Stargate-combined
From SkyInsight
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Entire project
Overview
Overview
I've seen a number of deck-top observatories and this one illustrates what I want to accomplish.
Here are three views of the deck. The white chairs show a rough approximation of where the deck extension will end. I need to verify that the septic tank, pipes and field are all clear of this location. I know the septic tank is located just off the deck under the garden. I need to find the pipes before I start digging.
As the pictures show, we have a lower level walk out onto the patio. That means that the cement pier will have to go up approximately 8 feet to the deck. I'll be looking at having the cement pier stop just below the deck and attaching an upper pier on top of that. That will give us the option of removing the pier if we want to use the entire deck, including the extension, or sell the house and the new owner want it gone. I don't plan on removing the upper pier often, after all the idea is to have the telescope set up so I can quickly start observing and imaging, but it would be a nice option.
Project Plan
The project breaks down like this (planned and actual):
- Planning (April 2005)
- Design it
- Measure, draw, re-measure the proposed layout, structure, etc
- Confirm that the areas that I need to dig for the footings are clear of septic components (e.g. piping, tank, etc)
- Measure, draw, re-measure the proposed layout, structure, etc
- Plan the pier
- Plan electrical
- Estimate the cost of materials
- Design it
- Purchase materials (May 2005)
- Double-check measurements (ongoing)
- Purchase lumber and hardware (5/27/2005)
- Purchase cement or schedule cement workers (scheduled for 5/17/2005)
- Purchase electrical components
- Construction (May - June 2005)
- Double-check measurements
- Lower Pier Foundation and Deck Footings
- Dig holes for footings and pier base (completed 5/17/2005)
- Dig holes for additional footings and pour concrete (completed 6/3/2005)
- Dig holes for additional footings and pour concrete (completed 6/3/2005)
- Pour cement footings and pier base (completed 5/17/2005)
- Dig holes for footings and pier base (completed 5/17/2005)
- Build lower pier (completed 5/28/2005)
- Construct deck extension (started 5/28/2005)
- Install electrical components
- Observing (June 2005 and beyond)
- Personal observing
- Host a star party
- Imaging
Summary of Milestones and Events
30-March 2005
I got a copy of the septic permit from the county and the blueprint shows that the spectic tank is 10 feet away from the house and I have approximately 20 feet that I could extend the deck before running into the septic field. Looks good so far.
31-March 2005
Using PhotoShop, I rendered an image of what the deck extension might look like. Hopefully my carpentry and deck building skills surpass my PhotoShop skills.
April 2005
Using graph paper, pencil and a ruler I'm drawing elevation and overhead views of the deck extension as seen in the Design it page.
April 28, 2005
Trying to wrap up the design phase. Currently, the plan is to pour a 42"W x 42"L x 24"D concrete pad into a 42"x42"x42" hole and stack 16"x16"x8" chimney blocks with rebar inserted for added stability.
May 11, 2005
Received sign-off from the home owners association on the project.
May 13, 2005
I've decided to have ACI Concrete and Excavating dig the holes and pour the concrete. They are tentatively scheduled for late next week (5/19/2005 or 5/20/2005). I'm also recruiting family members to help with the deck extension which is tentatively scheduled for May 28, 2005 (Memorial weekend).
May 16, 2005
Scott from ACI Concrete called and said they're going to come out tomorrow to dig the holes and pour the concrete. I was shocked, expecting it to be later in the week, but glad... as long as the forecasted rain stayed away.
May 17, 2005 - Footings/Foundations
At 7:00am (CDT) I ran over to Illinois Brick in Woodstock to pick up some chimney blocks. They only had one available. I bought it so I could have it set into the concrete pad after it was poured. They said they'd have more in a day or so. I won't need it for another 11 days but will pick it up this week anyway.
Scott, Howard and Alan (all brothers) from ACI Concrete showed up promptly at 8:30am as scheduled. They double checked my lines and found that I was a 1/2 inch off and adjusted it. Howard, an very talkative amateur astronomer, and Alan got the telescope pier holes started. When it became a one man job, Alan moved over to start the deck footings. The holes were completed in about 2 hours and they called for the cement truck which arrived shortly after 11:00am. Even though they had to wheel barrow the concrete to the holes, it too no time at all to pour it all. Once it was poured and Alan smoothed it out, they placed the chimney block in the concrete. The first step was done.
May 21, 2005 - Picked up chimney blocks
I went back to Illinois Brick in Woodstock to pick up the rest of the chimney blocks. I had double-checked my measurements and came up with 14 more blocks needed. They loaded them into my pickup truck and the bed lowered to where the gap between the abck wheels and the wheel wells were barely two inches. I felt every bump on the drive home.
May 26, 2005 - Planning for the weekend
The weather forecast is for a chance of showers on Friday and Saturday, the only two days available to work on the project. I plan on purchasing the materials on Friday. The bulk of the work will be done on Saturday when my brother and his two sons come to assist. We'll set up the power tools (e.g. saws) in the garage so we'll have a dry (safe) workplace for cutting lumber.
May 27, 2005 (Friday) - Purchasing materials
I took a vacation day and spent most of the day buying lumber, hardware and a dozen bags of concrete mix for the telescope pier. I loaded (overloaded) my Dodge Dakota Sport Quad Cab with the concrete mix and most of the lumber. The 16 foot decking (i.e. deck floor) will be delivered on Saturday since it would hang off my truck bed by 10 feet. After stacking the lumber in the garage, I prepped the site by moving three plants from the new deck location to the adjacent garden and removed all the paver stones at the end of the current patio. The patio will be extended along the new deck extension. Just as I finished up the prep-work a rainstorm blew in.
May 28, 2005 (Saturday) - Main construction begins
I got up early and picked up an portable electric cement mixer from Ralph's Rent-All, the local tool/party rental store. My brother and my nephew showed up at 8:30am as scheduled. We reviewed the site and discussed the game plan. He hadn't realized that before we started the deck, we'd be being building the lower telescope pier first (click here for details).
After the telescope pier was done we took a lunch break to rest, re-energize and plan the second half of the day.
Working on the deck extension was more problematic. This page details the challenges we encountered.
June 3, 2005 - Additional footings I dug a hole for a post by the corner of the house and decided to provide more support to the extension by adding two more posts in the middle of the 12 foot span.
June 11, 2005 (Saturday) I rented scaffolding from Ralph's Rent-All to help with the job of putting the beams back up and then the joists. I had to help family move some furniture in the morning and hoped to have from 2pm until 6pm to work on the deck. We didn't get home until 3:30pm and it started to rain about 5 minutes after that.
June 12, 2005 (Sunday) Beams and joists We (my wife and I) started after breakfast around 9:30am. It was cloudy and the forecast was for rain around 3pm. By 5:30pm I was calling it quits and the rain never came, but it was hot and humid. More details addded to the deck construction page here.
June 27, 2005 thru July 10, 2005
Details addded to the deck construction page here.
July 10, 2005
Pictures of the finished deck (before staining).
Combined view of the initial project pages
Photos
Pictures of the finished deck (before staining).
Pictures of the finished deck
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Design It
Deck Addition
I've drawn up some plans for the deck addition, including an overhead view of the joists as well as an elevated view.
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Pier Design
See the Plan the Pier page for details on the pier design.
Telescope Enclosure
The telescope enclosure will be a mini garden shed-type structure on casters so it can be rolled away from the pier and telescope.
Plan the Pier
Pier Base/Footing
March 2005 - I'm still trying to determine the size of the footing for the pier. I know I need to go 48" deep for the frostline. At this point I'm guessing that the footing will probably need to be 4'x4'x4'. That's a lot of concrete. I'm researching to see if I can dig the hole that size and use sand and/or gravel for a portion and then the cement slab on top of that.
April 28, 2005 - I determined that the frostline is 36" so with the standard rule of thumb of 6" below frost, the current plan is to dig a hole for the pier base that is 42"W x 42"L x 42" D. The hole would then be partially filled with a concrete to create a slab that is 42"W x 42"L x 24"D. After the upper pier is set, the rest will be back filled with gravel.
Concrete Network's Footing Fundamentals
- Return to the main project page -
Pier design options
The goal is to design the pier in two parts:
- The Lower Pier - The lower half from the ground to just below the deck
- A concrete pad with dimesions of 42"W x 42"L x 24"D will sit in a hole with dimensions of 42"x42"x42" and back filled with gravel.
- Set into the slab will be an pier extending ~ 8' to the bottom of the deck. It will probably consist of 16"W x 16"L x 8"D chimney blocks.
- The Upper Pier - The upper half that extends above the deck
- This will be a four cedar 4x4s bolted/glued together that will bolt to the lower pier (via bottom plate) and hold the telescope (via top plates). The ideas is that it could be removed is necessary. I don't plan on removing it often, that would defeat the purpose, but is the need arose it could be removed and the deck opening "capped".
I was looking at buying a steel pier but they are expensive. I found that some people used wooden piers (as a temporary pier in one case) and decided that it would work well in my situation. Since the upper pier will only be 30" to 36" tall, I'm not concerned about it warping. Plus, using wooden top and bottom plates (MDO) it will be easy to drill the mounting holes, unlike a steel plate, plus a rather inexpensive. Another benefit to the wooden upper pier is that I can easy attach accessory trays to the pier. But those are finishing touches I'll worry about later.
- This will be a four cedar 4x4s bolted/glued together that will bolt to the lower pier (via bottom plate) and hold the telescope (via top plates). The ideas is that it could be removed is necessary. I don't plan on removing it often, that would defeat the purpose, but is the need arose it could be removed and the deck opening "capped".
- Return to the main project page -
The Lower Pier
- Cement pier
- Chimney blocks
- One alternative is to use chimney blocks: Wye Mountain Observatory
- Using chimney block there's two options for adding stability:
- Add four pieces of rebar in the corners of the blocks and fill with concrete
- Stack four blocks side-by-side in a square creating a 32"W x 32"L pier.
- Return to the main project page -
The Upper Pier
Purchasing a commercial pier could be expensive. A quick search of the Internet turns up piers in the range of $450 to $1,500. A cheaper alternative would be to build one from good "scrap". That option requires welding which I'd have to outsource.
- Options for building a pier:
- Commercially available piers (listed alphabetically):
- Return to the main project page -
Costs
Decking Costs
| Item | Size | Cost each | Est Quantity | Est Subtotal | Act Cost each | Act Quantity | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Posts | 4'x4'x10' | $10 | 2 | $20 | ||||
| Joists | 2"x8"x10' | $9 | 10 | $90 | ||||
| Beams | 2"x8"x10' | $9 | 4 | $36 | ||||
| Deck boards | 5/4"x6"x16' | $12 | 30 | $360 | ||||
| Railing posts | 4"x4"x8' | $6 | 3 | $18 | ||||
| Rails | 5/4"x6"x12" | $8 | 4 | $32 | ||||
| Side top & bottom rails | 2"x6"x12' | 6 | $8 | $48 | ||||
| Spindles | 2"x2"x36" | $1 | 68 | $68 | ||||
| Hardware | $100 | |||||||
| Totals | $772 |
Footing Costs
42" depths for the 36" frost line plus 6"
| Section | Size | Type | $ per Bag | Est No of Bags | Est Subtotal | Act No of Bags | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work done by contractors | x | $820 | ||||||
| Pier Footing | 36"x36"x42" | Quikrete Concrete Mix 80# | $3 | 94 | $282 | x | x | |
| Post Footing | 10"x42" | Quikrete Fast-Setting Concrete Mix | $6 | 7 | $42 | x | x | |
| Portable Mixer | Rental | $75 | x | $84 | ||||
| Power Auger | Rental | $75 | x | x | ||||
| Totals | $474 | x | $904 |
Lower Pier Costs
| Item | Size | Cost each | Est Quantity | Est Subtotal | Act Cost each | Act Quantity | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chimney block | 16"x16"x8" | $9 | 11 | $99 | ||||
| Mortar or Concrete | $3 | 15 | $45 | |||||
| Totals | $144 |
Upper Pier Costs
| Item | Size | Cost each | Est Quantity | Est Subtotal | Act Cost each | Act Quantity | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pier | 4'x4'x12' (post) | $15 | 1 | $15.00 | ||||
| Top & Bottom Plates | 4'x4'x.75" | 1 | ||||||
| Harwdare | ||||||||
| Totals |
Patio/Landscaping
| Item | Cost each | Est Quantity | Est Subtotal | Act Cost each | Act Quantity | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paver blocks | 450 | $0.50 | $225 | ||||
| Retaining wall blocks | $2 | 30 | $60 | ||||
| Totals | $285 |
Telescope enclosure
| Item | Size | Cost each | Est Quantity | Est Subtotal | Act Cost each | Act Quantity | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walls | ||||||||
| Roof | ||||||||
| Hardware | $100 | |||||||
| Totals | ~$500 |
Total Costs
| Category | Est Material | Est Labor | Est Subtotal | Act Material | Act Labor | Act Subtotal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decking | $772 | $772 | |||||
| Footings | $474 or | $850 | $850 | $820 | |||
| Lower Pier | $144 | $144 | |||||
| Upper Pier | $50 | $50 | |||||
| Electrical | $100 | $100 | |||||
| Patio/Landscaping | $285 | $285 | |||||
| Telescope Enclosure | ~$500 | ||||||
| Totals | $1,540 | $2,701 |
Concrete work estimates
I had two cement contractors come out to quote the work for the footings.
- Contractor 1: $800
- Pour two post footings and a 4'x4' footing for the pier
- He will not excavate
- Contractor 2: $820
- He will dig the holes for the post footings and the pier pad
- Pour two post footings (10"x42"D) and a 3'x3'x3' pad for the pier
