Replacing Bus Door with Wooden Exterior Door

[Stuff]

almost what im going for. hope it works

[Dr LuLu]

Lorna, Pura... I hate to sound stooopid, but what is a retractable screen door? I saw the photo on Lowes... but I don't 'get' what it does. Does the whole thing come out? is it spring loaded so it rolls back in? HELP

I toy with the idea of changing out doors. Would love a Dutch door. But I think I'll really miss the opening/closing the door with the stainless steel lever!

I dream of deadbolts but for now will have to settle for heavy duty hasps.

[zman18]

Here is what we did. Got a donor door and cut a rectangle to frame in one of the original windows from the old fold out bus door.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w5QingqN_Js/TFlVh7lzckI/AAAAAAAAAGk/rEAH26b0rbk/s1600/IMG_2669.jpg
http://www.shortbusmagic.blogspot.com/

[PURA VIDA]

Lulu, you don't sound stupid. I had to look it up to see if it was something I am interested in. Here is a link to one of the manufacturers. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJlxtT6uY-Y

zman18, just checked out your blog....awesome flooring. I LOVE your door. Tell me what you had to do to get it installed. I have removed and even hung interior house doors before, but the hinges are backwards and there are more of them. I sold one of my heavy (well over 100 lb) doors and am going to sell the other one. So, was your door an interior one? Please, pretty please share more pics of the process or just try to explain it in lay man's terms...or would that be lay woman's terms? Thanks!

Miss working on the bus....maybe I will get a chance to seal windows this week.

[zman18]

Well its a very hard wood, built in solid panels, put together using tongue and groove and ribbed finish nails. It was donated and I believe is quite old. Could have been interior or exterior very solid and heavy, though it lost a little weight when I cut it to fit our doorway.


First I removed the original fold out doors. To remove the doors I had to remove the opening mechanism which is located behind a metal panel directly above the doorway inside the bus. Its a metal arm attaching the very top of the two doors together and it pivots allowing them to open. Once you identify it its easy to see how to take it off. Then I unbolted, from outside the bus, the two hinges that run the entire length of the doors one door at a time. You can unbolt each door from the hinge and take the door off while leaving the hinge attached to the bus body. I left the hinge on the right hand side (if you are outside the bus looking at the door) on and took the left hand side hinge off the bus body. So now I have one original hinge on the right side and both doors are off.

Finally using a circular saw I cut the door down to size so that it would fit into the original doorway, and tried to leave 1/4 inch around the entire door. For the gaps Ill use some type of weather stripping to keep it air and water tight. And used large screws that I kept from the first demolition of the interior to attach the door to its new hinge.

I didnt have to flip the hinge or anything, but I did predrill my holes before screwing the new door on. And its sturdy. Here are the only other two pictures I have. But you can ask anything else if you need to.

[PURA VIDA]

Thanks, zman18! I do well with thorough descriptions and yours is AWESOME! I will have to have the hubby read through it and see if we can use the door we already have or need to get another one. While I would love to have a brand new door with a screen and etc, etc...I would also like to get this conversion done before we are too old to drive. We can always update the door later if it doesn't work.

[PURA VIDA]

Found an awesome (used) door, that looks like a french door, for $20 and I am stoked to install it soon. As far as the deadbolt goes, I am wondering about just going straight from the wooden door, into the metal door frame, without adding any casing. Does that sound crazy? And, if not, any suggestions on what to use to bore the holes?

Thanks! I'll put pics up on our website when it is done.

[lornaschinske]

Put a casing up so that you can attach weatherstripping to keep wind, water and creepy crawly critters out.

[pipingkid]

Lulu, you don't sound stupid. I had to look it up to see if it was something I am interested in. Here is a link to one of the manufacturers. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJlxtT6uY-Y

Another alternative showed up after I watched the video that was interesting
http://youtu.be/wh9FNJUsSd4

not quite the same as a real screen door- but it looks cheap- and heck you could probably make it yourself using your own magnates if you wanted to.

[Stuff]

Lulu, you don't sound stupid. I had to look it up to see if it was something I am interested in. Here is a link to one of the manufacturers. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJlxtT6uY-Y

Another alternative showed up after I watched the video that was interesting
http://youtu.be/wh9FNJUsSd4

not quite the same as a real screen door- but it looks cheap- and heck you could probably make it yourself using your own magnates if you wanted to.

neat video but they never explain how it mounts and i can see bugs getting through that no problem.. also doesnt seal at the bottom.

[MountainPreacher]

I still need to get a window or 2 placed in the door, but it works. Will look much better with calk, trim and paint.

[chev49]

One can easily use 1x1 square tubing and 18 ga sheet steel and make a door for a scoolie. Just cut the tubing and weld the sheet steel to it. Hinges can either be the piano hinge from the existing bus, or steel door hinges for houses, or even from the hardware store.

A window with safety glass in a rubber frame should be used and low enough to see traffic, esp if you drive in the fast lane like i do. If you notice, semi's even have a small window at bottom front of pass door (usually blocked, but shouldn't be). You can frame in the window with box tubing for strength if you do it right.

I have built doors for all my previous busses. Yesterday, I got out some tubing, and steel, and angle with the holes in it, to build a two piece door. The bottom door i believe is 32x53 1/2, which will be the generator door, and go a bit in height above the 10 inch raised living room floor, and i haven't measured the top for a door with a window yet, but it will be something like 32x 36 or so. I have been scrounging around on my property, and my neighbors machine shop acerage, to find a 24x24 or better window from a rig or rv that has safety glass. Think there is one about that size on a monico rv at his place...

Of course i will only be able to insulate them the depth of the doors...

Nice pictures of the RV door instillation.

[lornaschinske]

David says having the glass in the bottom of the door is wonderful. We ended up rebuilding the original bifold door onto a one piece door.David built a spacer and we used a regular exterior keyed door knob. We do have to come up with another locking system because the bus flexs enough while traveling that the door comes unlatched (we had to chain it shut on our last trip which was our first with the door). It was a concern when we installed the door knob since they are designed to use only 1/4" overlap to latch (that little extra spring pin is not supposed to be pushed in fully... just slightly to engage). But we only got the bus to the point we could live in it. It's not finished. I still have work to do on the door as well as most of the other stuff. Like adding a pull handle to the door because the knob is hard to hold onto when the stupid wind is blowing so hard (we have a local wind advisory right now "Sustained speeds of 30 to 40 mph will be common with gusts to around 60 mph"). I'm thinking of using the short entrance hand rail from the Eagle. It's under the bed with other "stuff" we thought we might need.

[headin2MT]

I welded a small frame together and added a new rv door to the frame it fit right in

[capricamperoh]

My opinion: The entrance door's main purpose is to make sure the occupants of the bus remain the occupants of the bus.