This is the site before construction -
a sloping knob of Taconic Mountain ledge. Looking south, and the
N-S line is visible.
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Looking north.
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Also north. To the west, the ledge
drops 50-70 feet.
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Sonotube footings for the building
have been placed by excavating the till 6" to 2' to ledge.
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Six footings support the main beams
for the building, and two support the outriggers that carry the
roof in the open position. Looking south.
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Looking north, in the direction to
which the roof will roll off.
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Formwork is up for the telescope pier
- a 3' x 3' footing supporting an 18" square pier. In hindsight I
would have made the footing bigger. We sunk 6-8 lengths of 1/2"
rebar into the ledge.
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Rebar drilled into ledge for the
building footings. The contractor relied on the concrete poured
into the tube to secure the rebar into the ledge. Bad idea: they
should have been grouted or (better) expoxied in place.
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Immediately after the pour. The
contractor hand-mixed about 85 bags of concrete mix in all. The
mounting bolts and template for the LeSueuer Astro-Pier have been
placed into into the wet concrete.
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We sunk pairs of 1/2" stainless
threaded rod into all the building footings to secure brackets that
hold down the main beams.
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Simpson Strong-Tie brackets designed
to support a 4"x4" post were used for the outrigger footings.
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Formwork is off and the footing has
been backfilled.
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The mounting bolts for the pier are at
what will be the floor level of the observing room.
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If I'd done it myself, I would have
kept better dimensional tolerance. We had to "spring" the main
beams by an inch or so because of inaccurate N/S alignment of the
footings and anchor bolts. Functionally not a problem, just
annoying.
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Looking south along the N/S line after
completion of the footings and pier.
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Without the trusty John Deere tractor,
moving supplies from road and house (350' away) would have been a
lot harder.
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