Ho boy, things are starting to move fast and I'm getting really nervous & anxious.

[morkani]

I'm going "minimal", at least compared to how I've lived my whole life till now, & I currently have a 2(4ish) bedrooms 1 1/2 bath. I'm a bachelor with just way too much "stuff" to fill in that kind of house which I don't need. I don't like the anxiety that comes with maintaining all that. 

I've been following the tiny house topic for a couple years now, and it's been something that I wanted to do. but once I found Bob's YouTube 6ish months ago, I was determined to move forward with living in a converted box truck. Then the 'rona hit. I did the whole "quarantine" thing but here in Florida, people don't seem to follow guidelines to keep people safe so I figured I'd start trying to sell the house now and get out west to a more remote location. Well, It went on sale at midnight, & 15 hours later, I have signed paperwork and could potentially be moving out in a week or two.

Wasn't quite mentally ready i don't think and i'm a little bit scared. Thought I'd have a couple months while people looked at the house. I'm PRETTY sure I have enough $$ after the house sale to take care of everything till the build and during the build. I hope I haven't miscalculated anything. There's SO MUCH to consider on something like this. I'd hate to get 1/2 way through, and find out I gotta scrap the whole thing for some reason or another.

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I don't have a truck picked out yet because I need the proceeds of the house, although I think i'm buying from penske anywhere in the USA.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I don't have a living situation set up yet because I don't know where the truck may be.[/font]
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I'm not certain about all the aspects of the build, but I think I have a pretty good idea on what I need to do and I think I have a good idea on the cost involved. (been spending quarantine watching some YouTube video's on it) I'm just worried about seriously messing something up, or some tradesman taking advantage of me and then I end up with not enough money to complete the build.[/font]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I'm less worried about what I know, and more [size=small][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]worried about what I don't know[size=small][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif], & also[/font][/size] [/font][/size][/size][/font][/size]worried about if what I think I know is wrong.


(any encouraging words or advice appreciated.)
Thanks

 

[WanderingRose]

We were all new once.

Take a deep breath, focus on your house sale and moving out, and don’t feel like you have to have it all figured out in advance.

If you aren’t quite ready to hit the road, maybe look for a week to week room rental to buy yourself a little time.

If it were me, I would get a pad of paper and make lists of what needs to be done and then order those in terms of priority.

Helps provide a bit of structure and a visual plan of attack.

Good luck.

 

[WayOutWest]

You're on quite the adventure! Congratulations on your courage to start a whole new chapter!!  That's an interesting idea, I'd be curious to follow your story, as I have not heard many stories of living in converted box trucks.  

Do you know that you want someone else to do the build, as opposed to learning skills to DIY? 

One bit of helpful advice that I got on another forum that is oriented to Ford Transit owners, is to be sure to take a trip first in your new vehicle, to help you know what you want.  Just throw a bed in or a mattress on the floor and zip out of town and see what this teaches you.  I found that doing this was helpful to me.  

I'm a skilled builder so I was fully confident doing my own whole build, which was not that complex, but even for a more complex build I'd have just needed to study more to do it.  Yet I believe that simple build outs can be done by most anyone, and perhaps if you do a simple build out it will help you learn more about what you really want.  

One of my main strategies when building anything is to use screws and bolts, not nails and glue, that way if something needs to be changed it's much easier to change than if I'd glued the stuff in.  This BTW was one of my reasons for not even considering doing spray foam insulation in my van.  That is a real route of no return!!

 

[morkani]

Yes, I'm also very excited  It truly was becoming a thing where I was just putting it off and finding reasons not to do it yet. It's happening a little sooner than I planned. I do plan to document this journey. I may even begin streaming again this week ( twitch.tv/morkani ) and those streams get recorded to a VOD so I plan to transfer that to YouTube after editing. 
[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]
[size=small][size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]I think it would be great to learn some of the building & would hope that whoever is doing the build would let me help. I might not be as good as a trained craftsman, but I think it would be smart to know as much about where i'm going to be living so if I want to maintain it.[/font][/size][/font][/size]

[font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][size=small]I have a lot of details about what i'm trying to do with the build in the [/size][size=x-small]miscellaneous[/size][size=small] build forum (i think that's where box truck conversions go), but i'm pretty solid on what I want to do. All I need now, is to actually have the box truck, lay out some sheets for the walls, and make sure I like the spaces I've created. I'll prolly need a few changes, but for the most part. I know what I want.[/size][/font]

[size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]Since you mentioned the bolts & screws, wondered your thoughts on metal studs. I wanna reduce the weight so I don't need CDL, so I planned metal studs. But then considered the heat transfer from the skin of the box to the studs. The solution that I came up with, was to use the spray foam (yellow) insulation between (of course) the studs and inside them (because i need the vapor barrier, it will be 75-76 inside 24/7.). THEN I thought I'd use 1/2" insulation panels to go between the studs and the 1/8-1/4" cheap wood paneling over that (kinda like they use in mobile homes. will I still get condensation inside because of the metal studs?[/font][/size]

[size=small][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]All that to ask, in my situation, might the yellow foam spray foam be preferable? & since you mentioned nails, am I on the right track with the metal studs?[/font][/size]

 

[WayOutWest]

I am not familiar with the structure of the inside of a box truck, but if it has "ribs" with holes in them, like my Ford Transit, you'd not necessarily even need studs.  You could use the ribs of the walls as studs.  

Yes the metal studs, if attached to the metal of the box truck, would I believe act as heat bridges and carry heat in, but I don't believe they would cause condensation, not any more than the metal truck walls would cause condensation.  I wouldn't use metal studs myself, because wood is more versatile and easier to work with in framing, but it might be right for you. I do not know much about vapor barriers -- I opted for a simple construction which doesn't require that -- and I do not use wall insulation in my build, and would not use spray foam because it's so messy.  I am not picturing how you'd use spray foam in connection w/ the metal studs.  Maybe you could elaborate on that. 
 
I don't like using nails, but I do like using wood.  I didn't need any framing members in my build (no 2 by 4s, no studs) because I attached everything right to the metal van walls. 
If you used metal studs, you could use screws, but they would have to be sheet metal screws.  And then it gets complex if you want to attach bolts to the wall or hang things from the wall, eg a hook, because it's a lot harder to attach a hook to a metal stud than a wood stud.  They don't make hooks to go into sheet metal.  In my experience in building, I hate working on buildings with metal stud framing, because it makes everything more difficult.  Imagine trying to hang a mirror on a wall build with metal studs, as compared to a wall framed with wood studs. 
I think if you're putting insulation in the walls, IMO, you want to fill the whole space with insulation, not just 1/2 inch of insulation.  eg a stud is 3.5 inches wide.  So that's room for 3.5 inch thick insulation.   

I would say use 1/4 inch paneling, not 1/8 inch.  The 1/8 inch is too thin, easy to accidentally knock with your hand or kick with a foot and now you've punched a hole in it by accident.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Most box trucks have an aluminum or laminated fiberglass skin and the aluminum 'frame' is fairly light duty. Now some of them have plywood walls inside, so those panels add strength. Depending on the particular truck and box, it might have reinforced plywood panels with e-tracks already installed. If you see those, you can attach any normal walls, cabinets, furniture or fixtures you might want.

If you end up meandering out west, towards New Mexico and Arizona, and need a place to stop and do some work or just hang out for a few days, I have plenty of room at my place here in the Texas Panhandle. Room to park, room to work on the rig, room to stretch out and watch the sunsets.

I'm in Tulia, which is between Amarillo and Lubbock. Its kinda hot here right now, but it should be cooling off in a few weeks. If your timetable puts you thru here after about mid December or so, its really getting too cold here, and you should probably navigate farther south, along I-20 or I-10.

Good luck.

 

[morkani]

I am not familiar with the structure of the inside of a box truck, but if it has "ribs" with holes in them, like my Ford Transit, you'd not necessarily even need studs.  You could use the ribs of the walls as studs.  

Yes the metal studs, if attached to the metal of the box truck, would I believe act as heat bridges and carry heat in, but I don't believe they would cause condensation, not any more than the metal truck walls would cause condensation.  I wouldn't use metal studs myself, because wood is more versatile and easier to work with in framing, but it might be right for you. I do not know much about vapor barriers -- I opted for a simple construction which doesn't require that -- and I do not use wall insulation in my build, and would not use spray foam because it's so messy.  I am not picturing how you'd use spray foam in connection w/ the metal studs.  Maybe you could elaborate on that. 
 
I don't like using nails, but I do like using wood.  I didn't need any framing members in my build (no 2 by 4s, no studs) because I attached everything right to the metal van walls. 
If you used metal studs, you could use screws, but they would have to be sheet metal screws.  And then it gets complex if you want to attach bolts to the wall or hang things from the wall, eg a hook, because it's a lot harder to attach a hook to a metal stud than a wood stud.  They don't make hooks to go into sheet metal.  In my experience in building, I hate working on buildings with metal stud framing, because it makes everything more difficult.  Imagine trying to hang a mirror on a wall build with metal studs, as compared to a wall framed with wood studs. 
I think if you're putting insulation in the walls, IMO, you want to fill the whole space with insulation, not just 1/2 inch of insulation.  eg a stud is 3.5 inches wide.  So that's room for 3.5 inch thick insulation.   

I would say use 1/4 inch paneling, not 1/8 inch.  The 1/8 inch is too thin, easy to accidentally knock with your hand or kick with a foot and now you've punched a hole in it by accident.

WOW WAYOUTWEST!!
Thank you so much , you went into very great detail and helped answer a HUGE amount of my questions and gave me things to think about. I am very appreciative.

I had wondered about hanging stuff. And how to manage this. I hadn't yet given it much thought on how to solve the problem if there was one, so thank you for confirming it will be difficult to hang stuff on metal studs.  So here are some of my objections to using wooden studs. (my first thought is a strip of wood outside the panel that has been screwed to the studs. Not ideal but it's first thought.) I am hoping to do this so I will have as little anxiety as possible while living on the road, because it's a major issue I struggle with. I have worried so much about things like wood boring organisms and other water damage. & I was hoping to build this in such a way where I wouldn't have to even consider such things. I could live in it for 20+ years if I chose to do so.

I imagined the metal studs weren't solid and had gaps that I could put in the nozzle and spray the foam inside the gaps so there's no condensation inside the metal stud. 

Thanks again for the panel 1/4" paneling, I wasn't sure about that.

 

[WayOutWest]

glad I could help! 
I think the more skills you develop with building, and you'll likely develop some as you go along, the less anxiety you would have, because you'd learn how to take things apart and put them back together. 
I doubt that wood boring organisms would be an issue.  Water damage is quite unlikely to be an issue with wood used in an indoors situation, unless you pack the wood into such an airtight area that mold can form. This is why I don't like the idea of "vapor barriers"...they can trap moisture IN, and the result could be mold.  A wall that breathes is a healthy wall IMO. 

Yes, a wood strip outside the wall that has been attached to the studs would be good for hanging things.  In my case, I have no studs, since I attached all my wood directly to the metal frame of the van.  I used 1/4 inch plywood for the wall but I did use 1 by material (3/4 inch thick) for strips along the sides and rear of the ceiling.  This allows me to attach hooks and eyebolts in those locations, to hang things from. Thus, no attaching hooks or hanging things from any random location on the wall or ceiling, but only on those 1 by 6 and 1 by 8 boards.  

I think you're overly anxious about condensation.  Do you have anxiety issues regarding other things in life? If you do those might be transferring to this project.  If not it may be arising because you do not yet know enough about building, but if you put in effort, you are likely to learn quickly.  Eventually you will feel more confident that most any problem that arises, can be fixed...

 

[morkani]

I have also heard the adage that a healthy wall is a wall that can breath, but that seemed to apply only to environments that were not air conditioned. Since this one will be air conditioned 24/7, water vapor will form on the cold side of the wall (am I correct?).

Yes, lol, you got me pegged. I don't know if I qualify as an agoraphobic but I leave the house a couple times a month. That's one of the reason's I'm doing this, partly to reduce "stuff" which can cause anxiety, but also to get out in the world and see if I can overcome my anxiety's. But I gotta take baby steps lol.

 

[morkani]

I've called Penske and I think I found the truck I like. It's in NH. I really like it because I can buy a warranty on it, it already has a door on the side, and it's already got framing I just need to spray foam on. I have a couple questions however.

1. Do ya'll think this is a good truck?
2. I've done a little more research and unless my research is wrong, This thing appears to weigh 20,000 unloaded, leaving me only 5,999?
If this is true, some of my dreams feel like they are slipping from my grasp. Should I consider getting a CDL license?

 

[B and C]

Does your state require a CDL for private use?

 

[morkani]

not if it's under 26000 lbs if i understand correctly.

 

[B and C]

20,000 pounds for a box truck sounds like gross vehicle weight and not the vehicles empty weight. Can you give any more info on the truck? Make, series (4500, 5500) and length?

 

[morkani]

haha, i only just realized I forgot to link the truck
https://m.penskeusedtrucks.com/ut/#/vehicle-details?unitNumber=710652

https://m.penskeusedtrucks.com/ut/#/vehicle-details?unitNumber=710652

 

[bullfrog]

I went to the maintenance history and it did not show any. What is up with that? 200,000 miles and no maintenance? Also check it looks like a fiberglass roof on the box. A similar school bus chassis would sell for half that I bet and have had a maintenance history. Check the school bus sites if nothing else mount a cargo trailer / box / camper. A warranty is only as good as the company your buying from. I would much rather start out with a truck I knew was maintained properly than have someone promise to fix what ever went wrong with one that wasn’t.

 

[B and C]

From this PDF: http://alliancemotorsinc.com/scripts/4300.pdf it looks like empty weight is around 10,000 Lbs. Remember, these are made to haul freight, not air. So about a 15,000 Lb build out!

 

[morkani]

I went to the maintenance history and it did not show any. What is up with that? 200,000 miles and no maintenance? Also check it looks like a fiberglass roof on the box. A similar school bus chassis would sell for half that I bet and have had a maintenance history. Check the school bus sites if nothing else mount a cargo trailer / box / camper. A warranty is only as good as the company your buying from. I would much rather start out with a truck I knew was maintained properly than have someone promise to fix what ever went wrong with one that wasn’t.

I had a few reasons not to choose the bus
Main issue, is all the window's, & I'm the type of person who leaves the house a couple times a month. That's part of the reason for doing this, to make it less easy for me to stay withdrawn & to put myself out in the world more. But I still want a place I can "retreat" to when I need to. I liked the box truck because it was closed off like that.
I wasn't sure if it was tall enough, I know a lot of people raise the roof on their buses, I presume that's because you kind of have to bend over (I haven't been in a bus in years) & I was concerned about the capability and cost of that, it looked like a much bigger task than building out a box truck.
(I almost thought you were gonna make a chris farley reference lol)

 

[morkani]

edit: Also, about that fiberglass roof, the trucks in NH and the guy on the phone said they ensure no leaks in the roof. but I presume I'll want to address that right away anyways right? like put on a brand new metal roof or something? I am putting up solar panels to cover the roof (need 25 which fit on a 26'x8') and on a fiberglass roof like this, i'd have to mount some legs on the sides of the box and make stands for a rack to hold all the solar panels.....pro: it'll help "water" proof (or cover at least) the fiberglass under it? Pro for replacing with metal roof: can mount solar panels right to it.

(or maybe I should stick with the box truck.) I had hoped that the warenty from a known company like Penske even just a 1 year should be enough for me to stay on the road to save for repairs after warenty. (Is it easier to make the necessary modifications to the bus/box truck than I think?)

 

[bullfrog]

I’ve always been a poor boy and you know the saying “Poor people have poor ways.” I worked on school buses for years and really liked the DT series engines mated to an Allison transmission. Building structures or new roof strong enough to hold solar panels while going down the road could be expensive and difficult. I would check with a truck/trailer repair place and see what they say before laying out $20,000. There are a few people that have taken straight trucks and installed trailers on them after removing the box. What I was thinking was you could cut the school bus body off and install a box / cargo trailer / camper after removing the axles. But many have raised the school bus roof cutting it at the windows and adding metal eliminating the windows. Just thinking outside the box. Lol!!! I believe I saw a video of a place that deals in used school buses that does that. It may be more work but it might be less money for a better vehicle.

 

[tx2sturgis]

It's GVWR rated at 25,999 so that puts it 2 pounds under the threshold for a CDL IF you were driving it in commerce. But you wont be.

You dont need a CDL...you MIGHT need a Class B, (non CDL or exempt, depending on the laws in your state). They are not the same. 

But you will, we assume, be converting it to a 'motorhome', and have it legally registered that way, and then you might not even need a Class B, but this depends, again, on the state you have your drivers license in. I'm not covering the legal issues for insurance or registration because that will be very involved, and hasn't been asked about yet.

But if you want to do some comparison shopping, here ya go:

https://www.commercialtrucktrader.c... Straight Truck|2002281&modelkeyword=1&page=2