Tall roof raise.... Why?

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Everyone,

I think many of us are here because of the flexibility and freedom to build a rig that suits each of our individual wants and needs.

I chose to raise the roof on my bus 10" in order to gain headroom, accomodate insulation and add to the "sense of space". For me 10" meets my needs very well.

I have seen a handful of builds here with plans for a 24"-36" raise and wonder what the motivation is for going that high?

How do you take advantage of the additional height?

Thanks for indulging my curiosity

 

[EastCoastCB]

Hey Everyone,

I think many of us are here because of the flexibility and freedom to build a rig that suits each of our individual wants and needs.

I chose to raise the roof on my bus 10" in order to gain headroom, accomodate insulation and add to the "sense of space". For me 10" meets my needs very well.

I have seen a handful of builds here with plans for a 24"-36" raise and wonder what the motivation is for going that high?

How do you take advantage of the additional height?

Thanks for indulging my curiosity

I often wonder how much they've driven a bus before deciding on these heights.

 

[o1marc]

I thought cathedral ceilings in my home would be cool, until it came time to heat and cool those 16' ceilings. I can see very little advantage other than head room and a bit of overhead storage to have to go that high. Here's one of those time where being short is an advantage.

 

[PNW_Steve]

I see that I am not the only one who is wondering "why?"......

 

[EastCoastCB]

I see that I am not the only one who is wondering "why?"......

I already have clearance problems with my regular buses when driving around. Low branches are the worst.

 

[CaseyBrown]

Each Individual has their own reasons for going "high", I'll try to explain mine.

It really boils down to form following function. As I have pointed out a couple of times on this forum, Angie and I plan to live full time in our bus when we retire in 5 years. For the first few years at least we plan to be off-grid as much as possible on public lands. The biggest limitation as to how long you can stay in the boonies by far is water ( especially when the occasional shower is part of the grand bargain with your bride ). To that end I plan on around 240-250 gallons of water storage. That means up to a ton of weight, and I just don't feel comfortable suspending that kind of weight under the bus. From about eight feet from the back of the driver seat to the the back of the bus I will be building a 12" high false floor that will allow me to put 3 80 gallon water tanks inside centered on top of the frame. The rest of the space underneath will used for batteries, plumbing, electrical paths, and storage via trap doors. The front 8 feet will be a sunken living room with a full 8 ft plus ceiling. The final lift size was limited by the 60" limit of 5x10 sheet stock. 1/2" above and below the rivet lines gave me 27". With the false floor my effective raise inside is 15" for most of the floor space.

Doing this also gives me room under the bus for long term storage items, as well as room for a slide out work bench and tools for my various hobbies, as well of course for a sizable grey tank.

As EastCoastCB pointed out, it isn't all roses. There is no doubt going to be limitations as to where I can go, but with diligent planning and scouting we'll find plenty of options.

Anyhoo, thats how I ended up with a 12 foot plus bus.

Casey

 

[o1marc]

Each Individual has their own reasons for going "high", I'll try to explain mine.


Anyhoo, thats how I ended up with a 12 foot plus bus.

Casey

So you essentially did a roof and floor raise. Did you end up with 15" more headroom, or was the total lift 15"? 15" is reasonable and not fall into the "tall" roof raise of 24-36".

 

[CaseyBrown]

15" more headroom..the total lift was 27". The sunken living room in the front gets the full monty lift .

Casey

 

[PNW_Steve]

Each Individual has their own reasons for going "high", I'll try to explain mine.

It really boils down to form following function. As I have pointed out a couple of times on this forum, Angie and I plan to live full time in our bus when we retire in 5 years. For the first few years at least we plan to be off-grid as much as possible on public lands. The biggest limitation as to how long you can stay in the boonies by far is water ( especially when the occasional shower is part of the grand bargain with your bride ). To that end I plan on around 240-250 gallons of water storage. That means up to a ton of weight, and I just don't feel comfortable suspending that kind of weight under the bus. From about eight feet from the back of the driver seat to the the back of the bus I will be building a 12" high false floor that will allow me to put 3 80 gallon water tanks inside centered on top of the frame. The rest of the space underneath will used for batteries, plumbing, electrical paths, and storage via trap doors. The front 8 feet will be a sunken living room with a full 8 ft plus ceiling. The final lift size was limited by the 60" limit of 5x10 sheet stock. 1/2" above and below the rivet lines gave me 27". With the false floor my effective raise inside is 15" for most of the floor space.

Doing this also gives me room under the bus for long term storage items, as well as room for a slide out work bench and tools for my various hobbies, as well of course for a sizable grey tank.

As EastCoastCB pointed out, it isn't all roses. There is no doubt going to be limitations as to where I can go, but with diligent planning and scouting we'll find plenty of options.

Anyhoo, thats how I ended up with a 12 foot plus bus.

Casey

Thank you Casey,

That makes sense to me.

Where are you located? I am in Dayton. If you are not too far away, I would love to come and see your bus.

S.

 

[CaseyBrown]

Hi Steve,

I am 25 miles west of Yakima, around 25 miles from the summit of Chinook pass on hwy 410. Be happy to have you if your out this way.

Casey

 

[PNW_Steve]

Hi Steve,

I am 25 miles west of Yakima, around 25 miles from the summit of Chinook pass on hwy 410. Be happy to have you if your out this way.

Casey

Looks like you are almost three hours from me. Next time I head towards Yakima I will ping you and see if we can connect.

 

[CaseyBrown]

Looks like you are almost three hours from me. Next time I head towards Yakima I will ping you and see if we can connect.

So that's what the "Reply With Quote" button does

Ya..I mapquested Dayton earlier. We are not exactly neighbors. If I find myself out your way I'll do the same.

Casey

 

[RoadsideJourney]

We raised my bus 24". I wanted at least a 12" raise, to account for 2-3 inches of spray foam & wood in the ceiling and floor, plus some headroom for the tall people in my family. My dad convinced me to go the full 24" so there wouldn't be any waste in the sheet metal.

We are also going to raise the floor 12" and put the 200 gal fresh water tanks and 100 gal grey tanks in the floor storage ("floorage") so it won't freeze.

 

[EastCoastCB]

We raised my bus 24". I wanted at least a 12" raise, to account for 2-3 inches of spray foam & wood in the ceiling and floor, plus some headroom for the tall people in my family. My dad convinced me to go the full 24" so there wouldn't be any waste in the sheet metal.

We are also going to raise the floor 12" and put the 200 gal fresh water tanks and 100 gal grey tanks in the floor storage ("floorage") so it won't freeze.

Sounds like it would be pretty tippy.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

How do you take advantage of the additional height?

For me, there were lots of reasons to go 24". A roof raise in general because I am 5'9", wish to go four-seasons in cold climates, and thus need approximately 8" minimum insulation ceiling and floor, plus flooring/ceiling. I am also closing in the drivers/cab area and creating a cab-over loft/grandmas attic to be accessible from the house portion of the bus. This will create room for an extra sleeping place instead of having to cobble together furniture or put in bunk beds that will only be used very occasionally. Also, frankly, I refuse to live in what feels like a giant metal tube. Extra ceiling height gives me more options for an open feel (for example, squaring off the corners to remove the roundness of the ceiling), as well as storage options, a place to run wiring/ducting, etc. Another reason was that it allowed me to raise the placement of my windows, providing lots of light and a view of the outside, but making it much more difficult for anyone at ground level outside to see directly into my house aka bus. I am also planning on putting at least my 100 gal fresh water, and possibly my 100 gal grey water tank inside the conditioned space of the bus, eating up precious floor-to-ceiling inches (please see the aforementioned desire to four-season in cold climates).

Another reason that I started off thinking towards 24" was to make it so that a 4x8 sheet of metal would fit evenly over the gap without needing to be trimmed (this ultimately ended up not needing to be the case, but only because I worked with someone who could custom order his sheet sizes in bulk).

Finally, my initial bus height was only 9'8", so I wasn't too worried about raising it 2 feet, and felt like I had the room to do so.

I have only just finished the raise portion, but the difference it made in the "feel" of the inside space alone was worth it.

 

[FuzzWantsABus]

Sounds like it would be pretty tippy.

I'm confused by this reply? How does putting that much weight at floor height make things tippy? I'm thinking of doing this too, so if I'm missing something vital, I'd love to know now.

 

[EastCoastCB]

I'm confused by this reply? How does putting that much weight at floor height make things tippy? I'm thinking of doing this too, so if I'm missing something vital, I'd love to know now.

Raising the overall vehicle profile on a vehicle that's already a bit narrow at the axles for its height. Then raising the floor, thus raising the COG even more.
Driving a high headroom stock bus I run into all kinds of stuff hitting the front cap and roof, and out on the highway buses are already a little on the "tipsy" side.
To each their own- more power to you for doing what you want.

But frankly those super high lifts make the bus a lot less drivable. For many, this isn't a concern as they stay mostly local or stationary.

 

[o1marc]

Raising the overall vehicle profile on a vehicle that's already a bit narrow at the axles for its height. Then raising the floor, thus raising the COG even more.
Driving a high headroom stock bus I run into all kinds of stuff hitting the front cap and roof, and out on the highway buses are already a little on the "tipsy" side.
To each their own- more power to you for doing what you want.

But frankly those super high lifts make the bus a lot less drivable. For many, this isn't a concern as they stay mostly local or stationary.

On my way home from Seattle I hit a couple of downhill stretches that had a curve at the bottom and I was going a bit too fast, was able to control it and get whoaed up in time. Having a 24" lift I guarantee I would have wrecked. A full size bus is big enough already to be a handful, I'm certainly not interested in owning one, one advantage to being shorter than 5'9".

 

[Tango-SKO]

And then there are the crosswinds...

 

[Whatthefak]

I really wish I didn't have to raise my roof, it's money and time I could use for other stuff.

I almost rub my head on my high roof Thomas after pulling the floor and ceiling

I haven't decided on a height yet but nothing crazy I plan on driving, probably alot. I'm thinking 10"-18"
Idk what I'd do with 3ft