Observatory Construction Blog - page 9

We had two issues to address before we could proceed. We had decided to frame the walls with ACQ lumber and found out the hard way that you should put up the plywood walls immediately. Otherwise, the wood will start to dry out and deform the frames. Fortunately, the deformation that occurred did not affect us too much, throwing two of the walls ever so slightly out of square. The important axis, the direction of the roof slide, stayed true. This was a relief, because we thought it was contributing to our second issue. One of the rolling slides was not making flat contact with the rails and was not sliding smoothly. After much study ( because our initial trial of the slide worked fine), we discovered that we had tightened the axles down too tight, causing the slide to twist out of shape. Loosening and retightening fixed the problem. After fixing our two issues, we installed the support braces and finished up the “top” deck.

Sunday we worked on the trap door and began installing some of the exterior trim, all the while discussing our next big adventure, the roof. I was so tired at the end of the day, I forgot to take pictures. I will next weekend for sure.