Follow Our Progress
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September 26th
2003
Becky and I are home for a quick break and to meet Erika as she gets off
of the school bus. I don't feel all that great today. I
think that I overdid it a bit on Wednesday and got my immune system
down. It's getting better as the day goes on, but I feel weak and
a bit uncoordinated, so I know I am fighting off something...
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We have been concentrating on getting the bathroom area finished
off enough to make it useful, so we went ahead and hung the
sliding pocket door. The door works like a charm and after
putting the finishing trim pieces on the doorway, it will look as if
we custom built it.
I had to put Becky on distraction duty at one point because
Emily kept playing with the door and locking me in the bathroom.
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Cutting the sheeting to fit the curve of the ceiling has turned
out to be somewhat of a challenge, but by making a template out
of a piece of pressboard, it's a bit easier to match up to the
ceiling and side wall.
We had to do some minor trimming on the piece to get it to
fit in place. I think the seam turned out pretty
good. There's not more than 1/8 of an inch gap anywhere
along the wall.
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We're trying hard not to have very many seams in the paneling
exposed. I'm trying to hide places where 2 panels meet
behind cabinets or in the same location as the ceiling joints.
Being picky about the seams in the panels is costing us a bit
more, but I think the extra effort will make the inside of the
bus look a bit more polished. As you can see we finished off
the bottom of the wall. The hallway is the only way to the
back of the bus now... It's fun to see the dividing wall
sheeted solid. There's still a lot of work that needs to go on
before the front side of the wall can be sheeted over.
Plumbing & electrical need to be installed along with
insulation before I can finish this side.
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The tinting does such a good job of adding privacy to the inside
of the bus. Once the bathroom was closed in on all sides
with the plywood sheeting, there was basically no way (even with
your face to the glass and shaded) to see what is inside.
There's still enough light in the bathroom to see really well
too.
At night, the effect will be reversed, so we will need to
have some kind of shade for the inside, but I like it that I can
use natural light in the bathroom without giving up a certain
level of privacy.
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I took a picture of the bathroom... This is
the closest to a picture of the whole bathroom that I can get
now that the walls are up.
The toilet is just barely visible behind the shower wall and
the tub on the left is acting as our temporary sink until I get
the cabinets and counter are in place.
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The bus has taken on quite a different look
now. This is the only way to get between the front and
back of the bus. I can pass one of the kids in the hallway
without too much difficulty, but when Becky and I meet we have
to turn sideways to squeeze through (not that I am complaining
or anything) <grin>.
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Now that the bathroom has enough privacy to be useful, I can return to
putting up the lath strips and finish up paneling the interior of the
bus walls. I wanted to get the entire interior paneled before
Saturday night, but the way I am feeling today, I doubt that I will get
it all finished...
Becky and I had some discussion about putting up wallpaper instead of
painting. We're going to check into how much it will cost us for
each option. Painting will require quite a bit of prep work to
cover up all of the screw heads and make sure that the wood grain is not
visible through the paint. We might be able to just wallpaper
without as much work... |
