Follow Our Progress
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September 23rd 2003
The first wall has been covered and Becky says that the bus is starting to
look like a home!
For those of you that have been following along, you may have wondered why I
didn't sheet the shell of the bus before starting to build the framework for the
interior walls... Well, I have a need to see things change in order to
keep my motivation up and to keep moving on a large project. Now that it's
getting to the point where I need to close in the bathroom, I need to have
something to attach the interior walls to.
The back wall in the bathroom is the only wall that does not make use of the
existing metal support structure of the bus, so I need the wall sheeting to
provide something to attach to other than the foam insulation and the two places
above and below the window. So, I decided that it couldn't wait any longer
and sheeted the area from the middle wall to the bedroom.
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I spent the better part of this morning filling in wherever possible
with the lath material. It took several hours of drilling holes
and putting in screws to finish the area between the middle wall and the
bedroom wall.
I found a cheap supplier of self drilling sheet metal screws, so
hopefully putting up the lath strips will go much faster then
having to drill and then fasten with a screw. Switching tools
while keeping the holes lined up is a pain...
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The only window we have decided to leave (in the middle section of the
bus) is the square one in the bathroom.
I spent a little time thinking about where I wanted the seams for the
plywood sheets to be... I am working with 4'x8' sheets of
1/4" thick plywood. I want it to look pretty seamless when I
am done, so I decided to turn the sheet on it's side which puts the seam
between the plywood sheets in the closet.
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I had to measure for the window cutout. Since the floor in the bus
is not level (it slopes toward the front) I used the ceiling rail that
supports the ceiling panels as my reference for all the measurements and
where I would start with the straight factory edge.
Once I had the size of the window traced on the plywood, I had to
match the rounded corners. It turns out that I had an old compass
sitting in my toolbox, so I measured the radius and copied it onto the
plywood. The jigsaw made quick work of the opening.
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With Becky's help we held the panel in place and it was a perfect
fit. I intentionally left about a 1/4 inch gap all the way around
the window. When it is trimmed out later it will look like I it is
an installed RV window.
We attached the plywood to the lath with 1/2 inch stainless
screws. The heads of the screws are tapered and end up pulling
into the plywood so they are recessed a bit into the wall. We plan
to fill in over the top of the screws and go for a smooth wall with no
seams or screws visible. We'll either paint or wallpaper to finish
off the wall.
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You can see how the sheeting covers the window opening and makes it look
quite a bit more finished. It was exciting to watch the
transformation from window to wall... (it's the little things that
seem to excite us now) <grin>
I cut a small opening to access the emergency window latch. I
can see where it might be necessary to be able to open and remove the
window later without having to cut holes in our finished walls.
At some point we might want to skin the outside of the bus or touch
up the black paint that we sprayed on the inside of the glass,
etc. I thought that leaving the latch accessible would come in
handy later. It will be in a closet, so nobody will see it most of
the time.
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We continued sheeting the top section of the wall until we reached the
bedroom. Then we filled in the section underneath.
I measured the height from the floor for the bottom piece and it
turns out that there is about 1" of drop over the almost 8 foot
length of the plywood section.
We fit the factory (square) edge against the upper piece and our
custom cut against the floor. I left about a 1/4 inch gap at the
floor in case we want to run our flooring under the wall a bit before
trimming everything out.
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I put the toilet and a piece of sheeting in the picture to help place
the images of the wall for everyone. It's hard to take pictures
that show where something is now that other things are in the way.
This may be the last time I can photograph from behind the toilet
into the bathroom. Once the wall behind the shower and toilet are
in, there will be no way for me to photograph the bathroom from
anywhere but the actual doorway.
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Our original plan was to start at the back of the bus and work forward.
As it turns out the bathroom has become the highest priority. We do not
have regular access to a toilet where the bus is located and the portable potty
is just not cutting it for all of us... Having a place to wash up (other
than the garden hose outside) has pushed the bathroom construction ahead of
schedule. So, if you don't understand the order of things, the location of
the bus away from our home has made it necessary to make some of it up as we go
along.
Tomorrow I would like to finish framing the back wall of the bathroom and
shower enclosure. Once that is framed in, I will install the plumbing for
the toilet and shower. That will at least give us some privacy and place
to clean up a bit now and then. We hope to use the tub/shower as a
makeshift sink until I get the cabinets built for the bathroom.
Wife's notes:
Today was a very exciting day - the reason: I got to see a finished
wall. Well, not TOTALLY finished... but not bare metal frame ... bus
walls. It went from a bus frame to a "home under construction"
today. It has been difficult to stay motivated up to this point - the
raised floor the bus came with was an especially difficult obstacle to get past
- those bus manufacturers of yesteryear had their bases covered... let me tell
you. I finally had the moment of "home" feeling ... hard to
explain, but I can imagine the whole picture now. I am re-charged and
ready to tackle the plumbing. Well... maybe I'll just hold stuff up and
hope for the best...
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