Observatorio de la Ballona

We’ve reached another milestone in construction. The roof is complete and the base coat of the stucco is on the building. Pictures tell the story.

This shot shows the observatory from a distance looking east. The metal seamed roof looks very nice. As light a color as could be acceptable under home owners’ association rules. The “Ultra-Cool” roof is supposed to reflect heat. I hope it does. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the gallery.

This view looks to the south. The color of the beam matches the roof; the doors will match as well. the missing door on the right side of the image is due to an accident in high wind that damaged the door. It slammed back and bent in the middle. It will be great to see the stucco color coat next week.

Finally, this shot shows the detail of the roof, soffit, and stucco. It is all fitting together very well. We still have all the weather stripping to do, and that’s going to be a challenge. But it’s really looking good so far.

We are getting really close now. I’ve got to start thinking about the desk setup in the warm room, the red rope lights, and network connectivity. Now the work begins!

At our last update, the rough drywall had been completed and we were waiting for the roofers to come out and install the soffit and the metal roof. The wait for the roofers was longer than we expected, and we started on the stucco lathe before the soffit was installed. They finally started last week. It was worth the wait, as the soffit looks very nice. The soffit color is the same as the roof color.

This view is looking east, with the roof open and the soffit mostly installed. Clicking on an image will bring you to the gallery.

Here is an inside shot, looking northwest across the observatory toward the warm room. You can see how the soffit material wraps around the edge of the roof. Good looks and water tight too. The roof is not all the way open. Fully open there is no overhang of the observatory. This image is a Photoshop photomerge, so it has a couple of merge artifacts.

I was able to get up to the roof on the west side. This shot looks east over the lower roof. We painted the rails to match the roof color. The angle iron securing the movable roof is on both rails. There is a gap near the observatory to allow water to flow out and down rather than into the observatory. The wall above the lower roof will be covered with the metal soffit material. This is a photomerge with some artifacts.

Finally, there were some pretty lenticular clouds over Iron Spring and Beauty Mountains. I was able to get them in the background behind the observatory in this view looking southeast.

We are looking forward to lots of progress over the next several weeks. Drywall and lathe nailing inspection is planned for Tuesday, so the next step on exterior and interior finish will get started. And the roof should be complete this week.

We’ve reached another milestone. The roof is weather tight and we have installed the interior drywall. This also means that the rough electrical is complete. This view looks from the observatory into the warm room. As usual, clicking on a picture will bring you to the photo gallery.

All the external and internal walls are insulated. The idea is to keep the observatory isolated from the warm room, and allow the observatory to cool quickly with the roof open. This looks from the warm room into the observatory. You can see the far pier footing in the back of the observatory. No weather protection has been put in place yet, that is why there is a lot of light coming in between the roof and the walls.

Greg Staten (our contractor, owner of Staten Construction Company) and I had been very worried about the roof blowing off in a high wind. We can get winds up to 100 mph up here and with a shape like a wing, flying away would be possible and a bad thing. Greg worked with Talley Metal Fabrication in San Jacinto to come up with a solution. Talley also did all the fabrication for the building frame and the curved roof. The solution is shown in this next picture. you can see how the flange from the roof goes under the angle iron welded to the top of the roll-off beam. Very strong and secure.

Now for an outside shot. This is looking east, and shows the roof quite well. The roof covering is a new underlayment that is sticky on the underside and is also nailed into the roof sheathing. It is designed to reflect infrared to reduce the heat transfer to the inside of the building.

Finally, here is a wide shot taken looking south. It is really looking nice.

This is a bit of a belated status report. We were out in Lake Riverside last weekend, and saw good progress on the observatory, but I haven’t written up the progress until today. We’ll be in town this weekend, so no picture updates for another week.

As of last weekend, we had the rough framing inspection completed, the roof sheathed, and now the windows in the building. You can begin to get a feeling for how the building will look. The doors on the far right are to the pump equipment room. The entrance to the warm room and observatory in the middle of the photo. The main door is not in place because the step in front is just a little too close and will need to be cut back.

Looking to the east, you can see the curve of the roof.

There is another shot in the gallery of the newly installed step between the warm room and the observatory.

We met with the electrician on Saturday and laid out plans for wiring and lighting. I plan to have red rope lights in both the observatory and warm room, with both on dimmers. There will be regular lights in both rooms, and plenty of sockets in the walls.

Saturday night and Sunday were very windy, with a steady wind of 20 mph and gusts up to 45 mph. As far as I could tell, the roof wasn’t budging. It is being held down by four very sturdy straps, but there was no evidence of movement even in large gusts. That is reassuring.

There has been quite a bit of progress since last weekend. On Monday, the roofers came and put the initial covering on the roof. The steel fabricators came out and welded the hold-down “L” set up on the beams and the roof itself. This set-up will prevent the roof from being blown off in any position, so we don’t have to rely on a tie down. I wrote about my concerns in an earlier post. The rough electrical went in on Wednesday, and, with the roof now water tight and passing inspection on Thursday, the insulation on Friday. The water tight aspect is fortuitous, as it has rained a quarter inch this evening (April 10).

The coming week could bring the soffits from the roofing company, drywall inside, and the beginning of the work on the exterior stucco. Lots of progress! There will be pictures next week.

We’ve reached another construction milestone. Rough framing is complete, including the sheathing on the roof, and we have passed the rough framing inspection with only a few open items.

This shot shows the progress on the roof very well. You can see the curve and how the beam will carry the moving roof. One of the issues our contractor dealt with was getting the plywood to curve on the roof. The plans call for 1/2 inch plywood, but that cracked as it was bent over the steel struts that are on 24 inch centers. We used 3/8 inch plywood, certified for 24″ OC sheathing and that worked. This change, however, led the inspector to require updated engineering. (Clicking on a picture will take you to the photo gallery.)

This view looks at the entrance to the building, looking south. The well equipment will go inside the small room on the far right side of the building. The warm room is inside the door in the center of the picture. Entry to the observatory will be from the warm room.

This view looks from the warm room into the observatory. The window on the left will look into the observatory, and the door on the right will open into the observatory. In the back, you can see the wall framed up to conform to the inside of the curve of the roof. One advantage of this design is that it leaves as much clearance as possible inside the observatory. This means that scopes may not need to be fully parked to clear the roof. This image is two images stitched together in Photoshop; there are some artifacts where the two images didn’t quite line up. A view looking the other way is in the gallery.

The detail on the roof framing is shown in this picture. Each strut is attached to the 6″ curved tube steel rafters. The wall is framed up underneath. There will be weather stripping at the top of the wall to keep out rain and dust.

We needed to get access to power from the house. Our original plan to use the existing power feed to the pump failed because it was in too small a conduit to handle the additional wires required. Since we’ve got the ground opened, I’m going to add two 2″ conduits for network and whatever else I might need. I do have an open question as to whether I should use fiber to avoid interference with the power and to prevent ground loops.

Finally, this view from up the hill shows the roof very well. The area next to the observatory will look much nicer once the well equipment is moved inside. Part of the roof of the house and garage are visible in the background.

A full set of pictures is in the Construction Gallery.

A major milestone has been reached! The roll-off roof actually rolls off. Over the last week the wheels were installed and the supporting angle irons straightened so that the roof moves cleanly. In addition, the full shear wall has been put in place over the framing.

Of course, the pictures. Here is the observatory with the roof in the closed position. Clicking on an image will take you to the gallery for full-sized and other pictures.

And now, the roof open.

Here is a close in shot of one of the four wheels that support the roof. It is welded onto the 6″ tube steel rafter.

We are working on a solution to prevent the roof from sailing off in a high wind. We may use interlocking angle irons to keep the roof in place. I am worried about the curved roof now (a bit late!) as it will form a nice wing to create lift. The roof may weight 1,000 pounds, but the wind up here can be very strong.

Our contractor, Greg Staten, had the Pettibone out at the site this past week to put the large steel rafters up on the frame. They have been secured in place, allowing the steel struts that run between the rafters to be put in place. This process was well under way by the weekend.

Here is a shot looking east, showing the shorter and narrower part of the building in in the foreground. This will house the warm room and the pump equipment. The beam over the lower roof supports the larger roof as it rolls off to the west.

Clicking on an image will bring you to the gallery where you can see more pictures and bring up full sized images.

This shot was taken from inside the observatory looking west. You can see the detail of the steel struts on the roof. Wheels will be attached to the inside of the large steel rafters to allow the roof to move. With all the steel up there the name Steelhenge keeps looking better and better. The wall will be framed up to go under the curve of the steel rafter, with weather stripping between the wall and the roof to keep water and dust out.

Click through to see the details, it’s hard to see reduced to this size.

This view looks down the driveway to the observatory. It does look nice in that position on the property.

This shot looks at the front door of the observatory looking to the south. You can see the beam and post in the foreground that supports the roll-off roof. The pump equipment room is on the right, with the warm room between there and the observatory room. The observatory is 4 feet wider than the warm room and equipment rooms. That smaller footprint makes having the roof roll over easier.

Finally, here is a view taken from Lakeshore Boulevard, looking down the hill to the east. I have zoomed in with the camera to show more details on the building. The building is about 350 feet away in this shot.

Things may move more slowly this week. The final struts need to go into place and I believe the wheels will be fixed to the roof rafters. Roof sheeting might be on this week. We’ll see!

Framing has started on the new observatory. The walls of the observatory are in place and the floor has been laid in both the observatory. The pathway from the driveway, both lower and upper, has been completed and Luis did a wonderful job. Now for some pictures.

This first shot is the artistic one. Looking up the hill to the observatory last Saturday night, February 28th. The crescent Moon and Venus were bright while the glowing sky framed the observatory on the hill. Clicking the picture will take you to the gallery with even more pictures.

Here is a view looking to the south.

This shot is looking east. You can see the entrance to the observatory area from the warm room, 12 inches up from the floor of the warm room. There is a window between the warm room and the observatory. There are two two-inch conduits in the wall of the warm room. Each one goes to a mount location in the observatory.

There is fine detail on the stairs going down to the house.

Finally, here are three of the four steel roof rafters. The longer one is for the moving roof of the observatory. The larger roof will roll over the smaller roof of the warm and equipment rooms. All of these are six-inch tube steel and are very heavy. I feel I am ready to have a helicopter land on the roof with all this steel. This curved roof design was a great feature that Tom Jungbluth, our architect, developed, and it really adds character to the building.

Comments and suggestions welcomed!

In my last post, we left the situation with the steel dropped off and the excitement about to begin. While didn’t witness it, we saw the results. Those big steel columns are set on the footings and the floor joists have been placed.

When we came it on Friday night in the dark, it was hard to see the progress. Coming out on Saturday morning, my wife had the perfect name. Steelhenge.

That’s how it looks against a dark, cloudy sky.

This shot gives a better look at progress. The steel frame is in place. The long beams at the top will carry the roll-off roof. Contrary to my earlier post, they are 30′ long, with a foot on either end to accommodate the overhang beyond the 28′ of the building. The beams are also 6″ square, and not 4″ as I said previously. Big, heavy, steel. So the name may stick. I’m not sure if Steelhenge will be right name, or if it will be appropriate once the building is complete.

The pier footings were expanded to provide more strength for the bolts. Additional reinforcing and connections to the existing concrete were added before more concrete was poured. The sonotube covering will be removed to leave 3/4 inch of clearance. The far divider brace on the joists in this picture hasn’t been permanently set, so there is room for adjustment. There will be no contact between the pier and the joists or the floor.

It was interesting to see that when you jump up and down on 2x12s on a 12′ spread they just don’t bounce noticeably. We are also adding access to the building. The stairs and sidewalk under construction are visble in the background.

I took the standard panorama shot too. Clicking on the other shots will take you to the photo gallery.

Comments always welcome.

Things have been quiet on the construction front. We’ve been waiting on the metal fabricating company, Talley Metal Fabrication, to complete their work and come out and install the steel. This has taken longer than expected. It is a complicated job, and they have done excellent due diligence in figuring out how to implement the design.

The big news is that the steel arrived today. It would have been installed, but today was quite a rainy day. They’ll be back tomorrow to do the install, then Greg will start the framing on Wednesday. Unfortunately, our plan to see the work in progress was foiled by the rain.

Here is the steel, sitting where delivered this morning. The two long pieces in the background are the 28 foot supports for the roll-off roof. The other parts are the six supports and a piece to connect the south-east end together. All together, they will form a 28 foot by 12 foot “U” shaped support structure for the roof.

The steel pieces are four-inch tube steel with the fittings welded on. Here is a close shot of the two long pieces that will support the roof.

This next shot is a close-up of the angle iron the wheels on which the moving roof will roll. You can see how the angle iron is cut away and descends to a bead of steel. This will allow the roof to sit lower in the closed position, providing a tighter seal against the elements.

If things stay on schedule, there should be a lot of progress in the next week. We’ll be out at the site next weekend. I hope to have many more pictures. Once framing starts, things move very quickly.