My readers (OK, reader…) will remember back in July I had a list of things to get done in the Observatory ready for the new season… Well, I had made some progress, but not enough – so this last weekend (26th Sept), I finally got round to re-doing the felting on the warm room section of the observatory.
I redid the felting two years but did not do the best job as it has leaked and gradually got worse as the British weather works it’s magic! So this year I took more time and hopefully have done a batter job this time round.
I stripped the old roof off completely and rebuilt the supporting frame – nothing to challenging, but I angled the two lengths of timber that support the roof so that the roof panels sit better. This required borrowing a table saw and scientific measuring of the angles required (OK, I did it by trial and error 🙂 )
Once the frame was built and screwed into place, it was then a case of cutting the panels of the 12mm board for the roof. Not too tricky, even though there are a couple of supporting uprights that have to be negotiated. Last time, I trimmed the overhang so that it was flush with the front wall of the observatory, but this the effect of allowing rain to fall onto the join of the decking against the front wall, and find all the little gaps! Consequently, I had small leaks along this edge..
So, I built the overhang again, and did a neat little job of boxing it it – which made it much easier when it came to the felting.
Before felting, however, I went over all the edges and joins with a roof/gutter sealant and then put the felt on, and then went over the edges and joins again with the sealant. I then left it for 24 hours and then went over the joins with one of those rounded tools that are for smoothing silicone sealants…
(I have some pictures of the finished article to upload, and I’ll update this post accordingly)
I’ve also stripped the sealant from the front decking board and have redone that with the roof/gutter sealant. This again should ensure the front leaks are gone! I took the opportunity also to clean the decking board and I will restain with some proper deck stain rather than fence preserver!
I then started the annual restain of the green exterior to make it look tidy – this is WIP though…!
Still not managed to do the door, however, which is now looking a bit sad!!!
