The Inces pages

I decided that I was fed up up dragging all the equipment out for a nights observing, setting it all up only to find that the clouds have closed in - so I decided to build myself an observatory.

Well - that sounds a bit grand - its a modified garden shed - lovingly known as the "robservatory."

When we moved into this house - the back garden was dominated by a huge asbestos roofed timber garage - this had to go...

When this was demolished, we decided to replace it with a new 9'6" single garage structure - a bit longer but much narrower. This gave us quite a bit of garden area back and conveniently provided me with a concrete plinth that I could use as the basis for a shed.... However - this was only 7'6" wide....

Here's a plan I knocked up to get "design approval"

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After a load of research - I decided to go for a design with a clamshell opening roof. Many people suggest a roll-off roof design but I have very limited space and decided that the supports for the roof in a rolled off position would be too intrusive on the space I had. 

Nicely I also got approval to get rid of the large silver birch which was growing at the bottom of the garden.

So - I designed the shed to be a basic 7'6" timber shiplap shed with a 17 degree apex roof, hinged on the long sides - as shown below.

The basic construction was easy - build the frame - mount it on tannellised 3"x3" supports that are bolted into the concrete plinth and apply the shiplap timber cladding. The roof needed a bit more detail to make it waterproof (felting) and a ridge cap to stop rain etc felting into the ridge joint. This also had the effect of stiffening the edge - stopping sagging in the centre.

The roof is held back by chains so that at the maximum opening angle, the roof leaves block out light from our house to the North and our neighbours bungalow to the south.

Opening and closing is currently manual - using guide ropes to help lay down and raise back. The roof is heavy - but manageable - I could counter weight it - but so far have not felt the need.

I then placed polystyrene foam as the floor surface and laid board and carpet over that. Much better on the toes on a cold night.

I eventually wired mains electricity in from the adjacent garage so we now have the finished "robservatory" - alarmed, powered and computerised - allowing control remotely from inside the house.

When the roof is closed - you'd never know...... I now have pretty unobstructed views for a 360 panorama - above 20 degrees.

You can see more piccies in the pier section and in equipment etc.

Actually - its ready for a new coat of stain....