BUILDING CHARLOTTE
As lovers of minimalism, the tiny house movement, travel & building - one fine day in January 2018 we bought a mini skoolie. Then began the challenging, difficult, interesting, enjoyable, puzzling task of turning this adorable little school bus into our future home!
We took a while with our build. We were in no rush and a longer build plan gave us more time and money to slowly invest into our tiny home. This allowed us to have a few splurges (apartment sized oven, composting toilet) and gave us time to be meticulous and detailed with our build. Our motto was “worth going the extra mile now, so we can do that on the road”.
How does one decide to up and build a skoolie? In our case, on a whim! We started looking into mobile tiny house options and found the van life & skoolie communities. After an extensive pros & cons list and discussion, we decided a small size skoolie was right for us. We figured it was a smaller initial investment than buying a van, still easier to drive than a full size skoolie, and still gave our spoiled dogs more room to stretch their paws.
We removed all the seats, which was fairly easy considering our wheelchair accessible bus had a track to adjust the seats. Getting the track out was a trickier story, but we were rewarded with the discovery that our floor was aluminum, so we didn’t have rust to remove, treat and prevent.
Once the floor was tackled, we decided it was worth it to strip the walls and ceiling down to the studs in order to be able to insulate and to check for & deal with ceiling leaks. It ended up being a good plan, as we found some ceiling leaks. Nothing unexpected, but it allowed us to target those areas and create new patches where needed and to add more sealant to vulnerable spots.
The walls were then stripped down, chair rail was removed, and we prepped to thoroughly insulate. With our floor plan designed and our mind on insulation, we decided there were 2 windows near the back where our bed will be that would be mostly hidden anyway, why not remove them? Craig was meticulous in patching our window delete, and we ended up with a nice smooth exterior.
The last step before insulating was to investigate the current electrical set up and condense & tidy where we could. While not a strictly necessary step, Craig learned a great deal about the electrical for the bus, which additionally helped him install our new backup light. It was worth the time to learn what was what, where it went and how it all connected. And we were able to remove a fair amount of unneeded wiring that we can recycle as we set up our own electrical system!
BUILDING UP!
The first step to building up was insulating - which is why we so eagerly looked forward to insulation day and celebrated when it came! We covered up head to toe in our PPE, set up our tanks and nozzles and started spraying. It was a fairly quick and easy process.
Next up was to prep for the subfloors and to re-introduce some stability we lost by removing the chair rail. We were grateful to get to skip any rust removal or prevention steps here!
All that was left for the floor was putting down the insulation with some adhesive and plopping on the plywood and blam, subfloor!!! Much nice, easier to clean and nicer to sit on than the grimy aluminum floor. And to prove this, we did a celebratory flop of joy on our new floor!
When designing our layout, we had some important considerations to make, especially concerning our dogs and plumbing. Our older dog has experienced some joint issues, so it was important for us to figure out a good, safe route for him to get on and off the bed.
The other matter that galvanized our floorplan was the plumbing. We decided to place our shower wall immediately next to the counter that contained the sink. With that setup we were able to greatly simplify our plumbing layout since the pipes were all concentrated in one small area.
While working on the layout of the bus, we spent a lot of time thinking about how we would be using each space. We knew that the passenger on the bus would probably be using their phone, so we decided to build a USB outlet into our couch. We also knew it would be a place to read, so we incorporated a reading light in our build. Designing your electrical layout is very important because you’ll ideally want to run all of your wiring before your ceiling and walls go in. Before installing our ceiling, for example, we decided to install a backup camera and spotlight to ensure we can safely drive in reverse. Once we were fairly confident that we had the wiring squared away, we got to work on installing the ceiling and finalizing the electrical install.
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After we settled on a layout, up and up and up we went with our build. First, we framed out our bed and our below bed “garage” area. Under each side of the bed, we started building walls for the bathroom and kitchen in order to frame out these spaces and further support the bed frame. While building, we made sure to maximize our storage space, by designing our bed to raise up on gas lifters and have built in storage below the bed.
The couch/passenger seat was an area that we took very seriously. Obviously we wanted to ensure that anyone riding in the passenger seats would be safe, so we installed two seat belts which we scavenged from the bus seats we ripped out and that was bolted to a piece of angle aluminum, which in turn was bolted onto the ribs.
The couch was built up and out from there, with an L-Shaped design that would feature storage below. In addition to the drawer and shoe storage beneath the seat, we also built cubbies in which to store the seat belts when they’re not in use.
For power, we decided to install as many panels as our roof could handle and a sizable battery bank, instead of adding a generator to our build. We struck gold, and ended up with three large, commercial panels that total over 1,000 Watts for only $450.00! Then we had to puzzle up some solar racking, set that all up, and run the electrical into and throughout the bus.
Our plans to use lead-acid batteries were quickly changed, once an Instagram friend gave us a very strong case for using recycled Nissan Leaf modules (thanks @ezzydortoka!). Ultimately we’ve been thankful for this pivot! Because the Leaf modules don’t offgas dangerous vapors, we were able to install them in our electrical cabinet over the driver’s seat. They also proved to be much more compact and lighter than lead-acid, which made them easier to work with and also to find a place for.
First step was getting our fresh and grey water tanks installed. We had space between the bus frame and the floor to house them and built a support system from angle aluminum and plywood. For install and future access, we also added some exterior access panels before painting.
One of the major interior projects was the assembly of our wet bath. We sealed the walls, and decided on PVC shiplap for the surround. It was tricky molding the shiplap over the curvature in the ceiling, but with the help of a heat gun, we made it work! We wanted our bathroom windows to remain functional and still allow in light, so we added a frosted-look window film.
To finish it all up, we plumbed in our water pump and our exterior filling panel. We installed our hot water heater and water filter and finished those connections. We ran the waste plumbing and installed our grey water tank. And then we installed our composting toilet!
From this point, the majority of our projects really made the bus feel more and more like a home and less like a rolling construction site. It really started becoming the home on wheels we had always hoped it would be.
We finished up our cabinets and built storage solutions into all of our drawers. Next, we decided to make our own counters using plywood, a solid wood edging and epoxy resin. We ended up with some beautiful counters that are waterproof and easy to clean (an absolute must, since our dog walks all over the counter).
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After wrestling our mattress into place, we installed our homemade padded headboard and finished up our recessed bookcase along the back bulkhead.
Then, we had only to tie up all the loose ends of finishing and adding beauty, comfort and fun into our home! We installed our flooring, made our own couch cushions from materials we recycled from an old couch and a mattress topper, and installed our art wall. We even replaced our radio with a newer head unit that featured Android Auto and worked with our backup camera!
After living in the bus for a while, we decided that we absolutely needed to add screens, so we set about making those, as well. We made frames of cedar, added the screening and then installed them on all of the bus windows to ensure nothing could bug us any longer.
Just When You Think You’re Done...
With the conversion from bus to home essentially complete, we decided to focus on upgrades and improvements. We restored the A/C from the dashboard by removing all of the modifications from the bus builder and restoring the lines and components to a stock configuration. We will also be improving upon our setup by adding a diesel air heater. Our plans originally had not included spending time in cold areas, but the pandemic changed things and ultimately showed us that we would be well-served to set up our home to be comfortable in all climates. After all, cold nights can happen anywhere and it’s better to be prepared.
