Majikfoolbus
Member
so over the last 2 or 3 evenings my dad and I have successfully mounted a 20'x8' deck to the roof of my 86 bluebird. and im excited to be able to show you step by step how we did it. my dad is a self employed 30+year carpenter so he was definitely the brains of the operation. this is my first attempt at a "how to" so bare with me. but i know a lot of people are trying to figure out how to get a deck on their bus so many should be happy to see another option.
so first off most of the wood used is pressure treated, but we used a litte ceder as well which you will see. we use these types of wood because water and insects do not effect them.
so to start we figured out where the 4x4 mounting brackets should go, marked the holes, predrilled them(Everything Gets Predrilled before screwing, dont want to slipt anything), and then filled the holes full of silicone calking to reseal the holes before screwing the brackets in.
these are the screws used the mount the bracktes.
used 10 screws in each bracket, these things arent going anywhere. and 6 brackets, 3 on each side.
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/members/6363-albums949-picture13335.jpg
next we screwed 33" pressure treated 2x4s into each of the of the brackets. these are longer than we needed but we werent exactly sure how long we needed until we got them up there.
once we figured out the length, just marked and cut.
after that we screwed in the rim using pressure treated 2x8s, and 3" deck screws.
once we got the rim up we nailed a 1x1 ceder ledge around the whole thing to hold up the edges of the 2" rigid blue insulation that we then laid down and is in between the deck and the roof. this rigid insulation is extreamly stong. im insulating the roof from the outside as you can see. and also you can see we had to notch the front 2x8 to fit the arch of the buses roof.
after that, all that was left to do was screw in the pressure treated 2x4 cross support pieces. and put on the decking.the cross pieces are supported in the middle by the 2"rigid and roof of the bus.
to finish up the frame we ran more 1x1 ceder on top of the rigid insulation to hopefully keep it from flapping in the wind while driving
it looks pretty good from the ground!!! so far... its not finished yet but that is all the hard stuff. i will be using regular 2x6s that im going to stain and waterproof myself, and that will be the top of the deck.
i will post pictures of the finished deck and how i spaced the boards once i finish it in a few days. and also pics to come on the custom interior we just started on as well. so far the whole floor is insulated and plywood finish with 1" rigid and 1/2" cdx plywood.
so first off most of the wood used is pressure treated, but we used a litte ceder as well which you will see. we use these types of wood because water and insects do not effect them.
so to start we figured out where the 4x4 mounting brackets should go, marked the holes, predrilled them(Everything Gets Predrilled before screwing, dont want to slipt anything), and then filled the holes full of silicone calking to reseal the holes before screwing the brackets in.
these are the screws used the mount the bracktes.
used 10 screws in each bracket, these things arent going anywhere. and 6 brackets, 3 on each side.
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/members/6363-albums949-picture13335.jpg
next we screwed 33" pressure treated 2x4s into each of the of the brackets. these are longer than we needed but we werent exactly sure how long we needed until we got them up there.
once we figured out the length, just marked and cut.
after that we screwed in the rim using pressure treated 2x8s, and 3" deck screws.
once we got the rim up we nailed a 1x1 ceder ledge around the whole thing to hold up the edges of the 2" rigid blue insulation that we then laid down and is in between the deck and the roof. this rigid insulation is extreamly stong. im insulating the roof from the outside as you can see. and also you can see we had to notch the front 2x8 to fit the arch of the buses roof.
after that, all that was left to do was screw in the pressure treated 2x4 cross support pieces. and put on the decking.the cross pieces are supported in the middle by the 2"rigid and roof of the bus.
to finish up the frame we ran more 1x1 ceder on top of the rigid insulation to hopefully keep it from flapping in the wind while driving
it looks pretty good from the ground!!! so far... its not finished yet but that is all the hard stuff. i will be using regular 2x6s that im going to stain and waterproof myself, and that will be the top of the deck.
i will post pictures of the finished deck and how i spaced the boards once i finish it in a few days. and also pics to come on the custom interior we just started on as well. so far the whole floor is insulated and plywood finish with 1" rigid and 1/2" cdx plywood.
