After a week of working on this demolition we are really starting to get tired. It has been physically draining and we are really looking forward to reaching the end of it and moving onto building rather than tearing apart. Our new lifestyle living in the country has been fun for us all though, especially the cats!
They have spent their lives being indoor cats in the city. Once we begin travelling in the bus we want them to be able to get outside and enjoy exploring new places with us, but keep them safe. Cats can get spooked really easily and we wouldn’t want them running off to hide in an area that they don’t know, so we are leash training them. Cats don’t particularly like leashes, but we found once they got outside their curious nature helped them overcome the fact that they have a leash attached to them. Their lives have definitely been enriched by this new daily activity.
Meanwhile back inside the bus we have worked on “cleaning up”. We used a Shop-Vac to vacuum up as much of the fiberglass insulation off the ceiling as possible. It took off the big chunks of insulation. This Shop-Vac has been essential, there is always such a mess after pulling things apart and we vacuum daily after each job and a regular vacuum can’t handle the job. We also took the fiberglass wall panel off the back of the bus to see what is back there. It is filled with foam insulation and what looks like fire retardant sound deadening insulation. We decided to keep everything and we may reuse it and just add more spray foam insulation (just like we are doing with the side walls).
We started removing the fiberglass ceiling at the front of the bus and realized that it actually fitted under the lip of the front of the windscreen and we couldn’t just take that out without taking out the window or figuring out how to reseal the windscreen. So we opted to just cut the fiberglass at a seam so we can still build storage cupboards in this area, but we will have to do some more research before we make a final decision about sealing this area up.
Don found this paint and rust stripping wheel and did a test to see if he could sand off the rust we found on the frame. It worked great and we were relieved to see that it is mostly just surface rust and that we will be able to remove it and keep the integrity of the frame strong. But this was enough work for today, and that is a whole other job for another time!
Up Next
We get a tiny bit closer to the end of the demolition - taking out the floors.
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This has been our "Hero" tool. With the bus as filthy as it is, we needed a work horse shop vac. The one we are using is an older version of this one here.
Gator Paint and Rust Stripping Wheel
We tried this paint and rust wheel to remove the rust and were pleased with the results. It works on electric drills and when we tested it, it took the surface rust right off without damaging the metal.
