Boring Gravy

[BoringGravy]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

Love this interior.. but hanging light fixtures in a bus.. not so sure id do that.. they look cool as long as you dont get the school-bus-rock back N forth when you go slowly over a rough rail-track..
-Christopher

They are on solid rods, which hinge at the ceiling... My plan is to remove the shades for travel... replace them with plastic shades and roll on.

[Stewzer55]

Looking great. When it comes to hanging light fixtures, I'd always be concerned with banging my head into them.

[BoringGravy]

Originally Posted by Stewzer55

Looking great. When it comes to hanging light fixtures, I'd always be concerned with banging my head into them.

HAHA. Yea. They will be over end-tables. Left and right of the couch. It will become much more clear as the project moves along. Basically no chance of hitting them.

[BoringGravy]

I decided what I wanted to do with the front of the space. I started with the Shower side-wall, facing the living space. I haven't posted many pics toward the front end. Finally moving in that direction.

[BurlKing]

the T&G ceiling and walls you have are exactly what i plan on doing shortly, looks great and thanks for showing me what it'll look like. Glad to see someone else doing this at the same time as me, or near! keep the pictures coming so i can copy you lol, thanks!

[BoringGravy]

Originally Posted by BurlKing

the T&G ceiling and walls you have are exactly what i plan on doing shortly, looks great and thanks for showing me what it'll look like. Glad to see someone else doing this at the same time as me, or near! keep the pictures coming so i can copy you lol, thanks!

Thank you. It was super easy and cheap for what you end up with. I was surprised at how light the boards were. They were dried and stored really well. I'll keep the photos coming once or twice a week. Feel free to ask any questions if you run into any problems. I'll be happy to go over how I solved the little issues.

[BurlKing]

awesome well i do have a question. So i have a tongue and groove flooring nailer with the hammer to do my floor. I just know that it wont work on the ceiling... right?

how did you fasten yours to the ceiling?
glue and screws, where they met at the strips on the ribs since there isnt a "plywood subfloor"?
if thats a yes, did you screw it diagonal through the tongue part or just right on top of the board? im not a big fan of screws showing everywhere but i know this may be something i cant be picky about.

[BoringGravy]

Originally Posted by BurlKing

awesome well i do have a question. So i have a tongue and groove flooring nailer with the hammer to do my floor. I just know that it wont work on the ceiling... right?

how did you fasten yours to the ceiling?
glue and screws, where they met at the strips on the ribs since there isnt a "plywood subfloor"?
if thats a yes, did you screw it diagonal through the tongue part or just right on top of the board? im not a big fan of screws showing everywhere but i know this may be something i cant be picky about.

It wasn't a problem at all. If you look at an older pic you'll see that I left the inner skin on for structural reasons. I cut 1/4" ply into long 3" strips. I cut them to length in sets. Each set was 4 pieces each one about 1-1/2" short than the last. I laminated those 4 pieces together with glue as I screwed them up into place. Because the set have 4 pieces increasingly smaller, it created a tapering effect where the roof makes that sharp curve near the wall. Smooth transition. These laminated sets became ribs on the ceiling. I secured them to the inner skin with TEK wood-to-metal screws. They are positioned right next to the actual bus ribs. I didn't want to screw into the framing of the bus. I am 275lb... and after the glue dried, I could hang from these wood ribs no problem. Far more weight than any one spot would hold with the tongue and groove.

As far as the T&G installation. I picked up some 1-1/4 Trim/Fin screws. They self-tap, and the head is small. I screwed into the tongue at any point that I could... the vast majority. Obviously the final pieces left and right needed to be face-screwed, but will be hidden under the wall trim. A few spots the pieces wanted to split, usually near the edge of the board, so a few face screws here and there. Hardly noticeable bc of how busy knotty pine is/how infrequent they are/how small the trim screw's head is.

The tools I used for the ceiling... Speed Square, Tape, Pencil, Circular Saw, Jig Saw, Hammer, Impact Driver. Used a scrap piece of T&G to bash the few pieces that were argumentative into place. I think I only used 2 of the small boxes of trim/fin screws for the whole ceiling. And maybe 4 or 5 tubes of glue.

If only a floor nailer and a board bender could have been used. Such convenient tools. Without those tools... it took 2 people about 7-8 hours to install the T&G, not including the prep of making the ribs.

Helpful Tip: I started in the middle and worked out from there. That way I ended up with even pieces near the walls, instead of a whole board starting on one side with a strip on the other. I bought a piece of plastic material, meant to be lattice, to give the center board 2 tongues. It fit perfectly... glued and screwed. The other convenient part... If the wall isn't build perfectly straight, starting int he middle cuts the mistakes in half (splitting the difference on both sides rather than all on one side) I got lucky and the boards are visibly straight at the edges.

That was long-winded...

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by BoringGravy

A few spots the pieces wanted to split, usually near the edge of the board, so a few face screws here and there.

One of the cabinet guys should chime in... Drill pilot holes that are 1/2 (???) the diameter of the finishing screws.

Cabinet Guys,
What's the proper ratio for pilot holes? 1/2 , 1/4, etc.

[BurlKing]

Thanks for the reply BG, all very helpful advice for me.

Sent from my LGLS775 using Tapatalk

[dan-fox]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

One of the cabinet guys should chime in... Drill pilot holes that are 1/2 (???) the diameter of the finishing screws.

Cabinet Guys,
What's the proper ratio for pilot holes? 1/2 , 1/4, etc.

I've always eyeballed the closest match to the "root" diameter of the screw(the diameter of the imaginary cylinder that the threads are wrapped around) using a set of wood bits by 64ths, then gone up one size from there - two sizes if you're working with #8 or larger wood screws.

Caution: I'm an amateur woodworker and I was taught this by an amateur woodworker (my dad).

[BoringGravy]

Originally Posted by dan-fox

I've always eyeballed the closest match to the "root" diameter of the screw(the diameter of the imaginary cylinder that the threads are wrapped around) using a set of wood bits by 64ths, then gone up one size from there - two sizes if you're working with #8 or larger wood screws.

Caution: I'm an amateur woodworker and I was taught this by an amateur woodworker (my dad).

That is the way I was taught to do it. I usually just wing it, though. I've never had a problem. I chose to just face-screw for this just bc it was convenient in the moment... and the trim/fin screws have such small heads that it just gets lost in the busy knotty pine.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by BurlKing

the T&G ceiling and walls you have are exactly what i plan on doing shortly, looks great and thanks for showing me what it'll look like. Glad to see someone else doing this at the same time as me, or near! keep the pictures coming so i can copy you lol, thanks!

Same here! I'll be doing similar for sure.
I actually thought of you, BK, when I saw these pics! Great minds think alike lol.

[RayAllen]

Killer build man, I am impressed. I will be buying my 1st bus soon and will be using yours as a reference for sure.

[BoringGravy]

I put up the tongue and groove on the front wall. Framed out the front door. Added some trim. Nothing crazy so far this week, just steady forward motion.

[Cabinbus]

very nice work

[Robin97396]

That is looking really nice with all that tonge and groove.

[BoringGravy]

Finally got around to priming the windows and trim. I used some Kilz Original. It covered all the wood grain really well, which is what I wanted for the windows and trim. Had one problem spot where pine tar kept leaking out. Nothing that couldn't be plugged with some wood filler, and then slammed with Kilz.

I waited a long time for the flooring. Eventually, my local Lowes was selling off a ton of special order Pergo. I ended up grabbing 18 cases for $90. Way more than I need, but what the hell?... 90% off. I will find a use for the extra. I think the color is smoked chestnut. Pergo Max Premier. All said and done... The floor cost just under $100 to put down. Not bad in my book. Very happy with it. You'll see that the flooring doesn't go all the way to the rear. The bed and some storage will occupy that space, so I figured there was no need to lay it down back there.

I got excited and put down the floor before the final paint. So I taped down some plastic and went to it. Ultra pure white... eggshell on the walls... semi-gloss on the trim. I believe it was Valspar Signature. Went on great. One heavy layer over the primed surface was plenty. I may skim the face when all is done, just to fix any dings or marks.

Hope ya'll like it. I will try to keep this updated.

[Brewerbob]

Little too dark on the flooring for my tastes but if I come across a deal like that, my tastes will just have to get over it..

If you had the cash, should have bought all of it and sell the remainder for what you paid for it. I'm sure there's another skoolie or two that could use it.

[Rusty]

Looking like an apartment !

Sweet score on the flooring- is a little dark, but once cabinets are in and a few throw rugs will lighten the look.