Re: [ATM] Stone observatory foundation?

["Tom and Beth" <tomandbeth@theriver.com>]

Hi Mike,

  Welcome back!

 My observatory floor is concrete, and between having foam rubber mats to 
make standing easier, being shaded from the sun and in full contact with the 
soil I don't find thermal problems at night. With your situation, a lattice 
or other form of ventilation under the building should help maintain the 
rocks very close to the ground around your immediate few acres or so.

  Pay more attention to the building color and especially the roof 
materials. FWIW, with the rest of the building wood, and the Roll of 
structure providing plenty of venting paths, I find the inside Obs temp 
tracks the outside ambient within 3-5 degrees, even in our "mild" summer.

Tom
Tucson, AZ

> Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 09:19:25 -0600
> From: "Michael Burr" <mtburr@msn.com>
> Subject: [ATM] Stone observatory foundation?
> To: "ATM list" <atm@atmlist.net>
> Message-ID: <BAY4-DAV300A14F823EDE52C5CE5EBCB4B0@phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> Greetings:
>
> I haven't posted in a long time; my ATMing has been dormant over the past 
> year while I have concentrated on building our new house. But in the wake 
> of a recent visit by John Dobson, I'm inspired to take up the task again.
>
> One of the projects I have planned is to build an observatory. I'm 
> considering raising the observatory up, maybe 6 feet or more, to get a 
> little more clearance over some trees that border my location. There are a 
> lot of small boulders strewn around, and I am considering building the 
> raised "base" of the observatory from stone and concrete. I am unsure, 
> however, of the thermal properties of stone. I would not want to create a 
> radiative nightmare.
>
> I've searched the ATM list archives and done some poking around on the 
> web, but thus far haven't found any useful guidance. Does anyone on the 
> list know whether stone soaks up and radiates a lot of heat? I'm guessing 
> it does and I am out of luck with it.
>
> Unfortunately I don't know what kind of stone it is. We have a lot of 
> granite around here (central Minnesota) and if I had to guess I'd say 
> maybe it's granite. Definitely it's not a sedimentary rock. It looks 
> metamorphic to me.
>
> Any thoughts would be welcome.
>
> Best Regards,
> Michael Burr

_______________________________________________
ATM mailing list http://www.atmlist.net/