With the demolition done and the rust treated a great deal of consideration should now be given to whether or not you would like to cut your school bus in half and raise the roof. This is obviously going to be a very personal decision. Given that the interior floor to ceiling height of almost every school bus built before 2006 is between 73 and 77 inches the first question to ask yourself is are you or one of your fellow skoolie dwellers taller than say 6’2”? Then you’re probably going to need to raise your roof to feel comfortable.

Now I can tell you that I am 5’10” and I have a pre-conversion ceiling height of 77 inches in my bus, and a post-conversion height of about 74 inches and I have been pleasantly surprised by how much having a ceiling just 4 inches from my head does not bother me one tiny bit. But if I had to deal with my head touching the ceiling or had to bend my neck just to walk around on the other hand I would be very unhappy. However given that the average male height in the USA is 5’9” most of you will be okay without doing a roof raise for the sake of ceiling height comfort.

However it turns out that getting headspace is actually not the primary reason for doing a roof raise. The primary reason in my opinion is for fitting ample insulation in the floor and ceiling of your bus. If for example you plan to travel through cold climates you will need significant insulation in your floor. If you decide to install 3 inches of insulation and a ¾ inch subfloor you will be reducing your headspace greatly. If this is your plan a roof raise should be considered. However as soon as you raise your roof for insulation purposes your drafty school bus windows are now completely obsolete (unless you kept a minimal amount of windows) and so re-skinning your school bus walls with sheet metal and installing RV windows will now be in order.

You may feel inclined to raise your roof just for the luxury of it. I’ve also seen VW camper vans cut in half and installed on top of a school bus. The same is true of truck campers, and one ambitious bus builder has even cut a small airplane in half and placed it on his roof. You can undertake any number of exciting modifications to your school bus, but keep in mind that the additional volume will add up in materials exponentially, and the additional bus height may limit your mobility if only somewhat (think low bridges). If you do plan to raise your roof please take into consideration all aforementioned complications/expenses. That being said, go for it!

But having not done a roof raise myself, and given the structural/engineering implications of cutting your bus in half and then putting it back together, exactly how to raise your roof is outside of the scope of this bus conversion manual. If you plan to undertake a roof raise, please patiently and diligently research how to do it and pick many sources so that you can develop a feeling for what are the best materials and what is the best technique for accomplishing your roof raise. You can do it!

Photo by the super talented photographer Jeremy Veach