Flooring continues

We were so excited about the beautiful flooring that we were able to get it all installed before our big move (Zach and I and the school bus are currently living on Cape Cod for the summer. Again, there are no photos of the amazing pile of our belongings that we loaded into to the bus because we were too tired from hauling a mattress to hold up the camera). We got a little help from some friends (Thanks Ian!) finishing up the trim and windowsills. And all of the noise from installing the floor attracted the attention of some very special neighbors...

Flooring arrives

My aunt Carol and uncle Richard were wonderfully kind enough to offer Zach and I some beautiful flooring for the bus. After a wonderful trip through the back hills of Connecticut, and an even better lunch, we loaded enough wide-plank pine onto my Rav 4 to completely cover the floor and walls of the bus. (Toyota should be giving me some sort of kick-back for the advertising I've done for them during this project. You would not believe the sorts of things that you can successfully strap to the roof of a 99 Rav 4). And then we installed it! It looks like a beautiful log cabin on wheels.

Welcome, Bathtub!

We found our sink! It's a beautiful, white fiberglass industrial style beast. We hauled it back to the house and Zach demonstrated for myself and his parents how one could sit to the side of it and wash one's feet, hair, and perhaps even just hop in for the full deal.

And then we insulated

Zach found a fantastic deal on some 2" thick insulation that was being sold privately by someone who had over-purchased for a construction job. We insulated the floor, the sides of the bus, and even the ceiling. Sadly, we are missing several essential photos of this process because Zach would not allow me to photograph this part of construction. He was not amused, at the time, by the pile of insulation that we strapped to the roof of my 99 Rav 4. The pile was easily the same height as my vehicle, and then we had to drive home along the lake. Zach drove with his hand out the window to hold down the insulation, worried that the rope alone wouldn't hold against the wind. My job was to say "it's going to be fine," every 1/2 mile. There is also no photo documentation of installing the insulation into the ceiling and then putting the metal ceiling panels back up. We decided to reuse the original metal ceiling because the curve allows us the maximum height that we want. However, a large metal ceiling panel is heavy, and because I was not strong enough to drive a screw into the metal crossbars, I was assigned to "holding up the panel" duty. As it turns out, I have no upper body strength. But we did it. Using my arms, head, and, on occasion, a leg (the Rockettes have nothing on me), Zach and I insulated and reattached all four panels. 

And then it got really cold

Our work on the bus certainly slowed through the winter. A bit of wiring work was completed on warmer days, but mostly the bus collected snow. Amy and my mother both came for a mid-winter visit to see us and the bus during the hibernation season. The great news is that the paint job made it through the winter, something that we were told would not happen when you painted a schoolbus with house primer, but we like to live on the edge.

Derelict, but lovely nonetheless

We are nearing the end of demolition. The outside of the bus is fully painted and looks great, but the inside seems to be looking less and less inviting...however, we have finished removing all of the interior panels and old insulation and can now think about new insulation and paneling options. Now that all of the panels are removed, the interior wiring is a bit of a free for all, but at least it is now all out in the open for us to investigate more thoroughly. It's getting a bit cold and has already snowed here in Saratoga, and working with wires requires the precision of un-mittened fingers, so our progress has slowed temporarily. We are using our time indoors to draw out floorplans and contemplate interior colors, furnishings, and perhaps even a wood-stove (the stove is not only inspired by the snow but rather by the fact that I have been living for too long in an apartment that averages 80 degrees and I might die if on our travels we encounter a climate that averages anywhere below 70).

Painting Begins!

It's the little yellow school bus no more! It's certainly sad to see the yellow slowly disappear, but also very exciting to be moving forward with our project. In lieu of painting it a solid color, we think we have decided to just prime the entire outside and then slowly paint a mural across it with friends and throughout our travels. It will definitely require a few coats, and a very long roller for the roof. Clearly we have done quite a bit of work to the inside as well. Well, Zach has, I have sort of fallen down on the job after a full day of grinding bolts. We've removed all of the inside wall panelling and started in on the roof paneling as well. The metal used on the walls was clearly destroyed in the removal process, but the ceiling panels can be removed and later screwed back on. The plan is to put in new and more efficient insulation and perhaps some semi-tacky wooden paneling to finish it off. We have also begun to rip up the subfloor. Goodbye plywood, hello opportunity! My aunt and uncle very generously offered up some wide-plank wooden flooring on their recent visit to Saratoga (thanks Carol and Richard!). We are at a slight standstill on demolition at the moment because we are, obviously, running out of space to put all the scrap that we are ripping out of the bus. But soon we will make a dump run. Bus seats are still up for grabs, in case anyone was wondering. Taking apart the side paneling has revealed the hundreds of electrical wires that run throughout the bus, but we were thrilled to discover that they are each labeled with their function so we are slowly but steadily able to disconnect those auxiliary features that we no longer need. We'll miss the flashing lights, but the stop sign has been reinstated in the living room of my apartment as an homage.