My DREAM OBSERVATORY has a FLOOR!

[@KumarChalla]

Very nice job so far! One suggestion regarding the outlets near the pier. I would suggest mounting them vertically to wood rather than horizontally on the floor. The reaason for this is to prevent any water from falling into the outlet if some makes it way in. Mounting the outlets on a post or something similar will also raise them up and away from any flooding as well prevent water from falling into the outlet when using an outdoor in-use cover.

[@commander-tomalak]

Very good remark! Even just spilling some tea by accident could cause a nasty short if these outlets were installed horizontally on the floor.

[@briankotak403]

@@commander-tomalakor worse, wine. Bad for outlets and a waste of wine too! Nice job Nico! Dr B from Manitoba, Canada 🇨🇦

[@weegieb]

I am not sure but I believe there are some restrictions in the electrical code when installing a face up outlet. Basically for the problems noted. it becomes a water hazard and other items can fall into the outlet. Horizontal, is best IMHO. Also, i now an open roof in the rain is a no no, but if it were to rain with the roof open, this becomes an electrical hazard. I might consider gfci and outdoor outlet covers for this.

[@barbaraharris6102]

When my observatory was built my husband built a wooden enclosure around the concrete pier and put outlets on that. It looks really nice and is probably safer than outlets on the floor

[@BR0THERR0SS]

Definitely do GFCIs too

[@pharaohjb]

How did I not know you were a Minnesotan? Greetings from St. Paul! Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build!

[@willrothfuss8470]

Your vibration testing was worth the price of admission. 😆 I can see that your perfectionism in AP carries over into your construction.

[@Astropaesan]

the site looks good. I just finished mine, so I feel your pain. When you build your door, find a good plan on line that shows 45 degree supports for top and bottom half of the door. These work together to ensure your door cannot sag. Any linear door will sag over time!

[@StephenByersJ]

Thanks for posting even with all the mistakes. It’s actually a breath of fresh air to see stuff from non-professionals and seeing how you come up with creative solutions fix the mistakes.

[@jasonpatterson8091]

Glad to see you taking safety seriously. Hope you're protecting your hearing as well. I've lost a substantial amount in the recent past and it's shocking how much of a difference it has made in my life.

[@scottrk4930]

Very nice ! Thanks for sharing in the build , warts and all . LOL .

[@guyjordan8201]

Nice work and thanks for the update. What construction project EVER goes to plan 🤣😂🎭 You'll get there.

[@benhelm6212]

I’d love to do this eventually

[@rob19632]

Good job Nico.

[@manunited5263]

Very impressive!!! .....and good choice of tools.... ryobi has never let me down...

[@joseribeiro9564]

Congratulations with the floor! a lot of attention to detail! What im used to see in small construction sites for levelling purposes is a simple transparent hose filled with water, the water level at each end of the hose are always leveled, pretty ingenious!

[@KingLoopie1]

That's a trick I was going to mention also, but you beat me to it! 😎 (it gives you absolute perfect level over whatever distance you want to cover or until you run out of hose length... Unless someone turns off the gravity)

[@rjrotermund]

Great job and thanks for the update. I love your channel. You really should have rented an auger.

[@Astropaesan]

I look forward to more episodic stages of your build. This will help lots of people out there who have yet to start building their dream Observatory!

[@jml_53]

Nice update. I'm following your project with interest. I certainly sympathize with your learning curve since I recently built a tree house/ deck and needed to learn a lot of the same skills. One tip for dealing with all the nailing for the joist hangars, etc... I bought a palm hammer for my pancake air compressor. It was a god send. The tool is a bit smaller than a palm sander. In the base, she the sanding disk would be, there is a cylinder, about an inch long and a quarter inch wide. You set a nail in place with a tap or two of a regular hammer and then slide this cylinder over the head of the nail. The compressor kicks in, and with no recoil, it hammers the nail right in. It's great for jobs like this where you can't use a regular nail gun, and it's especially useful in tight places where there isn't enough room to swing a hammer, like perpendicular to joists. Looking forward to future holidays updates.

[@oldguysrule5895]

I love it - gotta wonder how many youtube videos that show this as an easy process are just edited to leave all this out - thanks for sharing

[@nelsondavid88]

I looove your videos. The astrophotografy is my life

[@robertgrenader858]

#construction. Helpful hint: Stuff the ends of your underfloor conduit with steel wool and tale in place. It prevents critters from crawling in an making nests. Mice and rats love to chew on electrical cable.

[@guyjordan8201]

Good update.

[@astrodojo1]

Magnificent video, congratulations. Ruben here.

[@kevinmilitello5835]

Keep it up Nico!

[@clipper99]

You must’ve been reading my mind, just last night I was watching one of your older videos, wondering how the project was going. Thanks for the updates!

[@matthewlee8917]

Great work man. Love seeing people tackle new things. Just one suggestion and others may have said it. You absolutely HAVE to put material between the two decks of plywood. I think it’s called tar paper. Or it’s gonna squeak like crazy. I know from experience.

[@sianikolaou5440]

It is looking great, Nico!

[@AstroJeff717]

Excellent content! Excuse me the inspiration I needed to do this myself at home

[@ThePred2009]

looking great so far

[@dantyler6907]

Lumber crowns also want to be aligned "up" to allow for gravity to pull them down, as apposed to crowns beinstalled "down", allowing gravity to further deflect them.

[@richardsmith5700]

Hi Nico, just watched your update, looking good so far. I have a suggestion to help tidy up the timber work around your piers. Measure the area to be infilled (the complete square), then find the position of the pier's centre; Mark this as accurately as possible on the square of ply that you've cut. Use Google to help you build a "trammel" for the router (it's real easy) and then cut your circles. Now the one piece of ply will easily slip over your pier and into place.... it will look super slick and at the same time close down that gap that you have. Also you would be best mounting the outlets to your pier about 2.5 inch from the floor (if you have space). Great build so far, I'll keep checking back.. All the best from the UK.

[@albert5224]

I agree with adding the square of plywood but would also add strips of hardwood around the pier for the plywood square piece to sit in, thus you can lift the plywood out of the way if needing to get under it. Also, if a kid's pool noodle would fit in below and seal tight against the pier, you can put cinnamon and/or other repellant in the hollow of the noodle to repel insects and rodents, plus it can be refilled if needed. Might be able to fit the noodle to the bottom on the plywood piece also.

[@NautilusGuitars]

Man, I wish I was closer so I could offer help with this. You're up against a real challenge not having much experience with construction or woodworking, which makes it even cooler that you're tackling this alone. You're doing a great job, considering! But there are so many tricks that could/would cut your labor time in half or less and sure up a lot of the minor issues you're having. There are also some things I think you'd do differently if you had the experience, or somebody experienced there to help. This is no fault of your own and you'll get no judgement from me. I deeply admire what you're doing and I plan on doing the same. Seeing this motivates me. Your videos have been so informative and motivating for me and my astronomy. If I was at all able to, I would be thrilled to donate a good bit of my time to help you. Unfortunately though, NH is a couple days drive. Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

[@junktrunk909]

My back hurts just thinking about all that shoveling. Way to go in putting in all this effort! Looks fantastic and you'll be so glad once you're imaging that first night. Agreed with the person above that you probably don't want the outlets horizonal like that given that you'll not be completely sealing the environment out near the piers. I wonder if there's actually a better way to add a proper environment barrier though, something like a donut that surrounds the pier and attaches to the floor, with a rubber gasket layer on the inside of the donut to press lightly against the peer. May be helpful and necessary to keep critters out. One other thing: you may want to use screws at least on corners and every so often on the floor boards since part of the reason floors squeak is when nails pull up a bit (screws can't pull up). In any case, minor points, best of luck!!

[@steveg4iwr]

It's looking good.

[@stevenlitkey9354]

Very cool so far Nico. That’s a LOT of work to get done by yourself. It’s looking great and going to be soooo worth it when you’re out there imagining the night sky !!!

[@coshtor]

For weatherstripping of the telescope piers, look into canvas mast boots for sail boats. You can make your own rather cheaply, and should prevent vibration transmission

[@robb7342]

Love that you continue to show the good as well as lessons learned. We are always wiser on the other side. Digging and lining up the support posts is a task on its on, so I can appreciate the work you went through. The foundation is critical though and being level and square will save a lot of headaches down the road.

[@dumpydalekobservatory]

Thanks for the update I'm sure your observatory is going to be awesome, I'm glad you mention all the safety gear I were particularly impressed with those crocs you were wearing when shifting those boulders lol. Keep up the great work watch your toes & I do like your SIRIL T shirt to, clear skies

[@MrMrduke1975]

Living nearby in VT, the floods this year were terrible. Awesome job on the observatory! Can’t wait to watch the rest of this project!

[@gwthomas52]

Great lessons learned presentation. To reach a dream, sacrifices and hard work is required. It looks like you're doing both. I'm looking forward to the finale.

[@jwdeepsky]

Nice, excited to see the finished product

[@wazigeralph]

Good job and thanks for the advices.

[@LearnToStargaze]

Following your build closely! I'm about to start building my observatory(s), and this makes me feel lucky that I don't need to dig, there are giant 30x30ft natural slabs of nearly level granite on our property. Our biggest challenge may be the wind and cold! Wish I could drive down an help! I just built the outhouse as practice for building the observatory :-)

[@DSOImager]

The PHQ130 looked great on the pier! Coming along nicely. CS!

[@barrytdrake]

I'm happy to support you, Nico! I went to trade school for construction, and I can appreciate a lot of the challenges you described in this video. Kudos to you for not getting so frustrated that you gave up! I loved your jump around test with the balanced speed square.

[@philkidd]

Great work Nico! Looking forward to the next progress video!

[@NikonJax]

That's quite the project! Nice work Nico, looking forward to the next steps :)

[@ryh69PL]

Great job Nico! Good luck!

[@aw7425]

It’s looking great and yes electrical boxes vertical not horizontal. Here that’s our code with gfi breakers. Have fun and don’t over do it, clear skies

[@marcericdavis]

Nice to see your progress.

[@lomicwind]

Don't forget to set up a playlist for this build. Can't wait for next episode :)

[@JR-dn5cn]

Thank you for sharing those mistakes!! You saved us time and money!!

[@afd33]

Good progress! For the weather stripping for the piers, what I would probably do is get 1/8" or 1/4" rubber sheet that you can cut a big X in the middle or or a circle that is about the same size of your pier and then slide it over and nail it to the floor. Thanks for showing both the ups and the downs by the way.

[@stevewhite9354]

Excellent work, Man! Thanks for sharing.

[@Upuauta]

This is highly interesting! Thanks for the videos. :)

[@lukomatico]

Excellent job so far Nico!! :-D Such an expensive thing to build an observatory, but so worth it in the end! - I have to say my favourite part was the vibration test haha, I did basically the exact same thing to test mine xD I doubt you'll have any more issues with the fungus on your ply surfaces now they're laid, but if you wanted to add another layer of protection then you can use an anti-fungal wash quite cheaply, it penetrates the upper layers and inhibits all growth. - RE: baffling the floor from the pier, you could perhaps bend a little bit of foam pipe lagging/insulation into a ring shape and push it over the cut edge of your plywood surrounding the piers, it's flexible and should do a good job 🙂 Clear skies!

[@lciummo1]

Definitely seal that gap around the piers ' mice seem to love telescopes and wires. Looks good so far.

[@DeanJohnson67]

love it! Built mine 12 years ago! Took me all Summer but I was trying to enjoy it as well as do it right the first time so it would last looking forward to the next progress video!!

[@velvetboy1]

This was awesome to watch and I'm super excited to see this project come to life Nico! Having my own home with a personal observatory is definitely a bucket list item for me in the future and your passion for it all is real contagious. Clear skies and happy building!

[@alexandreastronomy8022]

Very nice job Nico!!! Only thing i could tell to you is to not put outlets directly horizontally on the floor. It should be best to fix them on the concrete tower, avoiding some issues with dirt and whater. Wish you succes for the rest of your build! From Québec!

[@landspide]

All you have to show?!? You did an awesome job, the thing you should rememeber, if you are savvy (which seems you are) there are only two differences between DIY and professional install; one is that it will take you longer, but you will do a better job, and second is to try ignore the mistakes. Pros do the same, they just know how to hide and work around it quicker :) looking awesome though!!!! I loved seeing how you worked around the issues... Also the plenum heights can be increased with fixtures, you have a super stable foundation to fall back on there.

[@etx007blue2]

Thank you for walking through the whole process ! Great video !

[@ronm6585]

It's coming along. Thanks for sharing.

[@robstanley559]

I am very envious, even if it is only floor. Looking at what you have done so far it is going to be amazing

[@Wormhole1207]

So good to see a man working on his dream project ❤ good luck sir , maybe someday I'll get to visit your home observatory

[@zacharyknox3007]

Been waiting for this!

[@REXOB9]

Great video, lots of good practical information. You really put your heart and your back into this.

[@gregb5149]

OMG! Congrats on your efforts but now I'm very sure I'm not going to build an observatory!!! ;-)

[@ZopcsakFeri]

This is an awesome build! But just for some heads up, when building with wood: Screws are designed for lengthwise tension, and they grip very well along their axes, but they very often do not tolerate cross-wise shear forces to any reasonable expectation without snapping. Nails on the other hand can bend under shear forces, but since they are not as brittle, they won't snap, and will probably hold your structure in place better than screws would. I wish you lots of years of enjoyment in this shed - you absolutely deserve it after what you've been giving to the community in the past decade!

[@foc2241]

I am really hyped for this project!

[@jmanatee]

Great job so far What part of NH I am in SW NH just north of Keene

[@OriaXu]

To fill your gap around the telescope beams, use expanding foam to fill it up. On the inside you can use silicone to give it a clean look. Both will not let in humidity or bugs, while also not carry vibrations! And one tip: apply a sealer on the concrete beams, all of them. It will keep humidity out, thus preventing damage and mold in the long term.

[@josgeusens4637]

I admire your effort and of course the fact that you share this with us. In my mind, I can imagine this project to be an ever improving thing. As things go, you will probably specialise it to your specific needs and that's where this gets interesting. From my side, I wish you all the luck with it and that means we will also benefit from your success (lol).

[@Twobarpsi]

Good update! I can't believe it has been two months since the last one. Having hand dug holes myself, I can relate to the difficulties you experienced!

[@mikehibbett3301]

Loved it, best wishes with the rest of your journey

[@Astropaesan]

I used rubber interlocking gymnasium flooring to further dampen the floor from vibration. Also, I used a steel pier which mounts to the concrete base. The pier was filled with beach sand.

[@fizzbang8156]

I enjoyed this very educational. Thanks Nico and good luck with the build.😉

[@mikem9246]

Awesome stuff!

[@barthennin6088]

This is an excellent series! Very interesting! Your perseverance is inspiring :)

[@greatpix]

I may be wrong here because I'm going off a memory of an episode of TOH from decades ago but I've seen that when they were putting stakes in they would also make sure the lines were level and would add additional stakes and string that would cross at the center of the SonoTube.

[@jakew9709]

Quick and easy way to check holes is a plumb bob (string with a weight on the end). You can use it to check the wall of the hole and see if youre straight without trying to read a bubble level in a hole.

[@Wombatzone31]

I'm in the process right now of taring down my old tin shed, I have a nice slab already so will be bolting my deck to the slab..... pier I have been told I can get special bolts like self tapping rio to screw into the slab for the internals of the pier (mine has to be 2.7m tall to get the mount over the roof so I can polar align). It is a fun project to undertake. I feel you and your lessons along the way.... sometimes I find myself completeing a part of it realising that there was an easier way. Love your work mate.... can't all have Nexus domes like Dylan O'Donnell

[@kevinwhitcomb4495]

excellent video, thanks for doing it

[@thomasrider5852]

Man this is turning out fantastic!! Great work!

[@3f34f2f4]

I think I'm more invested in this project because I'm also from NH and I have always wanted an observatory.

[@chriscooper1978]

Same here!

[@WilliFromEarth]

Nice progress. Looks very sturdy!

[@TheWonkyAstronomer]

Nice work. I would have made a lot more mistakes. Looking forward to more updates.

[@andrewchittams8522]

Thanks Nico, for all your amazing content. I too, am also in the process of building and observatory. I can see you take into account all the power requirements, how are you handling the communications to the observatory?

[@Javiercav]

For leveling the height of the piers. The best and cheapest solution is a simple transparent hose with water inside. The water will be always at the same height in both ends of the hose no matter how long it is. It's an effective solution used by almost every construction worker here in Argentina.

[@nikitacheblokov8032]

Been a long time watcher, awesome content. Youve introduced me to this amazing yet expensive hobby through your videos. Keep going Nico! Happy Thanksgiving!

[@Poketronics]

Looks like you have spent a small fortune on tools, all of which will be handy in the future! Love this series of videos.

[@PeterMondeel]

Hello Nico, Very much enjoying your observatory build series so far! I've been planning my own home observatory for the last year or so and hope to break ground in January. It will be 12' by 16' (to keep it under the building permit square footage) with 7-foot walls and a roll-off roof. I have recently taken the first step - removing some large trees blocking the view to the north. Now I have adequate views in all direction (30 degrees above horizon minimum, better to the north and south. Next up is the floor. Before I build the floor, I need to decide whether to include piers. I feel like piers are not really needed with these dimensions; my telescope is a C11 Edge and CGX mount. The mount's tripod seems plenty sturdy for the C11 including imaging train, and there should be enough space for a 2nd OTA/mount. Most of the arguments in favor of using a pier that I have read in the online forums pertain to space savings and telescope clearance. The CGX on tripod should be able to track 20 degrees past the meridian, and space around the rig will be ample to fiddle with the hardware and cables. Am I missing something in my thinking? As this video makes clear, it's better to plan ahead than go back and try to add piers later so any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you for all you do for the astronomy and astrophotography community. Clear skies from South Carolina

[@l3d-3dmaker58]

a little south American construction tip: use a clear PVC hose to keep level across many things! get a big length of it, fill it with water while holding both ends up keeping some air on top, put one of the water lines on the height reference and you can walk around with your hose perfectly at the same height wherever you go! just make sure to not spill water or have air bubbles inside, or you'll screw up your measurements

[@SKYST0RY]

I completed building my first observatory last year and will start my second observatory in a couple months, and I can say: This is very sound advice. These little mistakes have a way of creeping in for those new to construction, and watching this video may well help a person avoid them. You especially don't want to skimp, make assumptions, or rely on the senses when it comes to any kind of measurement.

[@skylinevspec000]

needed to collimate your holes :) Also had some pier guiding differential

[@terrygoyan]

I can't wait for the roof. Some people have mentioned that floor mount outlets may be a hazard. I don't know how you plan on getting power to your observatory but assume you will have a breaker box. I would make sure that you use a GFCI-AFCI breaker. That will protect all the outlets on that circuit. Especially since you will have a roof over the telescopes I see no problem with floor mounting the power outlets.Code in California would require that any electrical lines you run from the house to the observatory be buried 18 inches. It's a good idea to put in pea gravel to within six inches of ground level as it warns anyone digging over the lines that something is buried there. Far as cutting the ply around the concrete columns, you can use a short piece of sono-tube to get the diameter. Cut a thin piece of ply as a template and use a router bit with a top ball bearing guide to do the actual cut in the 3/4' plywood. If you use a jigsaw to get close to the hole size the routing is easy and makes a very nice hole!

[@siddhantsingh74]

A very informative video indeed. I just wanted point out the solution of the first and second problem you faced. You should never dig exactly as per the dimensions.(Been there, done that, it never works😅) You should have dug a slightly larger and deeper hole. Then you can use compacted soil or lean concrete to create a level and accurately high base for one of the cylinders to sit on. Once you level and set height of one of the cylinder, you could have used water level (A long transparent tube with water filled in it) to get other cylinders on the exactly same elevation. You don't need to have fancy self levelling laser levels to do simple projects like this.

[@ChrisMyers2000]

Great Job! Can’t wait to see more. I’m looking to build a roll-off roof observatory sometime in the future, it’s great to see all of your progress and ideas and also mistakes. Lord knows I would probably make the exact same mistakes 😂. Keep up the good work!!. Also, I wonder if a rubber boot made for rooftop stovepipe sealing would work on that pier. Not sure of the dimensions but just a thought.

[@jeffreysokal7264]

Very nice. Do consider metal conduit (EMT) for electrical as rodents can gnaw through plastic but not through metal.

[@kayasper6081]

About leveling the fundaments: here in Spain they use a simple transparant hose for that. You fill it with water and place either end at the extremes of the construction. The water level indiciates the right height. Simple, cheap and very effective.

[@jonathangroner3931]

agree with below - floor mounted outlets might be a mistake because 1) moisture will get in when the roof is open and 2) I think they need to be covered/capped when not in use to meet code. Also code requires GFI protected circuits in moisture prone areas (kitchen, bathroom, outdoor outlets). Either the first box in the circuit will be a GFI outlet or there can be a GFI breaker in the panel.

[@johnrsims43]

Great idea to use trusses for the roof construction. I’ve been wondering why everyone does not do that. Just knowing that the roof will not collide with the telescope would be worth a lot to me, and not needing a special “park position” for when the roof is closed would be a convenience.

[@XPFTP]

ive watched on n off your channel for heck 4 plus years. youve come a long way .. good job for sure. lucky you tho.. dang i still have yet to build mines... also for anyone else and maybe still you.. depends on how big of diameter the piers are... you can get PVC end caps i think up to 12 or 14 inchs. makes a nice smooth finish top and no create edges at all...... just tossin it out there. crown up is for sage over time. u DONT want the plugs facing up like that. use a piece of pvc conduit to mount them up facing out... they will fill with crap over time and short or stop working so on .. hahah iam in VT north west corner near can boarder top of the big lake