Telescope Pier and Remodel Part 1

The big day!

 

The concrete for the telescope pier has been poured. The concrete will cure for a few months before I install the telescope. I’ll try to frame the observatory floor before the house remodel begins. This will free up precious floor space in the garage to make room for kitchen cabinets. I don't have room in the garage for the materials to build an observatory so further construction will have to wait...for now.

 

Ready for concrete

Beautiful day to pour concrete

Used a bamboo pole to tamp out any bubbles

Floated the concrete until it hardened enough for the pier.

About 45 minutes later, the form was added and additional concrete was shoveled into the tube

 

Filled the tube with concrete. Added the pier plate. Carefully leveled and aligned the plate with "true north".

Woo Hoo! Leveled and aligned. NICE!

How's that for a view?

Dedication

Close enough!

This should be a seperate post, but so much is going on that I'll combine two posts into one. Part one of the remodel will begin shortly. Many of the large items (unit bath, windows, doors, etc.) have been ordered. I’ll post a diagram to give you a general idea of what will be accomplished. It’s going to be a very extensive remodel. Log walls will be removed to gain access to the new addition. Several of the foundation logs are rotted and will require removal. The new addition will include the removal of a section of the old roof and an extended roof installed. Erika and I have been spending our spare time thumbing through home improvement catalogs. The process is exhausting since neither of us enjoy shopping. Currently, I’m trying to select light fixtures from a 1000 page catalog.

I’ll be using local materials to build the kitchen cabinets. The problem is that I’m not familiar with some of the materials I’ll be using. I’m hoping a paint store in Beppu will answer some questions I have about sealing plywood for paint. Fortunately, the cabinet doors, drawers, faceplates, hinges, and sliders were purchased when we were living in the states. After three years, I still haven’t inventoried any of those items. The building process is backwards as I have to build the cabinets to fit the doors and not the other way around. This was the only way I could have the style I wanted plus make it affordable. I’m sure there will be lots of compromises that will have to be made. Stay tuned…    George