The "LIST"

1. Finish shower surround

2. Finish toilet and toilet step.

3. Cubbies beside the bed. 

4. Shower plumbing supply line.

5. Light for the shower/toilet.

6. Propane line for cook top. 

7. Mount cooktop.

8. Install fan over range.

9. Install electrical panel/outlets.

10. Cabinet anchors.

11. Finish installing dc lights on driver's side.

12. Install globe light over couch.

13. Sew curtains.

14. Complete sink drain and water supply.

15. Carpet/insulation under and around driver area

16. Table leg/support for music studio table.

17. Touch up cabinet paint.

18. Install cabinet hardware.

19. Curtain rod and trim board. 

20. Sofa anchors. 

21. Refrigerator/microwave anchor.

22. Water heater installation.

23. Lock on front door.

24. Under bus: water supply, drains, battery box and wiring.

25. CLEAN! 

Getting cleaned up!

How would you put a functional shower on a school bus? Most shower stalls are over 6 feet tall - that's our max height! Our inspiration came from a beautiful shower in a tiny house created out of an old wine barrel.

Nope. No wine barrel for us. A galvanized metal feed trough will do just fine! And hopefully, it will be less permeable than wood. We drilled through the floor of the trough and the bus to install the drain, which will connect to a flexible pipe. It will be able to drain into a holding tank or a RV septic system. (Gray water is also great for watering plants)

Joshua used roofing tin to create a shower surround. We will be treating the raw edges of metal with silicone to help ward off rust. The pipe frames the sides of the opening into the shower and will hold the shower rod.

We're still figuring out the fixtures and plumbing parts. Due to the height constrains, a hand-held nozzle with an on/off switch seems like the best solution. Stay tuned!

Shut the door

One of the first things we did on the bus was to unhook the door from the driver's lever. But then, we could only push the door shut, leaving a couple inch wide crack. Joshua searched out a handle that would cinch the door shut and allow us to open it from the inside and the outside.

There was a bit of tag teaming to drill through the steel. Phew! No doubt school buses are well made!

Everything was tightened up. We love being able to use the original bus door instead of mounting a house door or figuring out a way to weld the two doors together.

Lit Up

Our 12volt DC LED lights came in this week. We were excited to test them out. Joshua set up the solar panel, charging the battery. In the meantime, we started the bus engine for first time since we parked it. The engine turned over on the first try and I came home to a beautifully lit bus.

The lights in the picture above run off the engine. Just not a practical thing for daily use.

Our favorite lights are teeny rope lights that we unrolled off something that looked like a movie reel. The back has adhesive so we can set them in place permanently when we're ready.

Joshua wired everything together and voila! Lights in the dark powered by the sun!

And then the Boss Man took on dinner, too! Grilled veggies with delicious steak at the bottom of the pile!

Walls

How would you put up walls on a school bus? No, really! How would you? 2x4's and sheet rock take up too much precious room. And do you really want to put a hole all the way through the outer shell of the bus? Dilemmas.

We opted for braces through the inner skin of the bus walls. We made a pretty awesome team - I held the wall in place while Joshua drilled. It's pretty challenging to cut wooden doors at the curve found on the roof of a bus. I made a paper pattern to trace onto the doors (otherwise known as walls) for cutting and for the most part we were happy with the results. It's not a perfect fit, but - hey, it's a school bus! We've accepted that sound will travel from one end of the bus to the other and that we will always be in the same space with each other.

At the end of the weekend, this was the view from the sink side towards the back of the bus. Our shower will be inside the metal bucket and you can see the beginnings of the bed frame.

From the refrigerator side towards the back, our closet rod is installed. We will have shelving under the clothing and under the bed.

This view is from the back of the bus looking through to the front. I'm thinking that the door on the right might have been through a fire! But it will get painted soon.

We are pleased with the refrigerator cubby. And take another look at the granite!!!

My sewing workstation (at the front) now has a countertop. I had fun cutting and gluing it in place. Power tools!

And just a glimpse of our beautiful South Carolina sunrise this morning!

 

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Granite countertop

While we love the idea of a flexible living space, we weren't sure a school bus was the best place for that to happen. We started the weekend by bolting the cabinets together and then to the walls of the bus. (Can't have cabinets sliding around while driving down the road!)

Earlier this week, we found the perfect piece of granite at Habitat for Humanity and Joshua used his stone mason skills to cut it to size. We used Liquid Nails to glue it down. There will be NO crazy driving in this school bus. The last thing we need is for a 27x54" sheet of granite to fly out the window!

More about those good looking walls later. In the meantime, check out who ventured onto the bus for a look around!

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Tabled

We need a table for many things on the bus: eating, sewing, and desk-type-stuff. Joshua's grandparents gave him a dining table several years ago and we've been storing it in the barn for the past several years.

Joshua removed the sliders for the leaf. I sanded and stained the table top.

We had a brainstorm as we walked in the front door and spied our Ikea bookcase. As much as possible, we want to use thing we already own to create our living space.

Why not? Off came the table legs. And, voila! A cantaleivered bookcase/table.

We'd like to create a small rolling table to slide under the overhang, but we're still working on the details.

The chickens say hello.

 

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