Giving My Observatory New Bones: The Beam Replacement Project

A Hard-Learned Lesson: Protecting Your Roll-Off Roof Observatory Beams

This past weekend, I had to make yet another little modification to the observatory! If you’re like me and have a roll-off roof observatory, or you’re planning to build one, listen up: you really need to protect your supporting beams! Let me explain…

My observatory, like most roll-off roof designs, has a wooden support structure (the famous beams!) that the roof rolls onto when it’s open. The problem I ran into, after just a few years of use, was simple: the beams got wet, and over time, they completely rotted from the inside out. I had painted these beams, of course, but that clearly wasn’t enough. Out of the three beams, two were in really bad shape. I had no choice but to replace them!

To avoid making the same mistake twice, this time around I decided to protect them as effectively as possible. My solution? I covered the new beams with a self-adhesive insulating roll – a sort of plastic-tar hybrid material. This stuff is typically used for creating waterproof seals on roofs, so it should do the trick!

So there you have it, folks! Learn from my mistake and make sure those roll-off roof observatory beams are properly protected!