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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
#5051385 - 02/02/12 10:33 AM Attachment (33 downloads)
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I ran the basic idea by the wife the other day, and the only concern was "where will my garden be"... So I need to get that settled...
Basically, this "observatory" would be integrated into a t20 car garage - using the garage as the "warm room" by adding a small 5X10 area inside the garage and insulating it. The actual scope would sit outside on a pier, eventually under a clamshell roof with access only from the warm room, locked completely with no access from outside. (We have some undesireable elements roaming around).
What do you think?
The actual location isnt great, but other than the front yard, its the best I have.... Pretty wide strip of open sky approx 45-50 degrees wide over head from about 30 degrees above each horizon line.
During winter months I plan to do a lot of remote observing from the warm room..
Dotted lines in drawing are the size of my Ford Focus... there is a 1.5 ft gap to the garage door and 2ft around the car.
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Alex McConahay
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/11/08
Loc: Moreno Valley, CA
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Escher]
#5051456 - 02/02/12 11:16 AM
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YOu do not have adequate room to open the door to get out of you car, as far as I can tell.
YOu generally do not need 1.5 feet behind your car. My bumper has about four inches inside the door. Be sure you clear the safety sensor on the door--and that is all you need.
To help you park precisely, I recommend either a tennis ball hung from the roof to mark where your windshield should be or--to do it the cool way--a laser light indicator. It is suspended from the ceiling of the garage, turns on when the door opens, and is aimed at a specific point on your dashboard when you are parked in just the right spot.
Why are you putting anything inside the garage. Just run the lines from your scope, etc. to your regular home computer, and do everything from the comfort of your living room/family room/etc.....It would be a few more steps, perhaps, to the scope, and you may not be able to watch your scope, but it would greatly increase garage room. And you would be more comfy/have one less space to climate control all year.
Alex
With the scope so close to your garage roof, you may have thermally disturbed air rising off the roof.
Alex
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Alex McConahay]
#5051541 - 02/02/12 12:05 PM
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YOu do not have adequate room to open the door to get out of you car, as far as I can tell.
Good point - I have worked with about 2 foot in the past, but its kindof tights - I have room to offset another foot or so...
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Why are you putting anything inside the garage. Just run the lines from your scope, etc. to your regular home computer, and do everything from the comfort of your living room/family room/etc.....It would be a few more steps, perhaps, to the scope, and you may not be able to watch your scope, but it would greatly increase garage room. And you would be more comfy/have one less space to climate control all year.
Another good point - but while that makes perfect sense - I still like the idea of having a completely seperate place for my astronomy. I do have a den (My man cave) - but that is all but overwhelmed with computers, electronics and electronics repair equipment and my Hifi...
In the end - I want a place where I can go and be away from my regular life, and focus on astronomy - a seperate place. It also gives me a project to focus on for the next few months.
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With the scope so close to your garage roof, you may have thermally disturbed air rising off the roof.
Alex
Doubtful - the garage is not insulated and is ambient temperature... Now, I can imagine that the shingles may radiate some residual heat during the summer... I will have to do some more viewing our there as things progress to check on this.
As to heating - I don't plan to heat the "warm room" per -se... I plan to have a small heater that will be used intermittently when I'm using the room. Not sure If I will have a dedicated PC in there or not yet. I have one that is currently unused which would serve well in the role, but I also have my ipad and my laptop.
In general - I'm just in the early thinking stages at the moment - I have always thought of how amazing it would be to have ones own observatory, especially when friends come by to see the scope - very nice to have a special place for that. I also like the idea of having one for my son and daughter as they grow up - I can easily see us spending a lot of time out there studying the stars together. My kids are still very young, son is 2 1/2 and daughter is 1 1/2..
My biggest concern is the amount of available sky overhead. Its more than a lot of folks have, but not nearly as much as I'd like. I'm just going to spend time setting up where I think I will put the scope and seeing what I can do with the space...
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Alex McConahay
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 08/11/08
Loc: Moreno Valley, CA
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Alex McConahay]
#5051560 - 02/02/12 12:11 PM
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Ok, admit it, you are not building a warm room. You are building another man cave.....
Then the question becomes--is there enough room in your man cave to do what you want (entertain visitors)? I don't think so.
At any rate, you can build what you want very easily (inside the garage) by just using false walls--no need to tie them to the ceiling/garage structure. Or even the walls. (My wife wanted a little separate room in her classroom as a pretend "store." I made her one with some simple 2x4 framing, some drywall, and such. It was completly movable, but did not look such.
Alex
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Alex McConahay]
#5051573 - 02/02/12 12:16 PM
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Ohhh make no mistake - Its Man Cave Part II for sure!!
I have some old cubicle walls that I plan to put up in the general area as a test run this spring..
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Starman27
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/29/06
Loc: Illinois, Iowa
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Escher]
#5051638 - 02/02/12 12:46 PM
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Man Cave has become passe. In oour case we have Astro-caves. 
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Starman27
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/29/06
Loc: Illinois, Iowa
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Starman27]
#5051657 - 02/02/12 12:52 PM
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When I was a teenager my father built an obervatory in the half car part of our cra and a half garage. The roof was cut and hinged and the scope, a 6 inch F12 relector would look out from it's raised observing platform. My neighbor had his radio shack on the ground floor. We spent many a fun night looking at the sky and listening to the world. Sorry your idea just brought back some good memories. I think you have a clever plan.
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roscoe
curmudgeon
Reged: 02/04/09
Loc: NW Mass, inches from VT
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Starman27]
#5051718 - 02/02/12 01:28 PM
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If you back your car in, you have lots of room to open the door....... and a hunk of 2x10 on the floor also strongly suggests when you have backed(or driven) far enough.
And, if you have guests, you can always leave the door open.....
Russ
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: roscoe]
#5052226 - 02/02/12 06:30 PM
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Well, I'm going to have to rethink this one... I had thought my garage was 24' deep, its only 20'...
If it didn't involve building a second story pier, I'd really consider building a loft / large dormer... Problem is - This garage is built pretty cheaply - I would need a lot of 2X2 reinforcements as there aren't true roof trusses in only about 4 places....
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zawijava
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 10/06/07
Loc: Wells, Maine 04090
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: Escher]
#5052356 - 02/02/12 07:54 PM
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Quote:
Well, I'm going to have to rethink this one... I had thought my garage was 24' deep, its only 20'...
If it didn't involve building a second story pier, I'd really consider building a loft / large dormer... Problem is - This garage is built pretty cheaply - I would need a lot of 2X2 reinforcements as there aren't true roof trusses in only about 4 places....
I've lived in Maine for 57+ years, never had a garage for my vehicles.....they do just fine. My 98' Suburban looks as good as some new cars I've seen. My vote would be to park your Ford focus outside where it belongs and put all that space to good use for your Astro hobby 
-Tim
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Escher
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 08/30/07
Loc: Fenton, MI
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Re: Have a look at this plan and give your thoughts.
[Re: zawijava]
#5052447 - 02/02/12 08:58 PM
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You and I think a lot alike...
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