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Old 02-03-2016, 10:30 PM   #1
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Oct 2015
Posts: 340
Year: 2003
Chassis: E-450
Engine: 7.3 Turbo
Not another roof raise thread...

My apologies to those of you who may feel like this >>> at yet another thread asking about roof raises, but after reading every thread we can find, we're still not sure whether or not doing this is the right course of action for us. There are so many differing opinions on the subject, and we would love the chance to discuss this with anyone who cares to share there thoughts.

I'll keep my initial questions simple.

1. In your mind, what is better for a 6'1" individual: a bus built with 6'6" interior height or a custom roof raise. Why?

2. If you have performed a raise, what was the ballpark figure for the cost of materials needed to perform the job and how much time (in hours) did it take you?

Thanks guys.

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Old 02-03-2016, 11:42 PM   #2
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Im 6'0" the reason i did a raise wasnt because i wanted more head clearence. I've read about people doing small 8" raises for more clearence and to me it seems like a waist of time and energy. Im doing a 3 foot raise (yet to find out if thats a good idea or not) because i wanted loft space for 2 sleeping lofts.... and a hydroponics bay, so im getting more then a sense room im geting functional space and freeing space up down below. In fact because of it my bath room will be bigger than the one in my old house.....but the shower will have a head clearence of 6'3" so about 3"

Just the ribs (hat channel), tubular steel, and skin was about 1500. It will also be more on the interiorwall once i figure out what that will be and insulation. The 1500 would have been considerably less had my pieces been 4 inches shorter or my uncle had a larger sheet metal break but i had to pay a sheet metal shop to bend them for me.
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Old 02-04-2016, 01:02 AM   #3
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Location: Corvallis, OR
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Darn it, I was hoping for a roof LOWERING thread!
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Old 02-04-2016, 07:59 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zoomy View Post
Im 6'0" the reason i did a raise wasnt because i wanted more head clearence. I've read about people doing small 8" raises for more clearence and to me it seems like a waist of time and energy. Im doing a 3 foot raise (yet to find out if thats a good idea or not) because i wanted loft space for 2 sleeping lofts.... and a hydroponics bay, so im getting more then a sense room im geting functional space and freeing space up down below. In fact because of it my bath room will be bigger than the one in my old house.....but the shower will have a head clearence of 6'3" so about 3"

Just the ribs (hat channel), tubular steel, and skin was about 1500. It will also be more on the interiorwall once i figure out what that will be and insulation. The 1500 would have been considerably less had my pieces been 4 inches shorter or my uncle had a larger sheet metal break but i had to pay a sheet metal shop to bend them for me.
Yea, I've been following your thread closely. Your project is definitely bold and exciting! I wasn't aware you were putting in a hydroponics bay, thats pretty cool.

$1500 really isn't bad, especially considering a roof raise would open our search up to more buses that we could potentially get cheaper. That would offset the additional cost some I'm sure...

How long do you thing the raise has taken so far?
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Old 02-04-2016, 11:07 AM   #5
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I'm 5'11" and decided to raise the room on our amtran 16 inches. I did this so I could put 3.5" of hard board insulation in the floor and ceiling and still have some decent headroom, but still be short enough to put all our solar panels on top and not decapitate the bus going through an underpass. All in materials cost about $1100 and I used 16ga sheet and square tubing instead of custom made hat channel. Time spent on the roof raise is mostly in the prep work phase. Once I got everything braced and ready to lift the actual lift only took about an hour. I'd say I had a couple 4 hour days in prep, an hour lifting and probably two 6 hour days skinning everything...
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Old 02-04-2016, 02:05 PM   #6
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Nice info to have, slaughridge85! Thanks. I am also 6'0" and am also planning on 16-18" of raise when I get there. For the insulation, but also since I saw (on this forum IIRC but I can't find it) a skoolie where the roof was raised, then a "false ceiling" was put in at about the 7' level or thereabouts. This gave room over the ceiling to run all kinds of utilities. Particularly, AC/heating ductwork so it didn't all have to go into the toekicks of the kitchen casework.
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Old 02-04-2016, 05:00 PM   #7
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Can't wait to see the next round of updates on your project slaughridge86. Did you completely get rid of windows on one side of the bus? Looks great so far, and thats not a bad price for all that extra room (and warmth).

dan-fox, if you come across that thread I wouldn't mind taking a look too!
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Old 02-04-2016, 06:23 PM   #8
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I'm 6'1/2" & I did 11.5in raise so I can insulate the floor also, If I remember correctly it cost me around $2000.00 for sheetmetal, iron & fiberglass, doing it over again I would not use fiberglass where I transitioned from the unraised To raised section I'd pay a shop to make a sheetmetal piece for me.
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Old 02-04-2016, 09:56 PM   #9
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I'm 6'4" and the ceiling in my bus is 6'6", and I elected not to raise my roof. Every time I start to get crazy and think about raising the roof or dropping big $$ into a solar setup, I remind myself that the bus is for long weekend camping trips, not full time living! I think it all depends on what you plan to use the bus for and how much time, effort and money you are willing to spend on it.
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