Roof Raise Confusion

[cadillackid]

I'd think for bob he would want to add 6" to the net raise as he is taller. Maybe an 18" raise on a standard bus or 12 if he has a tall height.
Christopher

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I'd think for bob he would want to add 6" to the net raise as he is taller. Maybe an 18" raise on a standard bus or 12 if he has a tall height.
Christopher

Current rib to floor without interior ceiling skin nor plywood floors is 74 1/2". Standing straight, shoes on, I can just touch with my head. The first step of the bus (on the way out) is 8" lower than the floor. That's a fairly good distance to the ceiling. The bottom step is 15" below the floor and seems to be overkill.

The outside of the bus to the top of the beacon is currently 10' 0". Even with the 6" to the 15", I would be under 12' which is my goal for sure. I just don't want to raise it 8", lose 6", and then decide I should have gone 10". Fill in the blanks with real numbers.

If it turns out that full sheets of 18 gauge are cheaper than pre-cut, I'll do the same as ECCB. Raise, walk around a little, raise again. I would like to have something the size of the floor and ceiling tho so I can "bump my head" properly.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Current rib to floor without interior ceiling skin nor plywood floors is 74 1/2". Standing straight, shoes on, I can just touch with my head. The first step of the bus (on the way out) is 8" lower than the floor. That's a fairly good distance to the ceiling. The bottom step is 15" below the floor and seems to be overkill.

I would go a foot minimum on the raise. It is wicked-nice to have high ceilings.

Try Alro Metals- they will work with retail customers. Don't be fixated on 4x8 sheets- there are other lengths/widths. Alro will custom-cut the steel for you. A little pricey, but they will work w/ you.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by Rusty

I would go a foot minimum on the raise. It is wicked-nice to have high ceilings.

Standing on the first step, 8" doesn't feel bad. Wish I had bee around for when ECCB did his just do see the difference between 6,8, 10 inches as it when up. Would be nice to see that yep 12 looks good, keep going. Nope 14 is too much, bring it back down.

Try Alro Metals- they will work with retail customers. Don't be fixated on 4x8 sheets- there are other lengths/widths. Alro will custom-cut the steel for you. A little pricey, but they will work w/ you.

Oh, I know. but 4x8 and 4x10 are "standard". Go away from those and the price changes quickly. Aside from lifting it, a nice 40 foot piece would be awesome.

[EastCoastCB]

Where I'm at Alro are the most expensive place to buy steel.

[Brewerbob]

Really? Just playing with the website now. There's a place semi close to me and the bus. I think they are cheaper than the 2 places really close to my house but a little more than the place in DE.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Really? Just playing with the website now. There's a place semi close to me and the bus. I think they are cheaper than the 2 places really close to my house but a little more than the place in DE.

Maybe they're cheaper for you.
We used to get our round stock from them, but our plates came from Tamba Bay Steel, Oneal, and some places in AL.

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

Really? Just playing with the website now. There's a place semi close to me and the bus. I think they are cheaper than the 2 places really close to my house but a little more than the place in DE.

It still might be cheaper to buy the bigger sheet and have them cut it to minimize waste. They also have coated/galvalum stuff. IT's really easy to cut 16 ga with the HF electric shear- it is a nice edge.




Get 'er done.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by Rusty

It still might be cheaper to buy the bigger sheet and have them cut it to minimize waste.

4'x10' has to be cheaper than 42"x110".

They also have coated/galvalum stuff.

I dunno what kind of metal or treating I need.

It's really easy to cut 16 ga with the HF electric shear- it is a nice edge.


Attachment 16247

I have a Horrible Freight one so if it has to be cut, I can do it.

Get 'er done.

I'd love to.




6 PC 08101105
18 GA CR SHEET 48 X 120 TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 48 IN x 120 IN
CC 480 lbs $71.16 $426.96



5 PC 08101005
18 GA CR SHEET 48 X 96 TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 48 IN x 96 IN
CC 320 lbs $57.18 $285.92


Material Total: $712.88

[Brewerbob]

Pre-cut is about $50 more

2 PC 08101150
18 GA CR SHEET MISC,TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 42 IN x 101 IN
CC 118 lbs $90.68 $181.36

2 PC 08101150
18 GA CR SHEET MISC,TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 42 IN x 115 IN
CC 134 lbs $73.60 $147.20

1 PC 08101150
18 GA CR SHEET MISC,TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 20 IN x 112 IN
CC 31 lbs $61.17 $61.17

1 PC 08101150
18 GA CR SHEET MISC,TEMPER PASS A1008 CS TYPE B 20 IN x 108 IN
CC 30 lbs $61.02 $61.02

[Brewerbob]

36"x120" is only $9 less than 48"x120".

[Brewerbob]

DE location is:

6 pcs 18ga 4'x10' $52.62 $315.72
6 pcs 18ga 4'x8' $42.10 $252.60

$607.39


I might just have to drive up there Fri and get me some sheet metal!!!!

[family wagon]

That doesn't seem too bad to me. We'd hope the 36 inch would be 0.75*$71=$53, but if it's $62 instead, then the $9 premium per sheet gets you pieces that are the right size and ready to use. You don't have to spend 5-10 minutes getting each sheet up onto a table, marked, and cut in a wavy line and leaving a rippled edge.

Maybe it's just my inner cynic who's been burned (only a little, thankfully) by having material sheared for me, so take this for what it's worth. If you're going to have them cut pieces for you, submit your request in writing and include on the request a tolerance specification. "Materials must be cut square and within 1/8" of nominal size," or whatever you can tolerate. If tolerance isn't specified you could end up with parts that don't meet your need and a vendor that won't refund your money nor re-make the parts. At the very least, ask on the phone what is their dimensional tolerance.

[Brewerbob]

Originally Posted by family wagon

That doesn't seem too bad to me. We'd hope the 36 inch would be 0.75*$71=$53, but if it's $62 instead, then the $9 premium per sheet gets you pieces that are the right size and ready to use. You don't have to spend 5-10 minutes getting each sheet up onto a table, marked, and cut in a wavy line and leaving a rippled edge.

Meh, I've got a rub rail to hide it behind.

Maybe it's just my inner cynic who's been burned (only a little, thankfully) by having material sheared for me, so take this for what it's worth. If you're going to have them cut pieces for you, submit your request in writing and include on the request a tolerance specification. "Materials must be cut square and within 1/8" of nominal size," or whatever you can tolerate. If tolerance isn't specified you could end up with parts that don't meet your need and a vendor that won't refund your money nor re-make the parts. At the very least, ask on the phone what is their dimensional tolerance.

That would severely piss me off!! The Alro site had tolerances you could choose from:
+/- 1/16"
+0/- 1/8"
+ 1/8"-0
+/- 1/8"

For the pricing I posted, I picked the sloppiest +/- 1/8".

[Brewerbob]

5'x10' pre-painted green is $34.96

[Brewerbob]

In the qty of 12, the 5'x10' are $31.97.

If this keeps up, I'm going to order 120 sheets and become a metal speculator on Flea Bay. How many of you need sheet metal? Delivery available for an additional charge.

[Brewerbob]

Crap, now she tells me all of the pre-painted ones are gone. Should have paid for them and then raised unholy hell until they gave me 4x10s unpainted for the same price.

[The Rockwood Colony]

Hey guys! It's been a long time since I jumped on here. I have never been so busy in my life. I've been getting 4 hours of sleep a night and working otherwise for a couple months now. I've been getting to spend more time on the bus lately and I have good news! We finally got the roof technically raised up! We seen this video called something like "Redneck Roof Raise" on youtube and more or less lifted the roof that way with bumper jacks and 2x10 boards. Link to video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTIiztv-fR4&t=8s

All of the ribs aren't attached yet but we are getting close. The goal is to get all of the sheet metal installed and seam seal the roof and everywhere else that needs it before winter so we have a waterproof shell to work in all winter!

So here is the deal.. I've came to you guys today for guidance once again. Its about the structural integrity of the bus and how we are assembling it. So as some of you know I got hat channel made to lap over the back of the existing hat channel to raise the roof. We had the plan of doing this without any welding. If your curious why you can read way back in this thread where I go into detail about it but long story short a body shop and welding teacher convinced me not to do any welding while raising the roof except for supports for the front top of the roof transition from original height to the now 21 inch higher area of the roof. We are using just adhesive and many rivets. Anyways, So I was sitting and thinking about how we were going to assemble everything everything without welding. So I came up with the idea of jacking up the roof, adhering the new hat channel on, and then using bolts, washers, and lock nuts to hold them in place and support the roof. This way we get added strength to the ribs and now we will have less problems installing the sheet metal now.

Well I feel like we ran into a problem.. I'm not sure it's a problem but thats why I'm asking you guys. So the original hat channel is 14g steel and the new hat channel is 14g stainless steel. Where I think we might have screwed up is the bolts and nuts we used to hold the hat channel together. We used zinc hardware. I'm sure you are wondering why knowing that I was fastening steel to steel. At the time of the purchase I was practically flat broke and we were/are running out of time. And as some of you may know, stainless steel hardware is much more expensive. Well anyways when I was cranking down on some of the nuts and bolts I was breaking the head of the bolt if I cranked to hard.

So this is the advice I need from you guys. We only have 9 pieces of hat channel left to install out of 26. That means 17 of these were installed with this zinc hardware. Each section is bolted on by 2 bolts on the top and 2 bolts on the bottom. My question is would you guys replace all of this zinc hardware with stainless steel hardware or do you think I'm ok with the zinc and finishing the hat channels with stainless steel nuts and bolts? Keep in mind that the washers we used are made out of steel and we used a washer on both sides of the hat channel so 2 per bolt and nut. I'm kind of freaking out because as we sandwiched the hat channel on to the old hat channel we laid down 3 beads of adhesive. Once bead down the center straight through the piloted holes for the bolts and a bead in the corner of each flange where the stainless steel rivets are going through.

Sorry for the long drawn out story and question. Please give me some advice because I feel like this is the most important part of the build for the strength of our new houses sake!!!

Thanks guys!






These images were taken when we only had 8 sections of hat channel complete. It looks like all most of them are because we attached all of them with one bolt on the top before we raised it just so they would be prepped and ready to pilot holes to save time.

[The Rockwood Colony]

[The Rockwood Colony]

Anyone with experience out there that can give me some advice, ideas, critiquing, or anything that might help me out with some decisions here would be very appreciate for their efforts! I have to get this thing moving!!! South Dakota winters are no fun I tell ya. One day it's in the 60's then the next day it's -10 degrees. Mine as well live in the arctic!!!