Merry Christmas!

We wish you the best of Christmas joy! 

We braved the cold (35 degrees!) on Christmas Eve to spend our first night on the bus! The propane heater, small electric heater, 2 blankets, 1 quilt and a down comforter made for some good sleeping. Santa found us even without a chimney. 

It's been a cozy day getting acquainted with our tiny house on wheels. There's still plenty of work to do before we move in full time, but we can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

The Loo

Composting toilet. Yes. Those are THE words describing our toilet. The whole unit cost us about $20 and will require no water. We looked into incinerating toilets and commercial composting toilets, but for this beginning stage, we decided to go easy and cheap. 

The best part is not having to deal with a septic line around the wheel well. Joshua has been using scrap wood to create a cabinet of sorts to hold the bucket. (Don't you just love how our shower and toilet buckets match!!) 

As the platforms/steps came together, I drew out the patterns for the top pieces. The roofing tin around the shower creates such a crazy rippled effect, I felt like I was working on a wrapper for a Reese's Cup. 

Protected from the rain by a gigantic tarp, we cut all the intricate pieces for the platform. And no,the pictures don't quite show off the fit of the wood against the tin. There's just a few little details left to touch up and the throne will be complete! I'm feeling a fun, folk art paint job coming in this space. There's already chalkboard paint inside ready for graffiti. 

For those of you not quite sure about a composting toilet, think biodegradable liner for the bucket, a scoop of sawdust for every deposit and daily emptying. And quite possibly a lot of incense! 

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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