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 08-15-2010, 09:18 PM | #1 | Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 97 |  School Bus as Underground Home
I saw the thread here for the shipping container used as underground shelter. I used an old school bus for one. I paid a couple hundred bucks for one with no engine or tranny. I dug the hole deep enough so the top of the ground would be even with the windows on the side facing south. I covered the entire bus with the black roofing tar, and before I backfilled I placed other pieces of metal made up of some old school lockers next to the bus. This kept the earth from touching the sides.The windows on the north side of the bus were covered up with pieces of sheet metal that I found. I then covered the roof and the north side of the bus with earth, about 1 ft deep on the roof. Voila! An instant shelter that keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. It's been in the ground since 1981 and still serves me well. I would wake up with the temp 30 F below outside and with just the coals left in the stve it was 50 F above inside. A few sticks of wood and I would be toasty again. The picture you see here
Last edited by Ruger44; 08-15-2010 at 11:40 PM. | 
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| 08-15-2010, 11:17 PM | #2 | Sic Semper Tyrannis Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: , The Mother Lode Posts: 18,437 |
That sounds pretty practical and inexpensive. Pictures will be good. __________________
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) - a system of government where those least capable of leadership are elected by those least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to succeed or provide for themselves are rewarded with goods and services paid for by wealth confiscated from a diminishing number of people who actually work and produce.
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| 08-15-2010, 11:25 PM | #3 | Working and still poor... Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Lancaster, Kentucky Posts: 1,211 |
I like it. I'm becoming increasingly paranoid about the current situation of our great country, and even though I'm paranoid, it doesn't mean I'm not right... __________________ Darrel
No, you can't take my gun. I'm gonna need it when you try to take my truck...
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| 08-15-2010, 11:58 PM | #4 | Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 97 |
Here are a few pics that I just found. The first one is the house that I built over the engine compartment of the bus. To the left is the rear and you can see the seats that I modified to hold back the dirt on top of the bus. The main part of the house is a tower that was 28 ft high at the top, which looked over a 5 acre field to the right of the picture. I used to deer hunt from there. It was the ultimate in tree stands and I didn't even have to leave the house! The second picture is what I built after the house burnt down.The log structure to the right sits over the engine compartment of the bus. When the tower of the house came crashing down in the fire, to collapsed the front half of the bus's roof. So, I cut off the roof and built this little place here, going up 1 story. Notice the stove pipe to the rear and you can more clearly see the seat frames holding the dirt back on the roof. The third pic shows myself and my 2 best friends, Max (sitting) and Tar. These are from around 1985. | |
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| 08-16-2010, 12:07 AM | #5 | Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Posts: 97 |
Quote:
Originally Posted by CA357
That sounds pretty practical and inexpensive. Pictures will be good.
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Yep, it was done on the cheap. It was just the underground bus part that I lived in for several years before I built the house part. A lot of the materials I scrounged. The house part was all rough cut lumber. The place was located in northern Vermont right on the border. Bought the property for $250.00 an acre in 1981. Got approximately 80 acres. Some cleared, some forest, and a spring that bubbles up some of the best water that's ever been drunk. Powered the place with solar and wind. Boy, was I livin cheap back then! | |
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| 08-16-2010, 12:44 AM | #6 | Sic Semper Tyrannis Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: , The Mother Lode Posts: 18,437 |
Great stuff! Thanks for the info and pics. __________________
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) - a system of government where those least capable of leadership are elected by those least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to succeed or provide for themselves are rewarded with goods and services paid for by wealth confiscated from a diminishing number of people who actually work and produce.
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| 08-16-2010, 12:47 AM | #7 | Redux Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Uniontown, PA Posts: 3,710 |
That is cool!
Thanks for posting!  __________________
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