Hey, Everyone. Sorry I missed ya yesterday, The wife was trying to dump all these pics after we got done lastnight and I fell asleep waiting.
We went and got two 6x6x16's because no lumber company in our town, the next town, or even lexington had 4x6's that were longer than 12'.
We used the 6x6"s as our posts and I hope I never see another 16' 6x6. Those things are monsters. This part of the observatory was by far the pits.
Yesterday it took us all day to figure out how to come up with a way to allow my roof to come off 18' with only 12' boards to work with.
Since the only boards we could find tall enough to meet up with our notch pieces at the top of the North wall were 6x6x16 we were forced to use them.
Its only 12' tall but with only 12' boards, we couldnt bury and secure anything unless we used the 16' boards.
We then decided to set the 6x6 in at 11'10" so we could secure a 4x6x12 to the top of it then wed have to cut another 4x6 to 6'6" to come out the rest of the way, and allow 6" for a butt board.
Then we came up with the idea of cutting a leftover piece of 4x6 and putting it at the top of our 6x6 to form a "T" which would give us a little something more to rest our 4x6 on and about a foot and a half to rest the 6' piece of 4x6 on that we needed to bring the roof all the way out.
Following me so far?
We then cut the top of the 6x6x16 enough to compensate for a 4x6 PLUS the 4x6 that would have went there anyway to fit into the notch at the North end of the roof that our angle iron will run down.
Its interesting. Ill say that much.
Our only problem was with the crooked 4x6's. We tried our best to find some good ones, but when it came time to line them up on top of the 6x6 "T", they arent exactly perfect.
Were dissapointed.
We *HOPE* that we can still run our angle iron down it with no problems.
I hate to say it, but somehow our Eastern side 6' piece that hangs off the back of the "T" seems horrible. It would not butt up against the other 4x6 that attaches to the osb, and now looks like its hanging down a little bit.
We have three options: undo that 6' piece and try again. Scrap the additional 6' and never use the slab I made for the pier (since the roof would cover it) and turn that additional 6' of osb into a warm room, or get another 6x6 to go under the end of the 4x6 that looks like its leaning towards the ground.
Its got a ton a metal holding it together and it doesnt seem like it would budge, but It just looks awful.
Were both totally sun burnt, and havent eatn all day so heres some pics then Ive got left over pizza calling my name.
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Re: WidowMaker's observatory project under way!
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