Ok its observatory building time - how do you think I should slide the roof?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #1 23-12-2007, 10:33 PM

Well the time has come......I've just moved to 5 acres under lovely dark skies (that have been cloudy for 3 months

) and a young astronomers thoughts turn to building an observatory.

After some careful thought and an unlimited budget (

yeah right

Let's just say "sufficient" ) instead of going for a 6x3 meter shed and cutting the roof in half, I've decided to go for two 3x3 meter sheds, join them together and slide one roof off. Why am I going so large? Storage, warm room ......and I was asked " Are you sure 3x3 will be big enough?"

So ...I'm after some ideas on how to best go about sliding the roof off this sucker. I've got a few ideas of my own, but I'm interested in getting other ideas that may be more versatile.

As you can see from the images I am going for a Titan Toolshed (just to keep with the Astronomical theme of course....oh and because they use trusses that sit firmly on the top plates). At this stage my plan is to slide the roof from back to front with supporting rollers under the ends of the trusses. This is also the easiest option when it comes to circumventing the guttering. Don't want to waste that valuable H2O you know, expecially now I am on tank water, so the guttering is staying. I should be able to come up with a system so that when I lower the rollers onto the sidewall top plates it will lift the roof a small amount, clearing the side gutters and then rolling the back truss along the sidewall plates and the front truss along support plates to the front of the shed. This also makes sealing the joint between front and back shed simpler. All I will need to do is make sure the roof sheets overhang the second roof sufficiently, with maybe some form of rubber seal underneath the steel roof sheets of the front shed.

However, for a number of reasons I'd like to see if a system could be developed so that instead of sliding the roof to the front, it slides off one side. As for the roller setup itself it wouldn't be much different than the front to back arrangement, but getting the roof sheets and trusses over the guttering will be a challenge, as will creating a water proof seal at the apex of the roof. The slopes of the roof won't be a problem to seal, just sealing the apex. Anyway that is the challenge, to see if someone can come up with a system to slide the roof off the side, rather than from back to front.

Oh, and I'll be building on a raised floor rather than on a concrete slab with the building running across the slope.

This thread will also contain the construction photos once everything gets underway in a couple of weeks time.

Photo 1. Front view
Photo 2. Back view

You can see on the left of the photo the downpipe from the gutter. There is the same setup on the other side.
Photo 3. Back wall from inside. Notice how the truss sits on the top plate
Photo 4. Close up of back left corner showing truss and wall arrangement
Photo 5. The trusses are simply tech screwed from under the top plate into the bottom of the truss.
Photo 6. The walls are setup strangely. Instead of having two walls butting to the interior of the other two walls, these walls are imbricate, butting nose to tail.

To get from one shed to the next I will do away with the back wall of one shed and clear span the truss for that shed. Whether it will be for the roll off roof shed or the fixed roof shed, I'm not sure yet, probably for the roll off shed because of the next point. I will also remove the middle noggin from the wall and install a door there and a window above the noggin of the frame panel without the bracing.

Ok hit me with your ideas.

DaveGee (Dave Gault) · #2 23-12-2007, 11:32 PM

Hi Paul,

I used angle iron welded on top of some channel to form the rails. My wheels have 'V's that run on the angle and anti-lift off blocks that run in the channel to stop the roof lifting in a storm. Enough babble... here are some photos.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #3 23-12-2007, 11:43 PM

Thanks for the pics Dave. A couple of questions for you.
1. How do you support the center of your roof without trusses? Do you use C channel?
2. How do you allow for the outlets from the gutters to reach the downpipes?
3. Your roof looks to be fairly steeply pitched, do you find it interfers with you ability to see lower down in the sky?

It has been suggest to me that I use Angle steel attached to the side top plates from the point of view of less likelihood of the rollers jamming on crud that could accumulate in the well of a C channel rail.

BTW a bit more info about the Toolshed. The walls will only be 1800 - 2000 high (don't know which yet, haven't decided)

davidpretorius · #4 23-12-2007, 11:53 PM

looking good paul!

DaveGee (Dave Gault) · #5 24-12-2007, 12:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Thanks for the pics Dave. A couple of questions for you.
1. How do you support the center of your roof without trusses? Do you use C channel?
2. How do you allow for the outlets from the gutters to reach the downpipes?
3. Your roof looks to be fairly steeply pitched, do you find it interfers with you ability to see lower down in the sky?

Hi Paul,

1) I have 4 beams made from 65x50x4 RHS that are mitred and welded at the peak.
2) there are no gutters and downpipes = no leaves to clog = no bushfire hazard.
3) The height of the peak is enough to clear the scope when it is left pointing to any area of the sky. The height of the walls (north and south) are low enough not to inhibit the view of the sky any more than next door's sheds and trees. The western wall can be lowered horizontal.

Yes, I like the idea of angle iron for the rails, then the wheels are self guiding and dew, rain and crud run/roll off the top surface.

My wife jokes that if a tornado or cyclone is imminent, she and the kids will shelter in my skyshed as it's stronger than the house.

Here's a picture of the Skyshed in the nude.

thunderchildobs · #6 24-12-2007, 03:03 PM

Some pics from my observatory

http://www.home.gil.com.au/~brdowns/build01.htm
http://www.home.gil.com.au/~brdowns/build02.htm

Brendan

joshman (Josh) · #7 24-12-2007, 03:24 PM

from looking at your photos, it appears that the roof itself is in fact seperate to your walls, which will make life alot easier when doing your roof project, i'd be willing to bet that if your went round and undid the bolts holding down the roof truss at each end of the shed (bolts as seen in the underside of the top-plate of the wall in photo #5 of your original post) that the roofing system would simply lift out, of course there would be more bolts/screws through the tin walls to hold this down, but it looks as though the main roof structure is only held down at each end, please correct me if i'm wrong.

the quick and dirty solution is to run an angle grinder around the tin walls at the height where the wall top-plate and the bottom of the roof truss meet, then the roof should be an entirely separate piece and can be removed. put your rollers onto that, make up some channel/tracks for your rollers to roll on, then have your roof slide any which way you desire. quick and dirty, like i said, but with the right planning it can be done properly, i'd also make the 'front' of the roof (assuming that it will slide 'back') removeable, so that your scope doesn't get in the way of rolling your roof.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #8 24-12-2007, 09:03 PM

That's about how I'm planning on doing it Josh, but I would still need a way to raise it just slightly to clear the gutter ends (unless I can connect the gutters to the roof itself

). I would like to see if someone can come up with a solution to sliding it sideways rather than off the end. For the position it is going in a side slide would be preferable but by no means essential.

h0ughy (David) · #9 30-12-2007, 03:51 PM

Paul how much is the shed? looks good. Do they have a web site? Now I can start to look at this type of this officially (OK havent finished the room but SWMBO always might even allow me to get a footing soon (sometime this century)

Shawn · #10 30-12-2007, 05:13 PM

Looks like a fine project Paul,,, hats off buddy...Whatch out for condensation...

[1ponders] (Paul) · #11 30-12-2007, 05:58 PM

Don't worry Shawn, it will be lined

Here ya go h0ughy http://www.titangarages.com.au/Sheds2.php

h0ughy (David) · #12 30-12-2007, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

Don't worry Shawn, it will be lined

Here ya go h0ughy http://www.titangarages.com.au/Sheds2.php

typical queenslander - how much Paul?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #13 30-12-2007, 08:21 PM

About 11 hundred from memory. It has a cyclone rating of (?) 52 which is better than most homes in the area

h0ughy (David) · #14 30-12-2007, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [1ponders]

About 11 hundred from memory. It has a cyclone rating of (?) 52 which is better than most homes in the area

1100 each or for the two?

[1ponders] (Paul) · #15 30-12-2007, 10:40 PM

Each. They are fully steel framed with trusses. Oh and I gave you the wrong price. The price I posted before is for the "Flat Roof" version. Here are the various sheds and prices I looked at for the kits (not delivered)
LxWxH
6mx3mx2.4 = $2839 (Goldstar series. Extra Truss for supporting slide out roof $150)
6mx3mx2m = $2840 (go figure

Extra Truss also required $150)
3mx3mx2m = $1065 (Flat Roof not trussed just bent in the middle with welded C channel for the rafters)
3mx3mx2m = $1488 (Trussed roof. This is the one I am looking for.)

So 2, 3 meter sheds comes to $3000 while the 6 meter with an extra truss comes to ~$3000. With the 2 sheds I have 2 internal walls I can use. One will be used to partition the two sheds and the other will be used .......elsewhere

Its always handy to have an extra wall hanging around

IanL · #16 31-12-2007, 12:30 AM

Paul don't know if you would get an ideas from this web page but i thought it was good the way Brian used the winch system.
http://www.bcoote-astro.com/Shed.htm

Ian

[1ponders] (Paul) · #17 31-12-2007, 09:58 AM

Brendon, sorry I didn't reply to your post before, I missed it. I've since had a look at your links and they have certainly given me some ideas. Thanks.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #18 31-12-2007, 10:04 AM

Thanks for the link Ian. Certainly and interesting looking shed. I like the idea of the winch. I was thinking of trying to find an old boat winch to try something similar.

rumples riot · #19 07-01-2008, 10:32 AM

Paul have you considered allowing the gutting to move with the roof? You could put in a rain head where you outlets to the gutters and down pipes meet. Then the whole assembly will slide along. The rain head could have a slight funnel to it and then clearance of say about an inch from the down pipe which could be fixed to the shed walls.

With the trusses, you could triple tech screw the entire structural elements of the roof frame and then frame would not need any further support. One real huge problem is doing your storm seal at both ends.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #20 07-01-2008, 10:38 AM

I've given that a bit of a thought too Paul. Our house has the down pipes setup in a similar way to provide a prefilter before hitting the tanks. I need to work out how to fit the gutters to the roof though as the cutter brackets are screwed directly to the shed walls. Mightn't be too hard to work out though.

As for storm sealing it. I'm planning on using a length of angle (same as above the door in image one) to span the whole width on the front end, but it is the roof overlap that will be the challenge. Basically I think I'll need the whole sliding roof to lift the height of the sheet profile to lift the overhang clear of the second roof so the roof will slide freely. I'm still working on that one.