know it would rain overnight. He delivered the
concrete anyway. Like I’m going
to pull out a stuck concrete mixer loaded with 10 yards of
concrete…Right!
Here you can see the forms coming off the observatory pad
with pier base in the foreground,
roof support pads in the middle and shed pad in the
background.
This is a better view of the observatory pad and one of the
support pads.
The pipes in the floor get cut off about 2” above the
concrete. The support pad
is made from a 12” diameter sonotube concrete form
Three generations hard at work here…me (bent over), my son
Tom, and my grandson
Alex.
Well the first part’s done. In the background to the left
you can see the
foundation for our house. Gives you an idea of the distance
(100’)
Part 2 partially finished. The shed and door frame to the
left and observatory
to the right
A better view of the two structures. Note the roof truss
anchors on the top
of the shed frame
Roof trusses are now on the shed and the sheathing is on
most of the observatory.
The trusses were hand made by me on the shed pad.
Basic sheathing is now on the observatory. We’ll get the
corners closed out.
It’s surprising that when you walk inside, it’s easy to
visualize an observatory.
The roof and sheathing is done on the shed except for the
aluminum roof
panels that will be added at the same time as the
observatory.
Now we’re getting somewhere. Here’s the track that the roof
will
roll on. 25 ‘ of angle per side delivered to the site.
In the center is one of the attachment points for the 4x4
that the roof will
roll on. It is lag bolted into the corners.
The horizontal 4x4’s are installed along with the rail and
4x4 support posts.
The rail starts 12” from the end and runs to within 12” of
the shed wall.
Closer view of the track in place. Notice the screws along
the bottom edge spaced about
every 20”. This is to hold it in line but allows it to grow
and shrink with changing temp.
Here’s the heart of the roof, the roller assembly. On the
side you can see four dots
which are the bolts that form the axles for the wheels. The
roof trusses will attach
to the top of this assembly in the same way as the shed. The
triangular object is the
south end panel without the upper door cut in it. The roller
assemblies are lag bolted
to the end panels.
Another view of the roller assembly this time from the end.
The roof trusses are
on the ground awaiting installation with the north end panel
under them
.
Looking at the progress from the house. Another perspective
on the location
and distance from the house. The end panels are in place and
positioned to allow
the ends to clear the walls when rolling.
All the observatory trusses are in place and the shed door
as well. It’s now
lockable so I can leave the building equipment and tools
here overnight as well as
all the appliances that go in the house since it’s NOT
lockable.
Both roofs are complete with the aluminum panels in place I
have tested the
roll-off ability and it’s heavier than I thought. I’ll use a
power or hand boat winch
to remove it in both directions. That green “lawn” is the
biggest and
baddest crab grass I’ve ever seen. It must grow in clumps
over a foot in diameter.
The observatory door cut in finally. It’s just 6’ tall same
as me and only 30” wide
The completed door and frame. Both locks are keyed the same.
I’ve since changed
this to have the upper door swing up and lock onto the first
truss. The
bottom door now has a deadbolt for better security. We don’t
have a crime
problem but why temp fate.
The back view ready for siding and interior finishing. There is no plywood under
the roof panels to
allow for faster cool down at sundown. Actually there is but it’s just
a strip that forms a “T” section on top the truss to screw
into.
Wow…what a difference. Here’s Bud my siding guy doing his
thing. You have to
remember I’m building a house at the same time and the
observatory has to wait
for the same process to be done on the house. Just visible
in the left back corner
is where the power, network, and phone lines come in via
separate conduits.
All done. Note the gouge in the ground to the left of the
observatory. My builder
did this just before I fired him using a backhoe to give me
a trench 2’ wide and
3½ ‘ deep for two 1” diameter conduits and a water line. It
was done 2 months or more before this
picture was taken. I fired him at the end of July and this
was fall…you can see the trees turning.
Every storm would fill it up with runoff from the yard. I couldn’t
close it up until I had the
electric and phone lines in. Inspections…you know.
Well for what it looks like now go here
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Last
updated Wednesday, May 28, 2003