Tuesday may have been an important day, but today was the inauguration of the observatory floor.

Manufactured Beam to Support the Floor

After careful planning and preparation, a quick call to Mike, the draftsman working on the plans, came up with a better idea and we started over.

The first job was to hang the 7.25" beam that would serve as the nailer for the rest of the floor joists and to which the half-spiral stairs would be attached. Josh (left) is holding the beam while Jay (right) attaches it to the wall. Doug (center) keeps an eye on progress to make sure everything is done properly.

As you can see, this involved some rather unnatural acts of carpentry by Josh and Jay.

Josh with a Back Hand Shot

Jay with the Upper Cut Shot

Doug making another perfect cut

The rest of the floor went together pretty quickly, except for a few bowed 2x8s. Maybe Barack can do something about our nation's lumber supply? At any rate, the team was successful in getting the floor together. We made a 16" x 16" opening for the pier to follow, as shown in the shot below:

Pier Location

We made the opening a bit bigger so I had room to align the pier to the North and also have plenty of room for wires and such. I think this will work just fine.