I’ve been an architectural specification writer for many years, and can tell you a couple things: 1. Congratulations on the preparation and permits! 2. That upfront work will pay for itself because it kept you from cutting corners (even unintentionally) and out of trouble. 3. You really don’t want to skimp on the roof (or any) structure… or water barriers. 4. The more planning you do, the easier and less expensive the construction. 5. Mistakes are usually expensive. 6. You’ll love it!
Planning departments, not even once. I had to get an engineer to sign off on a garage foundation plan that my county wanted. I took it to one of the bridge engineers I worked with, and he thought I was pulling his leg. Many bridges in my province apparently have lower spec foundations that I was required to have to attach a garage to my house. Rebar and concrete was still expensive 20 years ago!
Can't wait to see your next video. Have been contemplating a R.O.R. in my yard but don't have a southern view. So it's on hold for now. Being in the south between mosquitoes and heat I feel your pain. Grats and Good Luck with your build.
Thank you. My roof will roll off to the south and I will just image over it. My southern neighbor has fancy led up lights in their palm trees. The roof will block the glare.
This was excellent . Glad to hear and see that Local Government is the same no matter where you live . LOL . This is going to be a great Series . Best of Luck ! . Cheers/SRK
Excellent dome report! Can’t wait to see it. I like your choice because you’ll have plenty of room for extra equipment! I have 5 scopes and 2 mounts taking over 2 rooms in my house. I need a dome/shed so bad. I will keep your source for plans saved for the future. BTW I acquired an Eagle4S after seeing your video, my NUC wasn’t cutting it. I upgraded the memory to 16 gigs and added a 1TB Thunderbolt drive to it. It’s awesome, thank you! You need to do a NINA tutorial. I’ve been using APT which I’m comfortable with but NINA seams like it has more advanced sequencing and autofocus. Plenty of clear skies for you in Georgia (my birth state)🙂
I wish building a shed the size of yours was as easy in the UK .. we have to apply for what is called planning permission from the local authority. Roughly 300 dollars on your money. That has to be paid up front and if your successful you should hear from the planning committee in about 3 months. It may take longer if they have any questions. The planning committee meet once a month 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️. Looking forward to the next instalment. I was lucky in as much as my Obs was under the size requiring permission so I just built it and to get round the electrical regulations I use an extension lead from my garage.
Wow Amy! Georgia sounds a bit like East Lothian, Scotland, I dread to think of the hoops I'd gonna have to jump thro' to satisfy our local authority to do something similar, even on a much smaller scale. I'm just a beginer a veteran of 32 years military service, retired and disabled. I looked for a local society but nothing close to hand, I stay in North Berwick a small port at the mouth of the Forth Esturay My apartment is 3 floors up I have my own rack railway takes me up all 39 steps, I have a Yard faceing due south 25' x 100' what should I build? perhaps I should collect postage stamps instead.
Thanks for the insights into your experience with this process Amy! I imagine that these kind of structures can throw the local permit office for a loop - you want your roof to what?!?!?!? I will share this with a friend who is planning to build his own observatory. One question - with all that square footage, are you planning for a "visiting astronomer cot"? 😁😁😁
No worries, all is going very well. I will be back soon with videos showing what happened along the way. I need more than 24 hr a day to get everything done. lol
Holy cow. Good luck! On most projects the motto of the more complicated and larger the sq involved is directly inversely proportional to its success rate but Im rooting for you! BYO has been kinda MIA for a while for actual builds. I wanted them to do that same club RoR design. What timeframe are you going for? Under a year build?
I did get a quote from BYO. I just could not afford them. The added covid/fuel charges. Along with them having to travel just made it not feasible for me. With luck I will have this built in a month. My doors and windows won't arrive until the end of October. I ordered those at the end of August.
I wish it was done. All than needs to happen now is starting it. lol All we had was some mild wind. Wish we had a little wind. My red clay is now cracking from being so dry.
Amy, you are trying too hard to be a nice person and good citizen. I just told the city my SkyShed roll-off was a storage shed and nothing about the roof or the electrical. Too much information would only have led to more headaches and more bureaucrats involved. I paid one fee and no one ever showed up to check anything :).
@@AmyAstro don’t be embarrassed. Look, here in Germany we’re forced to pay „democracy (compulsory) contribution“ for tv and radio broadcasts even I’m consuming neither of them. Of course I can only talk for mysel‘ but if a content creator puts time and effort into something that interests and entertains me I’m gladly willing to support him. BTW : resistance gets my stubbornness growing too 😂 I’m afraid I even growing twisted horns (because I’m Capricorn I assume)
After getting my kitchen expansion plans rejected for the third time, I went to plan check, and asked the Inspector, "man, you tell me what I have to do to pass.?" "Oh Sir, we can't advise you on the scope of work." OK, I am 1 month into this, have spent a lot of money upfront on material, and don't want to hire one of these ripp-off "consultants" "I understand. Wel if it was my drawings....."
Oh no! And if you build and ask for forgiveness when you sell. They could pull the permits and find none and make you rip it out. This was my fear. It is not easy staying legal sometimes.
I’ve been an architectural specification writer for many years, and can tell you a couple things: 1. Congratulations on the preparation and permits! 2. That upfront work will pay for itself because it kept you from cutting corners (even unintentionally) and out of trouble. 3. You really don’t want to skimp on the roof (or any) structure… or water barriers. 4. The more planning you do, the easier and less expensive the construction. 5. Mistakes are usually expensive. 6. You’ll love it!
Another couple thoughts: 1. As much as many people think a roll off roof observatory is just a ’shed’, it’s deceivingly more complicated. 2. Typical buildings don’t have major structural components that roll off. 3. Positive and negative wind loads on roofs are substantial and get complicated if the roof moves. 4. Life safety is huge. Imagine the consequences of a structural collapse. 5. Imagine the cost of 4 piers of ruined equipment… 6. This is all VERY unusual to your building department. 7. This is all VERY unusual to your structural engineer and any typical contractor.
I’ve been an architectural specification writer for many years, and can tell you a couple things:
1. Congratulations on the preparation and permits!
2. That upfront work will pay for itself because it kept you from cutting corners (even unintentionally) and out of trouble.
3. You really don’t want to skimp on the roof (or any) structure… or water barriers.
4. The more planning you do, the easier and less expensive the construction.
5. Mistakes are usually expensive.
6. You’ll love it!
Thank you It was hard work, but happy I went through it.
Glad that you received the permits. It was a pain in the neck. Good luck with building your home observatory.
Thank you!
First, shout out to all the LAZY GEEKS! Looking forward to your observatory building.
lol. Thank you, I'm working on it.
Subbed to see the rest of this story!
Welcome and thank you!!!
Congratulations..... this will be all your own work heart and soul into this
I believe doing it myself it will mean so much more to me. Bonus is doing it with my father.
This is going to be awesome! Room for 4 piers sounds amazing to me :) Hopefully the permitting was the hardest part!
Fingers crossed! I will know soon enough. I fear my lack of muscles will be an issue soon. lol
Way to go Amy! "Best" is better.
Thanks Patrick!
Go for it Amy, so glad we don't have all that hassle in th UK, good luck with the build will be watching
Thank you!
What a saga! Let us know when you start construction!
Oh I have a doozie of a story to tell.
Can't wait to watch this. Good luck.
Thank you!
Planning departments, not even once. I had to get an engineer to sign off on a garage foundation plan that my county wanted. I took it to one of the bridge engineers I worked with, and he thought I was pulling his leg. Many bridges in my province apparently have lower spec foundations that I was required to have to attach a garage to my house. Rebar and concrete was still expensive 20 years ago!
This observatory will be one over engineered building. I drew this to industrial specs!
Quite the story, the trouble will be worth it. Clear Sky's
Thank you for watching!
Can't wait to see your next video. Have been contemplating a R.O.R. in my yard but don't have a southern view. So it's on hold for now. Being in the south between mosquitoes and heat I feel your pain. Grats and Good Luck with your build.
Thank you. My roof will roll off to the south and I will just image over it. My southern neighbor has fancy led up lights in their palm trees. The roof will block the glare.
@@AmyAstro A good set of filters and you'll never even know they are there at all.
Good luck! Looking forward to seeing how you build it
You and me both!
WOW that was one heck of a story Amy! 315 Dollars later too.. Im super excited to see this journey unfold!
Can't wait!
Oh, goodie, another observatory build series! I'll be following along.
Thank you for following!
This was excellent . Glad to hear and see that Local Government is the same no matter where you live . LOL . This is going to be a great Series . Best of Luck ! . Cheers/SRK
I think they all study how to be difficult, and how to make you prove you really want to build. Either way, I passed step one.
Love them kitties!! 😺
Me Too
Damn! Might as well install 4 Sky Pods and have your own 'Little' Sky Park!!
lol That would have cost more than the ROR. Really hubs wanted me to get one pod and call it a day. lol I just don't dream that small.
Yeah getting 8in in the spring
This will be so cool! Good luck!
Thank you!
great video!...nice that you are documenting it all....for when I do one! I'd pay you for your plans!
Really??? Once I prove they work, I may post them for sale. Maybe recoup the cost of a 2x4 lol
Hang on Amy! You´ve got this! Very excited to see how the story develops.
Fingers crossed!
Can’t wait to see the build. Best of luck!
Thank you!
Way to go Amy!
Thank you!!!
Can't wait to see this unfold Amy! - Very best of luck to you going forwards, you're going to have a lot of fun when this is done! :-)
Thank you so much!! I am beyond excited to start.
Looking forward to the journey! :-)
Thank you for watching.
Congratulations. Can’t wait to see how your project goes!
Thank you!
Good luck! I just finished my observatory and have 20 videos of the process if you want some tips. Mine is a mini though.
I have been following along. great job!
Excellent dome report! Can’t wait to see it. I like your choice because you’ll have plenty of room for extra equipment! I have 5 scopes and 2 mounts taking over 2 rooms in my house. I need a dome/shed so bad. I will keep your source for plans saved for the future. BTW I acquired an Eagle4S after seeing your video, my NUC wasn’t cutting it. I upgraded the memory to 16 gigs and added a 1TB Thunderbolt drive to it. It’s awesome, thank you! You need to do a NINA tutorial. I’ve been using APT which I’m comfortable with but NINA seams like it has more advanced sequencing and autofocus. Plenty of clear skies for you in Georgia (my birth state)🙂
Wow that is awesome!!! I love my eagle. This next week looks great for the build to begin. Stay tuned
You go girl! I want to come see it when you're done!
Thanks Anita!!!
Congrats on the permits. Can’t wait to see it done!
Thank you!
Looking forward to see your observatory up and running!
You and me both!
Agent orange those trees ;)
Sounds like you have put in the hard work. WELL DONE! Wish you all the very best. I have a feeling it's gonna be great!
Fingers crossed! Thank you
Huge property! Bortle is probably below 3-4. Could you host my rig in your observatory at pier N4 as well?😉
I wish building a shed the size of yours was as easy in the UK .. we have to apply for what is called planning permission from the local authority. Roughly 300 dollars on your money. That has to be paid up front and if your successful you should hear from the planning committee in about 3 months. It may take longer if they have any questions. The planning committee meet once a month 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️. Looking forward to the next instalment. I was lucky in as much as my Obs was under the size requiring permission so I just built it and to get round the electrical regulations I use an extension lead from my garage.
I considered an extension cord, but knowing my luck someone would unplug me in the middle of a run. :P
Only happened once lol.
Wow Amy! Georgia sounds a bit like East Lothian, Scotland, I dread to think of the hoops I'd gonna have to jump thro' to satisfy our local authority to do something similar, even on a much smaller scale.
I'm just a beginer a veteran of 32 years military service, retired and disabled. I looked for a local society but nothing close to hand, I stay in North Berwick a small port at the mouth of the Forth Esturay My apartment is 3 floors up I have my own rack railway takes me up all 39 steps, I have a Yard faceing due south 25' x 100' what should I build? perhaps I should collect postage stamps instead.
Stamps are boring and make fingers sticky. I am glad you don't have to climb all those stairs with your gear. Best of luck.
Thanks for the insights into your experience with this process Amy! I imagine that these kind of structures can throw the local permit office for a loop - you want your roof to what?!?!?!? I will share this with a friend who is planning to build his own observatory. One question - with all that square footage, are you planning for a "visiting astronomer cot"? 😁😁😁
Yes there will be an air mattress and I am debating on a recliner.
Amy, great work, thanks for sharing to be ready for the same in the future
Thanks for watching!
Haven't heard anything, how is the observatory coming along?
No worries, all is going very well. I will be back soon with videos showing what happened along the way. I need more than 24 hr a day to get everything done. lol
@@AmyAstro looking forward to it
After 49 yrs in the construction business that all sounded par for the course. Too bad I am so far away, I would lend a helping hand.
I would have taken you up on the offer. lol We will soon find out how over my head I am.
@@AmyAstro sounds like you have some great resources, but if you have any questions feel free to reach out
@@timmyers3428 Thank you!
Holy cow. Good luck! On most projects the motto of the more complicated and larger the sq involved is directly inversely proportional to its success rate but Im rooting for you! BYO has been kinda MIA for a while for actual builds. I wanted them to do that same club RoR design. What timeframe are you going for? Under a year build?
I did get a quote from BYO. I just could not afford them. The added covid/fuel charges. Along with them having to travel just made it not feasible for me. With luck I will have this built in a month. My doors and windows won't arrive until the end of October. I ordered those at the end of August.
How is this project progressing?
It appears you didn't have much in the way of Hurricane Ian coming through. Kudos on your efforts to get past the paperwork. Is it done yet? LOL
I wish it was done. All than needs to happen now is starting it. lol All we had was some mild wind. Wish we had a little wind. My red clay is now cracking from being so dry.
@@AmyAstro We have been in a drought much of the year here in Dallas/Fort Worth. Good luck on your roll-off.
Amy, you are trying too hard to be a nice person and good citizen. I just told the city my SkyShed roll-off was a storage shed and nothing about the roof or the electrical. Too much information would only have led to more headaches and more bureaucrats involved. I paid one fee and no one ever showed up to check anything :).
I feared sharing the adventure would bite me eventually with the county. Thank you for the note!
And I considered germany as an buerocratic nightmare 😮. Good on ya, keep it rolling. What about go fund me ?
I think their no made me more determined. lol I thought about it, but felt guilty doing so.
@@AmyAstro don’t be embarrassed. Look, here in Germany we’re forced to pay „democracy (compulsory) contribution“ for tv and radio broadcasts even I’m consuming neither of them. Of course I can only talk for mysel‘ but if a content creator puts time and effort into something that interests and entertains me I’m gladly willing to support him.
BTW : resistance gets my stubbornness growing too 😂
I’m afraid I even growing twisted horns (because I’m Capricorn I assume)
You should sell your plans!
I am thinking about that.
@@AmyAstro Id buy a set. You put a lot of time and research into those.
Thank you. I will keep you posted after I know they work.
USA The land of the free.....need 3 permits to "build" a shed...lol!
All so they can tax me on it next year. lol
On your own property!
Ok
"We're from the government, and we're here to help you."
After getting my kitchen expansion plans rejected for the third time, I went to plan check, and asked the Inspector, "man, you tell me what I have to do to pass.?"
"Oh Sir, we can't advise you on the scope of work."
OK, I am 1 month into this, have spent a lot of money upfront on material, and don't want to hire one of these ripp-off "consultants"
"I understand. Wel if it was my drawings....."
Oh no! And if you build and ask for forgiveness when you sell. They could pull the permits and find none and make you rip it out. This was my fear. It is not easy staying legal sometimes.
I think Amy Astro has died! no more content RIP Amy you will always be loved...
lol Not dead. But got my attention.
We all care very much about your content, and we miss not seeing updates, even if they're just 10 min long.@@AmyAstro
At the moment everything is in boxes. When I find a new home things will get back to normal. Sorry for the silence. I am well.
Mistake #1. You had to ask…..😂😂😂
Exactly
Don't you just love the government.
I’ve been an architectural specification writer for many years, and can tell you a couple things:
1. Congratulations on the preparation and permits!
2. That upfront work will pay for itself because it kept you from cutting corners (even unintentionally) and out of trouble.
3. You really don’t want to skimp on the roof (or any) structure… or water barriers.
4. The more planning you do, the easier and less expensive the construction.
5. Mistakes are usually expensive.
6. You’ll love it!
Thank you so much. I worked very hard to accomplish this step.
Another couple thoughts:
1. As much as many people think a roll off roof observatory is just a ’shed’, it’s deceivingly more complicated.
2. Typical buildings don’t have major structural components that roll off.
3. Positive and negative wind loads on roofs are substantial and get complicated if the roof moves.
4. Life safety is huge. Imagine the consequences of a structural collapse.
5. Imagine the cost of 4 piers of ruined equipment…
6. This is all VERY unusual to your building department.
7. This is all VERY unusual to your structural engineer and any typical contractor.
@@ACKitsBilltheCAT Agree. I had everyone scratching their head.