Roof raise w/o ceiling removal

[Dorothy Harris]

Hello everybody! We’ve had Dorothy Harris (think Forrest Gump) for over a year now and are only days away from starting the real tear down/build up!

A few newbie question we have are as follows:

- we're planning a roof raise but are trying to eliminate unnecessary work. Do we really need to tear off the ceiling panels since we’re raising it up anyway? Just cover the perforated steel with insulation and tongue and groove etc?

Same question but with the floor. Our bus has the adjustable seat tracks bolted to the floor. It’s a 28’ Handy bus. Like 9,643 tiny Allen head bolts filled with gunk that are not even close to easy to remove holding down each track. The last picture shows the inside and the floor tracks.

She’s a 2002 8 window with the 5.9 Cummins. I’ve seen no sign of rust anywhere so far. It came from Vegas and has only been in Washington state for like 5 years or so.

Thanks everybody! This site is amazing!

Brett and Heather

 

[Simplicity-SKO]

Interesting thought on the ceiling panels. My first thought is it should be fine.

If you do a good job of sealing the roof so there are no leaks, then add the insulation and t&g ceiling planks, it seems that between the planks and insulation there should be enough to stop any thermal bridging between the metal ceiling panels and cabin air (heat or cold).

I'm wondering if it would be a good idea to put a layer of tvek house wrap between the metal ceiling and the insulation? I have no facts or logic behind this idea, just wondering.

Per the floor, I get that you don't want to pull up all those hex head bolts, and maybe everything below the current floor is hunky dory. But, if it's not, then you have to remove everything you put on that flooring to fix whatever may be wrong.

Per those tracks, I think those are valuable as ways to secure cabinets and such to the bus.

Are the tracks attached directly to the metal floor or is the floor wood between the tracks and metal?

Could you remove the wood from around the tracks, and if the tracks are attached directly to the metal floor, repair whatever and refloor keeping the tracks available.

If the tracks have wood under them, after removing the wood around the tracks, you'll be able to punch out the wood under the tracks, then use a grinder to cut off the bolts, repair, refloor and reinstall the tracks.

How's that sound?

 

[Lee Savoy]

I’ve seen no sign of rust anywhere so far. It came from Vegas and has only been in Washington state for like 5 years or so.

Our bus has zero rust that was visible, other than the rear door hinges and the light hoods. The underside looks perfect, the paint on the rear axle is still shiny. There was only one place we had any significant rust, under the floor. I'd at least pull up a test section here or there and see what's going on.

 

[Drew Bru]

- we're planning a roof raise but are trying to eliminate unnecessary work. Do we really need to tear off the ceiling panels since we’re raising it up anyway? Just cover the perforated steel with insulation and tongue and groove etc?

We did this and it made a dramatic difference for both heat and cold. 1/2" insulation and 1/4" wood covering it. We sealed all of the seams on top of the bus with a bead of sealant just to prevent any future leaks that could go unnoticed. I suspect your floor would be fine too.

 

[Dorothy Harris]

After reading your replies and giving it a little more thought, I think I’ll leave the ceiling in but cut up and remove the plywood from the floor. Hopefully I can remove the floor tracks easier with the plywood out also. I don’t want to have any issues down the road and need to tear it up then.

Thank you guys for the advice. I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions very soon!

 

[Simplicity-SKO]

Dorothy, I think that's a reasonable choice.

Also, this is kind of tongue in cheek, but very relevant to conversions.

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f10/the-ten-skoolie-commandments-35502.html

Keep asking "before" doing. Should save you a lot of time, money and effort.

Best of luck.