Tiny School Bus Home

So the year is 1979 and my friends all live in old school buses. I was tired of living in the City and paying rent so I decided to build my own Tiny School Bus Home. About the same time I found a book: "Rolling Homes" by Jane Lidz that lifted bus living to an art form. I also found "Mansions on Rails" by Lucius Beebe inspiring. Since the floor area was only 200 square feet I decided that better materials wouldn't cost much more.

The very first step was to buy an old school bus, which I did at a clearance auction. Next I removed all the seats, extra heater and the Stop Sign! The exterior "Stop" lights were painted over too. With the seats out I screwed down a 1/2" sub floor of plywood. Around the front and at the back door I put an Oak trim board to finish the edge of the hardwood floor. So it wouldn't show if the floor wasn't straight I put the wood strips in on a herring bone pattern. It was a bunch of work, but it looked nice.

To keep the weight down and have maximum storage space I built my own cabinets. Using left over oak floor boards and 6mm oak plywood I made panels for the sides and fronts of the cabinets. Friends gave me a great stove with an eye level oven. It had two burners exposed and you could pull the stove top out to have four burners. I put a LP tank under the floor for the stove and water heater. The drawers were wood front and back with the sides and bottom of sheet metal. To cut the cabinets to fit the curve of the bus interior I cut a template from cardboard. For water lines I used poly butylene since it was flexible enough to resist freezing. ( now they call it PEX ) A trailer supply house supplied a gray water holding tank that I plumbed with the water hoses from the bus heater. I used a breaker box with two breakers for electricity. All the wires were run through the walls and outlets mounted in the panels under the windows. I used stranded wire since it would be in a moving vehicle.

The left side had a sofa / bed over the wheel well. The top deck of the sofa would pull out into the isle to form a double bed when the seat cushions were unfolded. My sleeping bag would roll up to form the sofa's back rest. Night stand chest of drawers at the left end and a clothes closet at the right end. The closet had four drawers for socks and underwear. Extra linens and blankets would store under the bed. I used plastic packing straps with a snap at both ends for curtain rods. They snapped into fitting above the windows.

This was the view looking up from bed. The sky light was a side window meant for a van. It was a nice view, but it always leaked. I made covers for it, one to reflect sun light away and the other to insulate in Winter.

To open up the table area I put in a casement window. The corners are real stained glass made by a friend. The rest of the panels were Plexiglas. The first photo is of the neighbors who helped the day we cut the wall out. Hottest day in 1980 and the backs of my legs were sunburned to a crisp!

The window was very nice and with screens let a lot of fresh air in. I put screens over all the windows to keep the Folly Beach mosquitoes out. Below the window you can see a door to one of the four compartments I built under the floor. Great for extra storage.

I moved in after 6 months of building, but I really thought it was finished when I put in a wood stove. I used refrigerator doors to protect the walls from heat. ( like a steel wall would catch on fire?? ) The legs were set on porcelain cups and are bolted to the floor. The wood floor did need protection from the stove. I used a triple wall chimney through the roof. Lots of caulk on all the roof openings. The bread box under the stove is for ashes. Loading fire wood in the back door was handy. Tea kettle kept the air moist in the winter time.

At the front door I had all the toilet facilities. Just behind the side door was a waterless composting toilet. The step area could be enclosed for a shower. There was a sink on the side of the toilet compartment. Above the toilet was a cabinet for the stereo. I used four car door speakers in the ceiling for sound.

A friend gave me the back seat from his jeep for a driver's seat. When parked the seat could be swiveled to face the right side and made a nice sofa. The driver's visor made a nice towel bar for the shower. More small cabinets over this area for toilet paper and band aids.

The front area was the work shop. On the right side there was a solid work bench with a vise and drill press. Various tools were stored under the bench. On the left side I bolted my roll a round tool cabinet to the wall and used turnbuckles to hold the tool boxes on top. Next to the tool cabinet was room for my 10" table saw. One drawer in the tool cabinet had a miniature Unimat metal lathe / milling machine. And you just have to have some cute kitten photos. The kitten on the ladder is near the hatch to the roof deck where I pitched a tent in the Summer. It was cooler, but the mosquitoes would bite you through the nylon tent wall!

I lived in the bus full time for five years. At first campgrounds were inexpensive by the month. Then I spent two years out in the woods in Missouri, the winters were cold and I burned a load of wood to keep warm. The last year I stayed at a KOA near work, and it cost almost as much as a crummy apartment. I did learn keep track of things and always put stuff back when finished to keep the rest of the bus clear for moving around. When I did drive it to a new spot it cost about $100 a day, so not a cheap vacation vehicle. After leaving KOA the Bus lived in the back yard as a guest house. When I moved to a larger house it was just a storage area. Then the snakes and rats moved in so it was time to say Good Bye. I paid more to have it towed to Don's Auto Crushing than I paid for the Bus at the auction. At least Don gave a good metal scrap rate!

If I built today I would try to put in a mini-split air conditioner.

I hoped you enjoyed the story of the Bus and the ideas may help you decide how to build your own tiny house.

Write if you have any questions.

Best wishes, Carl.