The wall is out!

So I decided that an air compressor and an air chisel would be a good investment with all of the rivets that I have to take out.

Yesterday my mom came over with a friend and while she watched the kids, Michel and I went into the bus and worked. The air compressor was a great buy. I had done most of the rivets in the wall already so after getting the wood frame the previous owner put in we were able to start taking the wall apart. We had a few rivets left where I was having trouble getting to with the drill or with the cold chisel but the air chisel makes it much easier but only if the rivets are previously drilled.

Here is Michel taking out the last of the rivets with the air chisel.

The wall was able to come out after that.

Here is the framing that was in the wall which I will be able to reuse. The wall was also insulated.

The boys had already gotten most of the screws out of the back portion so after the wall was out we started getting that part of the flooring out. Because that portion of the bus was for baggage etc with holes made by the baggage hooks it was an easy place for water to infiltrate and the floor in that section was soft and I knew the plywood was rotten.

The plywood was a pain to get out. Luckily with it being wet some of the flooring was easy to peel off but where it was still dry it was completely glued down. Also because the plywood was swollen and moldy and the screws were buried and rusted. Some screws we were able to unscrew, some we could no find at all and many broke.

We finally did get it out though.

I was looking forward though to seeing the steel underneath to make sure that was still in an acceptable condition and honestly it really isn't that bad. The rust is concentrated around the spots that had the baggage hooks but it is surface rust only. Where the plywood was a bit more dry, the floors were still nice.

In the picture above you can see the floor rails a bit out. We got a bit of the flooring up and the plywood is dry and still in great condition and the floor is GLUED down and it will be a pain to get up. Though the friend that was over was so much help I found it a bit hard because he besides that back section that was visibly rotten, he doesn't get why we would pull up the rest of the flooring or pull out the walls to re-insulate. I get that it is a lot of work but I hate having to explain my reasons and then doubting myself.

Next on the list: