Buslife Today

[Plantresilience]

Hello all!

Well, it's been over a week and I still don't regret the school bus in my driveway. We've gotten the seats out, and even managed to sell a few. . .

However, is a small mountain town seat disposal is certainly tricky. We aren't exactly teaming with scrap metal yards, that's for sure. For those of you who have turned in the metal to the seats. . . was it worth it?

We're beginning to tear up the floor now, down to the metal. Crossing fingers for no major rust. . . we've been very fortunate thus far. Still considering insulation and flooring options, even the possibility of a modest radiant floor heating system.

But what I really want to ask today is in regards to the bus seat cushions. We're going to remove the wall panels (and possibly ceiling) to add more insulation. . . what about using bits of the seat cushions? Any idea of the R value? Sure, they may be flammable but. . . I plan on having a lot of books in my skoolie. So, is this crazy? Has this been done? Have I not figured out the most effective way to use the Skoolie.net search function?

Not only am I a poor grad student, but I'd hate to see a useful material in the landfill. SO. . . thoughts?

 

[wunderhut]

For those of you who have turned in the metal to the seats. . . was it worth it?

It's always worth it. Even if you get no monies out of it. Please recycle and don't leave your old metal out in nature.

 

[Plantresilience]

Personally, I would never dump it out in the woods. . . or in a river ::shudder::. I would, however, just give it away to someone else if they had better tools and more space to rip them apart and separate materials. What do you think about using cushions as insulation?

 

[wunderhut]

Personally, I would never dump it out in the woods. . . or in a river ::shudder::. I would, however, just give it away to someone else if they had better tools and more space to rip them apart and separate materials. What do you think about using cushions as insulation?

All kinds of moisture can get absorbed by those sponge cushions, I wouldn't do it. And I've read somewhere that the spongy material used in cushions only has an R of ~0.2. I'll have to look to see where I read that.

As far as dismantling the seats, I did all 28 in about an hour and 15 minutes with a cordless drill and a razor knife.
The seat frames stacked nicely in a 5'X8' spot and the cusions stacked in an area about half of that size. :wink1: As seen here: http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/the-wunderhut-12339-3.html#post129048
Although my cushion stack fell over just before taking a pic of it...

 

[Plantresilience]

Wow! .2! Well that's not very effective.

I'm glad to hear about the stackability of the frames. Were you able to recycle the cushions?

 

[CaptainInsaneo]

What do you think about using cushions as insulation?

Do you want fart soaked "insulation" with little to no R value?

 

[Plantresilience]

hahaha. I was reflecting on that a bit. . . 25 years of farts. . . and who knows what else goes on in the back of the bus. . . This is why I didn't want to use the cushions for seating or bedding.

On the other hand, I was wondering if the seat covers themselves were decent protection. Of course, with the space that the material takes up, and the fact that it has no r-value. . . I'm opting out. I thought of it today after seeing a tiny home with recycled denim insulation. "what type of material do I have a surplus of right now. . ."

 

[RHOMBUS]

I stripped all of mine down and dropped them off at a scrap yard. I think I maybe got $18 for the metal. They charged me "tin" rate since it was hollow tube and no amount of debating changed anything. The cushions went to the landfill unfortunately, but I saved some of the cover material for possible use later.

Hopefully the windows are made of aluinum so I can break those apart and turn them in as well.

 

[Plantresilience]

RHOMBUS -

Thank you - you provided me with some of the specifics I've been looking for regarding scrap metal. For every $18. . you have funds for the tools and materials for the job. I plan on ending some of the windows from their school bus life as well, so let us know what the framing material is when you discover it.

Sunny Regards!
P