How Does A Bus Become A Home Part 2

This is Part 2 in the series How Does a School Bus Become a Home. If you missed Part 1 you will find it here.  It took Jeff and members of our family only a few days to complete Part 1 of the bus build.  However, I held up progress because I couldn't decide on what windows I wanted to keep and which ones to cover up. (If you notice in the photos below, there is blue tape on some windows. This tape reminds us which windows will get covered up by insulation.) Then, there was the day that I decided to change the floor plan around because the space between the shower and toilet area looked too small. This bus unlike Bus #1, will have a Master Bedroom with a bathroom.  The shower and toilet/sink area will be separate to allow one person to take a shower and someone else to be on the toilet if need be.  In our large family, anything that I can do to reduce waiting in line for the toilet is a huge plus.  I don't like to wait on a teenage to finish showering when I have to go to the bathroom. Do you have this problem in your house?  Well, hopefully this floor plan will reduce the times I have to wait. Anyway, I thought we needed more space between the shower and bathroom. So, Jeff had to take down a wall and shorten the bathroom area after he already was finished with the bathroom. He wasn't too happy about changing it but I am sure he will like the extra space once we are using it everyday.  Jeff is awesome! (I had to throw that in there because he reads the blog. I love you Honey! Thanks for all you do to make me happy.)

Now, onto HOW DOES A SCHOOL BUS BECOME A HOME? PART 2

1. Build the walls.

After you get the floor plan figured out and make all the adjustments, start building the walls. Jeff used 2x2 boards for the walls and secured them to the floor with deck screws.  He built them just like you would build walls for a stick and brick house. 

2. Install the wiring and electrical boxes

Jeff and I got together to figure out where we wanted  the light switches and the outlets placed throughout the bus.  It was important for me to have enough outlets for all of Katie's medical equipment. We ended up with 24 electrical boxes. Jeff used 12/2 wire with ground for the outlets and 14/2 wire with ground for the lights. We will have 30amp service when the bus is complete.

3. Insulate the walls

Jeff found these Styrofoam insulation sheets for free on Craigslist.org . They were 2x3 sheets and were 1/2 inch thick. Jeff would call out the measurement that he needed and Jacob would measure and cut the insulation sheet for Jeff. Hannah and Jeff would slide the sheets in between the bus wall and the studs. That is until Hannah got bored and left Jeff to finish the walls by himself. All the walls have 3 sheets of Styrofoam insulation. In addition, the bus walls were already insulated behind the metal.

4. Insulate the Windows

Jeff covered the inside of each window with the Styrofoam insulation sheets. He put 4 sheets on each window.

4. Secure the Insulation

Jeff taped all the insulation together with masking tape to secure it until the walls were built.

5. Install the Plumbing

The above picture is the only picture I took while Jeff was plumbing the bus.  He used Pex Pipe to plumb the bus. The plumbing for the shower, toilet, bathroom sink, washer, and kitchen sink have all been finished. He will be installing the black and grey tanks soon. 

Part 2 of How Does A School Bus Become A Home took Jeff and family several weeks to finish. Jeff had several other things he was working on during this part of the build and I had to be away from home because Katie needed to have surgery on her hip. Now that things are back to normal, I should be ready to post Part 3 soon.  Part 3 in this series will explain how Jeff put up the walls, installed the shower, finished the bathroom, put in the breaker box and more.  If you don't want to miss a blog post you can subscribe by entering your email in the box to the right. As always, if you have a question or comment just leave them and Jeff will answer you.