Skoolie Floorplan

Below you will see the floorplan and one elevation for the bus! 

I was able to draw these once we had the bus cleared and could get some firm measurements and  check window and door locations. We are pretty excited to be in construction mode now! Our goal is to provide a space that is welcoming for up to six months for four to five people. 

Skoolie Build Days Eight through Ten!

Hi Everyone! A team from the University of California at Berkeley are here this week helping with the Skoolie build. Whew! What a week! We finished installing the ceiling insulation, popped all the rivet backs in the ceiling, and re-installed the metal panels. 

Little man learning how to use a caulk gun with Julia! 

Popping out all those rivet backs!

Installing the ceiling insulation. 

Ceiling panels re-installed and rust stopper applied to the floor! 

This has one hard working group and I am so thankful for their help! Each time we mark off an item on the list we are closer to being able to offer this as a temporary home for those in need!

Praise be to God!

Skoolie Build Day Seven

Today was all about measuring twice and cutting once:) We removed some remnants of the old ceiling insulation, vacuumed again, and the started installing the new ceiling insulation.

The first panel. CONSTRUCTION has officially begun! 

Skoolie Build Day Six!

We removed the STOP sign and cleaned the entire interior today!

Bye, bye stop sign! We will reuse it in the interior in a fun and to-be-decided way!

Skoolie Build Day Five

We have another group of volunteers working with us this week! Five ladies from Jackson, Mississippi, are here to help. Three of them have been here 5+ times with their church youth group, so they are very familiar with the setup! 

Today Mr. Harry showed us how to remove the motor and transmission from our 1974 International Blue Bird Bus. We had to turn the bus around so we could access the front. Since we didn't have any brakes, we were pretty excited to accomplish this without taking out anything or anyone! We also finished drawing the floorplan and placing it in the bus.

Skoolie Build Day Four

Today is the last day we had the group from RUF PITT with us! Sadness. They are such a hard working crew!

We were able to use the shop vacuum to clean all the loose surface dirt. We also took cardboard and measured out full scale items for the floorplan.. The floorplan changed a bit once we knew all the window locations. 

Cardboard city! 

It was amazing to have these volunteers with us to start working on the bus! We are thankful that they chose to join us for a week of manual labor and mercy ministry within the community. 

Skoolie Build Day Three

Today we removed two heaters, all of the ceiling panels and insulation, and removed debris.

Caroline removed most of the rivets!

Heater removal! SO MUCH Antifreeze!

Heaters, ceiling panels, and all insulation removed! 

We have a cute little project manager! :)

Our HARD working crew from RUF at PITT

Skoolie Build Day Two

Today we removed part of the heater, the entire rubber flooring, the wall panels, and wall insulation. We were considering keeping the ceiling, but the test panel that we removed showed insufficient insulation for this climate. Most of the panels were attached with rivets. It was a slow go until our construction guru, Uncle Dave, showed up to give us some pointers. Thanks, Uncle Dave!

A volunteer removing wall panels.

Mid- day progress shot!

Starting the removal of the steering wheel shaft!

Skoolie Build Day One

Today we cleaned out the entire bus and removed the center aisle flooring. We also removed the driver's seat bolts. Someone had already removed the seats and brackets ( Praise!) in the past. We had four people continuously working while one person prayed. These tasks took 4.5 hours total.

I read The Gospel Coalition blog this morning before beginning and it was so appropriate considering the project that we embarked on that day!

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/scotty-smith/gods-glory-not-mans-approval/

The day ended with a major sweeping job to remove so many years of dirt from the bus floor!

The beginning state!

Removing bolts from driver's seat.

Giving it a good sweep!

SRM Skoolie #1

This week we began converting a 1974 Blue Bird International school bus into a tiny home for emergency housing. We have a group from RUF at PITT volunteering this week! Four of their team members and I are doing demo this week. Below are a few pictures of the bus before we started.