How to remove school bus windows you ask?
Well, I got a lot of practice. And it’s like eating an elephant…one bite at a time!
Removing school bus windows is easy. It’s scraping the years of gunk of “˜em that’s hard.
Slow.
Tedious. (Even more tedious than removing the seats!)
But needs to get done!
We were lucky and had very few leaks in our windows. However, I could see some rust along the walls in places, so we knew water was getting in.
Besides, we wanted to paint them anyway…the “brushed aluminum” look just isn’t for us so they needed to come out for cleaning.
Labeling Skoolie Windows
I hear tell of school bus windows coming in various sizes. Which could make putting them back in an interesting game. Our next to the last windows on each side were bigger, but everything else was the same. (Including the emergency exit windows).
I numbered them anyway just to be safe.
I initially tried using a dry erase marker.
That didn’t work out so well.
The marker just rubbed off if you touched it.
So I went back with a permanent marker and numbered them on the sides of the frame.
How to Remove School Bus Windows
Using an impact driver with a Philip’s head, we unscrewed the tabs holding in the windows and dropped all the tabs and screws into a bucket.
Then, taking a thin pry bar, pried back the top of one side of the window just enough to get a thicker and longer pry bar under the flange. Using the thicker pry bar, we pried out the top from the tenacious grasp of 20-year-old butyl tape and somewhat younger silicone caulk.
We repeated the process on the other side of the window, then opened the window, pulled back on the top, and leaned out the window to cut the tape and caulking on the bottom of the window with a box-cutter knife.
If you don’t slice the gunk sealing the bottom of the window, when you pull it out, the aluminum frame on the bottom of the window bends. It becomes more difficult, then to put them back in.
To scrape the bottom of the window we used the box cutter knife, and, for the thicker stuff, a painter’s 5 in 1 tool.
For the stubborn stuff, we found warming it up with a heat gun helped.
Also, a blast of WD-40 on the silicone helped loosen it up. (Several people suggested that WD-40 worked just as well as Silicone Remover and was cheaper).
Again..it was a tedious process.
Remember the commercial “Time to Make the Donuts?”
I felt like that. “Time to clean the windows”¦.” (Insert sigh here.)
Washing School Bus Windows
After all the scraping, we needed an “initial” wash.
They’re going to need some additional cleaning down the road before we paint them, but for now, we just wanted to get off the grime, WD-40, and lollipop-sticky-fingered-child goop off the frames.
Most days, (yes, days…it took us 3 days to get these all done!) it was too cold to do outside with a pressure washer, which I would have liked to have done.
So I tried the bathtub.
Then the basement.
Then, on a slightly warmer day on the deck.
It didn’t really matter where…it was still a laborious process.
I Dawn dishwashing soap and a bristle brush to go over the entire window first. Then a scrubby sponge for some of the more caked-on dirt. Then some fine steel wool for the more stubborn parts. (The steel wool worked really well, actually!)
Reinstalling the Windows
So, we haven’t truly “reinstalled” them yet. We put them all back in to keep (most) of the rain/snow out while it sits in the driveway.
But they aren’t sealed…yet.
Painting School Bus Windows
First, we will sand them down with some 220 grit sandpaper, blow off the dust, and wipe them down with acetone.
Then prime them with a self-etching primer. You need an etching primer for aluminum. It creates a chemical bond for the primer to stick. Without it, the primer and/or paint will peel and bubble.
Finally, after finally settling on a color scheme for our bus, we will spray on the final coat of paint.
We hope to paint the bus and the windows all around the same time. That way, we don’t have to mask all the windows twice, and we can paint the bus without the windows in it!
Resealing Skoolie Windows
Once everything is painted, we can reinstall!
There is some debate about what to use when reinstalling the windows.
Silicone
Many people use silicone-based caulk without any issues. However, I have heard many a disparaging word about silicone for outside based situations. Although it keeps water from going all the way through, silicone can actually absorb water, making it more susceptible to mold. In addition, it’s tough to remove if you ever need to redo it. (Which I just did…and..it’s a royal pain in the you-know-what!)
Butyl Tape
Butyl tape is a common, inexpensive and effective way to create a waterproof seal between two flat, smooth surfaces. I’m not confident that my surfaces are smooth and flat anymore. After pulling and scraping at our window frames, they are scratched and warped in a few places. (Hey, that sounds like me!)
Thus, we’re going with option C: Seam Sealer
Seam Sealer
Urethane-based seam sealer will better fill in gaps left by scratches and distortions. It stays flexible, won’t absorb moisture, and can be painted, which is good. The drawback to it is that it needs paint to protect it from UV rays. Since most of it will be inside the window frame, it won’t need much but it will be worth it.
Conclusion
Budget some time for this operation! Julie and I worked 3-4 hours on it together on a Saturday, and I spent a couple of hours after school for three days after that scraping and cleaning. And we still haven’t actually painted or resealed them.
I guess it’s another typical Skoolie project: slow, laborious, but worth it in the end when you have a traveling home that’s an extension of yourself!
Post any questions or comments below…we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!