Time to move on to installing the skoolie ceiling and wall furring strips.
After the great subflooring debacle I felt apprehensive about the next carpentry project. And this was doubly worrisome because I’m normally fairly confident in the realm of carpentry.
But forge ahead we must!
Wall Design
We decided on 2×2 furring strips for both the bus ceiling and the walls.
And by 2×2 I mean 1 1/2 x 1 11/16.
A 2×4 is really 1 1/2 by 3 1/2 . (It was rough cut at 2×4 and then planed down to it’s final dimensions). Instead of ripping them exactly in half, I cut the at 1 11/16.
Why?
Because accounting for the blade kerf and the variations in wood thickness (some have more moisture content than others) I find it’s more consistent if I rip both sides exactly the same.
I bought a few 2×4’s, scrounged others, and had salvaged a bunch of 2×10 rafter cut-offs from another project.
Skoolie Wall Furring Strip Placement
I considered screwing them into the sides of the rib to save a few inches of floor space, but it seemed like it would complicate things too much. I wanted to line up framing between windows where wall walls would sit, so it seemed better to attach the furring strips to the face of the ribs.
Furring Strip Screw Choices
I had mixed results with a variety of screw choices.
I wanted a self-tapping screw so that I wouldn’t have to pre-drill every hole in the bus rib.
I also tend to prefer star-drive or hex heads as opposed to phillip heads to prevent them from stripping out.
I have seen many people go with the Teks self tapping hex head, so I have them a try.
My Rigid impact driver didn’t punch them in very well.
My Milwauki 1/2 inch heavy duty drill punched them too well: about 30% of the tips broke off when they hit the metal.
So the process was slow going.
But I made progress.
I ended up running out of Teks, and thought I would try something else. I tried some other screw that I don’t even remember the name of now, but they were a complete disaster and wouldn’t self-tap at all. (I would tell you the name, but I took them back so fast I can’t remember!) Rather than drive all the way back to the big box store, I stopped in to a local lumber store and picked up some Hillsman self-tappers with a Phillips head.
I was wary of the phillips head. And with good reason. If I wasn’t perfectly square into the screw, the head would strip out. However, if I stayed square and kept even pressure the screws drove in and not a single tip broke off. (I would have prefered a courser screw thread, however)
Skoolie Furring Strip Installation
Bottom Plate
I installed a bottom plate right on top of the subfloor all around the bus anchoring it into the ribs. Not only will this create a base for wall framing but it will also help hold the subfloor in place.
Middle Plate
Next, I installed a “middle” plate, 3/4 of an inch below the window sill. This will leave room to put a piece of trim on top of the 2×2 when we get to the “make pretty” phase.
Wall Studs
After installing the middle plate, I attached vertical pieces at several ribs. These pieces will give me places to nail wall sheathing or electrical boxes.
Where we are planning on building walls, I ran a vertical piece from the bottom plate to the top of the windows.
I had to drill out a recess for the window screws and the upper lip of the window to get them to sit flush.
Top Plate
The top plate was a bit trickier.
I decided that I wanted the top plate to sit parallel to the floor. However, the curve of the roof doesn’t allow a rectangular piece of wood to do that. So I held a scrap piece up to the rib parallel to the floor, and traced the arc of the rib onto the scrap.
Then, I used a table saw to cut the approximate angle. I started with a flatter angle and kept cutting sharper cuts until I got the perfect fit. Once I did, I cut full length 2×2’s at that angle.
With the correct angle cut, I set to work installing them.
I set them just above the tops of the windows so that if I need to remove the windows for any reason it might be a bit easier. (Turns out, I should have given myself more space…but that’s a different article.)
Using a squeeze clamp to hold the top plate in place, I predrilled a hole in the wood at each rib, and also marked a cut-off spot so that the end of the plate would fall at the midpoint of a rib.
I took the plate down from the clamp, cut it to length. In a few spots where running light wires came through I had to cut a notch.
Reclamping the plate in place, I screwed the self-tappers through the plate and into the ribs.
Skoolie Furring Strips on the Ceiling
For the ceiling furring strips, I had hoped to avoid hundreds of little blocks matching the curves of the ceiling ribs.
While I couldn’t avoid hundreds, I kept it in the low hundreds rather than the high hundreds.
Cutting a Ceiling Furring Strip Template
While holding a piece of quarter-inch plywood against the back wall of the bus, Julie and I scribed an arc tracing the back rib.
Using a jig saw, I created a template by cutting out that shape.
I laid the template on the 2×10 cutoffs that I had salvaged from a construction job. The 2×10’s gave me room to cut the arc. In fact, I was able to get several arcs from one 2×10.
Cutting Furring Strips
I traced the arc onto the 2×10 and used a jig saw again to cut out the shape.
Go slowly! Get consistent shapes! They don’t have to be absolutely perfect, but the truer the shape the less distortions will appear in the final ceiling.
After completing a cut, I repositioned the template and cut the next one.
13 times.
When I was done, to reduce irregularities I clamped them all together and used a hand plane to remove any high spots, then some 80 grit sandpaper to get them as identical as I could.
Then, with my drill press, I pre-drilled three holes, ends and middle, for the screws.
Installing Skoolie Ceiling Furring Strips
Rather than compromise head room and screw them to the face of each rib, I screwed them to the side. In addition, to provide and extra thermal break between the steel rib and wooden furring strip, I stuck a piece of sill seal in between the two.
I wanted each furring strip to drop down 1/4″ below the rib. This would ensure that we would maximize headroom, but not run the risk of a rib extending below the furring strip. So I clamped the furring strip to the rib, gently at first. Then used a scrap of 1/4″ plywood held against the rib to set the depth of the furring strip. Once I had it in place, I tightened the clamp and screwed the furring strip in.
Clamp note: At first I was using screw type clamp that I’ve had in my shop for years. They were not the most convenient tool for this job. I ended up buying an Irwin squeeze clamp instead. The rubber jaws held onto the ribs better and by squeezing instead of screwing a boatload of knuckle skin from scraping off onto the ceiling.
Furring Strips of the Edges of the Ceiling
Cutting one-piece skoolie furring strips for the center of the ceiling reduced cutting and screw usage by 60%.
But I still had to deal with the edges of the ceiling where the curves get more pronounced.
No way around it, I had to cut multiple blocks.
78, in fact.
I needed to get 17 inches down to the wall.
Using a few pieces of scrap at different lengths, I decided that 7 1/2 inches gave me the most consistent ceiling profile. This left a 2 inch block at the end. So I cut a bunch of 7 1/2 and 2 inch blocks.
In retrospect, I would have gone 6, 6 and 5, or something like that. I thought that if I only had a 2 inch block at the end I could use one screw and that would save in materials and time. However, it was tough to clamp a 2 inch block.
Well, live and learn.
Anyway, I used a jig with my chop saw and cut all the blocks, then pre-drilled them.
Then spent all afternoon screwing them into place using the same process I had with the center ceiling blocks.
However”¦
Done.
Conclusion
Aha!
Skoolie furring strips!
Another project checked off this list and one step closer to completing the skoolie conversion build!
Thanks for reading!
Feel free to post any questions in the comments, I will be happy to answer them!