Plans, Changes, and Long-overdue Updates

Something like 2 months ago I made my last blog post on BusBus. The blog posts have not been coming as regularly as I’d planned, but they will be coming more regularly now. We’ve made quite a bit of progress on the floorplans, floor repair, roof raise, and more! We are at such an exciting point in the BusBus journey because the build have nearly begun.

To start, our progress has been somewhat delayed by pesky rust around the rear wheel wells. I’ll write an entire article on the rust once it’s completely finished (hopefully before we head out on our road trip in a couple of weeks!). In short, the rust was pretty pervasive throughout the 12-gauge-sheet-metal floors and the steel crossbeams. We cut out the rust (most of it…), removed the rust on the chassis, treated the rust as best as one can without replacing everything metal :), patching and painting the floor, and painting the chassis. We are just waiting for the steel tubing frame to be welded by our friend, TJ. He’s been helping us and teaching us throughout this process for which we are super grateful. More details on what he’s done and what we’ve learned throughout this process in the floor/rust post to come. Thanks, TJ!

While we’ve been repairing the floors, we’ve been a little more idle than in times past, BUT we’ve also made a lot of progress. We’ve planned out the roof raise including ordering custom inserts for the lift. We went to a local sheet metal fabricator with a sample of the rib channel used in the bus and he gave delivered within 3 days for much less than we expected! One we’ve finished the roof raise, we’ll have an entire post on the details with pictures and more information.

In the past couple of months, I’ve been researching and purchasing/borrowing tools and materials. We now have a 18 volt drill and impact driver, a fixed and plunging router; a miter saw; a circular saw; an orbital sander (pretty heavy duty -hopefully we’ll avoid buying a belt sander); an angle grinder; a jigsaw; some awesome clamps; over 400 square feet of bamboo plywood (flooring and countertops!); over 120 square feet of 80-year-old cedar (composting toilet and wall panels); and a half lite, wooden front door. We’re running out of room for materials in our bedroom. Our apartment is laid out as living room, which is now bedroom/dining room/closet.  A bedroom that is used exclusively for BusBus-project and gear storage. A kitchen, which is still a kitchen and now home to our worm bin. Without a dog in my life, my worms have become my worm babies. They are amazing and productive little guys. And then, of course, our bathroom, which is still a bathroom.

One of the other projects we have ongoing is the skylights. The plan is to remove the existing emergency roof exits and replace them with opening skylights for venting and other fun. We will also be cutting into the roof two 24″ x 36″ skylights for light and stargazing in the bedroom/living area. These will not open, but will be great for cold nights when we do not want to be outside 🙂 I’ve got a plan to keep them waterproofed… let’s hope that works. I’m confident in my planning abilities; though, I worry about leaks. We’ll be building this soon and testing it thoroughly before any insulation or electrical goes in the bus.

We just completed our composting toilet, too! It’s a vermicomposting toilet, actually, and we will have an entire article on this process from design and planning to building, including step-by-step pictures. This was a project we made available to the Dayton Tiny House Community through our Meetup group and we had six people show up to help!

We’ve met some really great people on the way so far and hope to meet some more. A special thanks to everyone who’s helped us in our build so far: TJ, Joe, Papa, Rob from CW Phillips Sheet Metal Fabrication, First Street Recycling’s Steel Department, Home Depot (thanks, Andrew), and all of our Dayton Tiny House Community members, specifically: John, Tracey, Lori, Beth, Gary, Elle, Henry, and Mark. I’ll be posting more articles in the future about the different people and businesses that have helped us along the way to give credit where it’s due and to help anyone else who may need similar products or services for their build. I know these types of references have helped us and so we’ll pay it forward.

Thanks for reading! If you have any ideas about our ongoing projects or places to find good tools and materials, email us at busbuscompany@gmail.com.