Windows & Insulation

[Gus Magilke]

I put two basement thermo pane windows in the plywood walls where the original bus windows were. This required the cutting of a metal stud that supports the wall & roof of the bus. This isn't something I wanted to do as I didn't have access to a welder. I did install angle iron braces across the top of the window, supported them on either side with upright pieces of 2X2 and screwed them in with angle iron braces to the existing braces on either side of the window along with angle iron braces holding the support that was compromised by cutting it off. I framed the window with 2X2's; then installed the windows. I've driven the bus over 1,000 miles since this and everything seems to be quite solid yet. I put one of these in each side. I'm glad I did as they have proven to invaluable for purposes of light & side draft as the weather warms in these northern climates.

I then drove the bus 75 miles to Williston, ND when it was -15 degree's outside to a gentleman that had a pit in his shop for the specific purpose of spraying spray foam insulation on the underside of trucks, tanks, and now of course, a bus. The shop was brand new and my bus was one of the trial run jobs he did after building his new shop.(The first one burned to the ground). When I went to pick the bus up one of the rear duals was flat. He'd run over a nail driving it in the shop. I went to have it fixed and the truck shop would not fix the tire. They declared it unsafe by some criteria the DOT has set up for Semi trucks; so I had to buy a new tire. All in all there ended up being 4" of spray foam under the bus in the cabin area. As you can see they sprayed the wheel wells too which, at this point doesn't seem to be a problem. This was the single most expensive thing I did to this bus; but I'm glad I did. It proved to be a good move, I realized, as I worked on the bus the rest of the winter.

The outside wall area was insulated with 31/2" batt insulation where the windows had been and 2" insulation on the lower walls. I chose not to remove the tin and existing insulation from the lower walls as the climate where this bus lived its life is, comparatively, dry so I wasn't to worried about mold as some might be buying buses in climates with higher humidity. Besides there is a rivet ever 2" or so on every stud and I didn't want to go there at all. After the insulation was up I stapled plastic over everything. This picture was taken looking forward. You can see the side folding door as well as the stud wall I built behind the drivers seat of the bus.

Although I did the 110V wiring before the insulation I really didn't get any good pictures of it. It is all running behind the short 6" panels that you see the 12V bus lights mounted in. It is looped down to a level that is convenient to place an outlet then looped back up and continues to run along behind the 6" light panels. If you look closely in the following two pictures you can see the wiring. This wiring is in the wall behind the drivers seat that feeds a light and an outlet right alongside the doorway on the inside cabin wall.