EP. 3 - THE BATHROOM _ DIY SCHOOL BUS TINY HOUSE CONVERSION _ MODERN BUILDS

Hey , everybody .

My name is Mike Montgomery and currently I'm in the middle of converting this school bus into a tiny house .

And here on episode three of this series , I'm gonna be taking this space and building out this bathroom using square tiles and blue grout on modern bill .

Before we get started building , let me show you around the bathroom and where we're at right now .

That way we're all on the same page .

The bathroom isn't huge .

It's about three ft by six ft roughly .

And on this wall , I'm gonna install the shower and the toilet while on the opposite wall , I'll install the custom vanity that I'm gonna be building from scratch .

Oh , and one more thing before we start building , I want to give a huge thanks to the sponsor of today's video that made this whole project possible .

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Now , thanks again to Ray for making this video possible .

Now , back to the build .

My first step on this bathroom build is to install the drain and flanges for the shower .

The vanity and the toilet , which will be behind me conveniently though the previous owner cut a couple of holes and I can just repurpose them for mine .

I wanted a snug fit on all of my drains and flanges .

So over all of my existing holes .

I created three quarter inch plywood mending plates that I could drill new holes into .

That way .

I got a fit with a little bit less tolerance .

I installed the drain in the middle of the room , but it's a little offset from the doorway .

That way people can step into the bathroom without stepping on the drain right away .

This inch and a half black pipe is gonna connect to the sink and feed to the gray water tanks and I just use construction adhesive to hold that in place .

I used two pieces of three quarter inch plywood as a riser for the toilet flan to get it off the subfloor of the bus .

And I used a Milwaukee whole saw to drill through the plywood , the subfloor and the bottom of the bus .

Next , I picked up a waterproof shower membrane from Home Depot .

You can buy this on the roll .

It's gonna be the waterproofing layer between the motor bed and the subfloor of the bus .

You wanna make sure you've got about 6 to 8 inches of that liner above where your motor bed is gonna be that way the wall can go over that membrane and it's a perfect waterproof seal .

You'll also install your shower drain flange and your toilet flange over this liner .

It keeps it in place and seals it so no moisture can get between that and the subfloor of the bus .

So now that the floors in the bathroom have been waterproofed .

I need to do the same for the walls .

Standard Wonder Board is what you would use in typical home construction and you would use it as the tile backer .

Anywhere that you're installing tile or you have a tub surround Wonder board light is the same basic product .

It's just a little bit lighter and people use it all the time in school bus and tiny house projects .

Another cool thing about this product is you use a carbide scraper to actually score where you want to cut and break the panels so that you get a good fit .

I found it easiest to score the board a couple of times before really putting a lot of pressure down and trying to cut through the actual mesh .

But once you were able to cut through one side of the board , the other side just snaps off .

It's really convenient and leaves a pretty clean cut .

Just like with everything else .

You can get these specialized screws for cement board .

They have a flat head which counters sinks really nicely to sit flat .

It's also tapered so that it can drill through the board and the studs more easily cutting all these pieces .

Definitely took a while because each one was a custom fit .

I wanted to make sure that there was as little of a gap as possible between this cement board and the wall of the bus that I'm gonna have to seal with silicone .

And I use the same template that I made on episode one of this bus series to create the top pieces of this cement board to follow the profile of the bus .

My first instinct was just to try the scoring tool that I had been cutting all the wonder board with already .

And I was happy to see that it worked perfectly .

Even though these pieces were curved , they snapped off really clean and gave me awesome fits .

I repeated the same steps on the opposite wall , making sure that I had tight margins everywhere that I was attaching the cement board .

But before I installed the bottom piece , I made sure to install all of my shark bite connectors for the toilet and the shower which are going to be on this wall .

These are the same style connectors that I used in episode one for all the rough in plumbing , except these connectors can screw to the wall that way I can secure all my plumbing connections .

Then I used another whole saw to drill matching holes in the cement board .

That way everything could line up and I could install this piece just like all the others .

Another common tip that I found online for installing this wonder board is to start from the bottom and screw your way towards the top .

That way the panel can lay as flat as possible .

And before I can finish closing off the interior wall of the bathroom .

I need to install these .

This is a four inch wet rated led recessed light and they couldn't be easier to install .

I picked these up .

They're about 12 or 15 bucks apiece on Amazon .

And I'll leave a link down in the description to install these lights .

You need to hang your J box , preferably from a two by four stud .

Then you can strip and feed your wire through the junction box where there are these push to connect fittings which allow you to wire everything without any specialty tools .

This box was relatively shallow so it was really nice not having those twist on connectors .

I was able to wire everything up and fit it into the panel , no problem and to make sure nothing moves while the bus does , I use construction adhesive to hold it in place even though you wouldn't do that .

Traditionally , I didn't realize that I wouldn't be able to feed any wire through the vertical divisions in the roof of the bus .

That's why I have two holes drilled here as you can see .

So don't make that same mistake , but I was happy to see that my wiring was done right ?

And the lights worked .

So after that , I could finish off all of the cement board installation , which was just these pieces along the final wall and everywhere that the cement board meets the walls or the roof of the bus , I use construction adhesives to seal off .

Next , I use some silicone caulk to cover up all of the seams and joints in the windows that I'm gonna be covering .

I'm gonna keep the middle window .

But the window on either side of that is gonna get covered and tiled over .

I used this lock tight , instant grab construction adhesive to anchor some wood studs onto the frame of this window .

Now , this isn't the most sturdy thing in the world , but for the tile wall , it worked perfect .

It actually ended up being really rigid .

After that , I could install my shark bite connectors and the X lead outs for the vanity and then drill matching holes in the cement board and install it over that window .

Now , I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous .

I made sure that my screws weren't too long that they would actually hit the window behind it .

But I was really excited to see how secure that panel was once I put it in and if it ain't broke , don't fix it .

So I repeated the exact same steps to cover up the opposite window .

The last step in all of this cement board was to trim out the window .

And this was actually fun .

I got to cut a lot of custom tapered pieces which was really easy because I could just mark and cut my pieces in place .

I put a lot of faith in construction adhesive on this project for these pieces of cement board to cap off the walls .

I didn't actually use any screws .

We'll see how it plays out .

Either way .

I was happy to get the bus to this point .

It was a big milestone in the construction process and I was happy with how everything was coming together and to make sure that all of my seams were strong .

I used fiberglass reinforced tape everywhere my cement board met itself .

My next step is to apply thin set motor everywhere I taped on my seams .

And since I'm in a bus where there's going to be more vibration and movement than in a standard home .

I'm going to be using this Flex Bond premium crack preventative thin set mortar and I'll apply it the same way you apply joint compound to dry wall .

A little bit of water goes a long way if you have good seams and you're gonna wanna mix it up .

So it's a similar consistency to pancake batter , that'll give you really good smooth sand results .

I used a 10 inch taping knife and it worked great .

I had plenty of room on either side of the tape to have a good feathered edge .

As I went , especially around the window .

The tape was giving me a little bit of a hard time .

It didn't want to stick to the cement board that well .

So I ended up using my hand and embedding the mix in the tape and that really helped it stick .

Then I was able to use my knife to smooth everything out .

Overall , I used four of these £55 bags to create the mortar bed for the bathroom .

I know a lot of these materials are a considerable amount of weight .

But in reality , this is only the weight of one or two people and a bus is made to hold a whole lot of people .

You'll want your mix for the mortar bed considerably drier than for the thin set mortar .

You wanna be able to pack it in place and it hold its shape .

That's how we're gonna create the slope that all leads toward the drain .

And I tried my best to create a slope that was similar to the standard , which is a quarter inch slope over every foot .

My slope is a little more gradual than that , but I don't think it's gonna be a problem long term .

Then I could screw in the actual sink drain and it's raised about a quarter of an inch above the existing mortar bed .

I was totally winging it whenever I was getting materials for this project .

And I under bought by two bags of mortar mix .

So I installed the first two and they cured overnight .

Then I mixed and set my other two bags to complete the floor the next day .

Now , this is definitely not how I recommend doing it .

And I did a quick flood coat to smooth everything out the following day , this stuff is called Red Guard and it's a paint waterproof membrane that's standard for shower installations .

But on my bathroom , I'm gonna be painting it on every seam , on every wall since I'm doing a wet room where everything is in contact with moisture .

Watch right here , take the two inch brush and you can slide the paint on there .

I started by applying a thick coat to the edges and all of my cement board seams and I really burned through this Red Guard .

I didn't realize how quickly I was gonna use it all up .

If I did , I would have done a thin first coat and then a second coat over all of the walls of the bus .

Oh , well , ok .

I'm happy to announce that we are now on phase two of this project , we're not doing any more ruffin or construction work .

We are now putting in all of our finishes and step one is to install these four and a quarter by four and a quarter white ceramic tiles on the floor and the walls .

These tiles are super affordable and they're made by a company called Doll Tile .

This is that restore line .

In fact , these are made to be just like the classic vintage four inch by four inch ceramic tile that you've seen your entire life .

I think the last time these were popular was in the mid to late eighties during that whole contemporary movement .

And since then , people have thought they're a little out of date , but I think these are going to be a really cool look and the perfect switch up since everybody's been using subway tiles for the past few years .

The other thing I want to do to take this whole look over the top is to line these tiles up like a perfect grid where all of the corners are meeting instead of staggering all my seams like you typically see , especially with subway tiles .

I used the same premium thin set motor that I used before for my title adhesive and I mixed it up using a drill attachment .

I mixed this batch a little bit thicker than whenever I was taping and mudding and then I could get ready to tile the floors .

I wanted to make sure that I got really good adhesion between the ceramic tiles and the floor .

So I applied some thin set motor to the subfloor or the mortar bed of the shower and I also back buttered each tile .

I used these eight inch tile spaces on the corners of each of my tile and you actually leave them in and you grout over them using these spacers compared to traditional spacers really allow your tiles to lock together and make a secure grid that you can push against and have everything still stay in place .

Oh And I think this is gonna be a common question .

So I wanna answer it now back , buttering a tile is where you apply a layer of thin set motor to the back of the tile as well .

This allows a little bit better adhesion and keeps air gaps from causing your tile to crack or loosen .

Meanwhile , I got my tile saw out and prepared to cut the tiles for the final row of the floor .

I used my yeti goal zero to power the tile saw .

It's also what I'm gonna be using to power the bus .

And if you're interested in learning more , I'll leave the link down in the description .

This is a relatively affordable tile saw and it works great for what I was doing .

It was basically a lot of straight cuts .

But if you're ever interested in upgrading a tile saw with a sliding table is really nice to have .

Holy cow .

That was a lot of work .

I'm glad to have that done .

Let's call it the day .

The next day , I could come back , admire the floor and get started on the wall .

I installed this ledger board to make sure that the first row of tiles were really straight .

It also allowed me to make a lot of reference marks that I could use to make sure that my tiles were lining up with the floor on the horizontal plane .

I used the same eight inch leave in spaces that I did on the floor , but instead of applying some thin set mortar to the wall .

I opted to just back butter the back of the wall tiles .

And so far it's worked great .

I'll be sure to let you know if any of these tiles ever fail .

So make sure and click the subscribe button down below .

I know the comments are gonna be full of people saying that all of this tile is gonna fail and it might , but I've seen other people use tile in their school bus conversions .

And I really want to know if it works , but make sure and stay tuned because I'm gonna show you another way of paneling your walls that's really lightweight and doesn't involve any tiles .

No , I'm not a great Tyler , but I was really excited for this project because it would give me some really good practice on a relatively low stakes project if all of my grid lines and if all of my seams aren't exactly perfect in the bus , that's ok .

I'm not gonna beat myself up over it like I would if I was installing this in a home with that being said though , I did get pretty good custom cuts .

All of my angles are sharp and all of my grid lines do meet .

So I've got good consistent grout lines .

Definitely not perfect .

But I was happy , I also got lucky being able to install full tiles all the way to where the tile meets the bus .

I just had to install these little trim pieces that they had at Home Depot to get a good smooth transition , you can pick up diamond hole saws which are perfect for cutting holes in ceramic tiles .

It's easiest if you start at an angle and slowly flatten out the bit .

Otherwise it's gonna try and jump on you .

So tiling the floor in that wall took a lot of time and added a lot of weight to the bus .

So to cover the rest of the walls , I'm gonna be using this four by eight PV C paneling .

It's super lightweight and super bendy .

But I've seen other people use products like this on mobile tiny houses before let's try it .

I needed to create a new template for the inside wall of the bus .

So I just cut and taped some cardboard boxes to match that profile so that I could trace the lines onto the PV C sheets and cut them .

At first , I just used a utility knife and I got really poor results .

That's what I saw other people use online , but it just didn't work that well for me .

So I just switched to an abrasive disc on an angle grinder , which is one of my favorite tools and it worked great .

I applied a layer of the same power grab construction adhesive made by lock tight this time in a tub to the back of the panel using an eighth inch V notch row .

This adhesive grabs almost instantly , which is why I wanted to use it .

I just needed to be really careful that I lined up my panel before I tried to put it in place .

Oh , and I found that a grout float did a really good job of smoothing out any air bubbles .

Right now .

My Home Depot is out of stock in a lot of different products , including the roller that I would have traditionally used for this project .

I'll be sure to leave a link down in the description if you're working on a project that's similar to make sure this bathroom was waterproofed .

I used construction adhesive to install quarter round PV C trim on all of my corners .

This cleaned up everything on the interior of the bathroom and it looked great on the exterior of the bathroom .

I used the same construction adhesive to attach bullnose tile trim around the doorway .

I really love the way that this makes the tile spill out into the hallway of the bus almost acting like a preview of what the interior will be like .

I custom cut large format tiles to fit into the door jams and I did that on purpose .

That looks so cool .

Nice if these tiles break when the bus moves , but the four by four tiles don't .

Then that gives me a little reassurance that these smaller format tiles are a good option for bus projects .

So this blue grout that I got is the main out of the box design choice that I'm going with on this bus .

It's the one thing that I really want to stand out .

I bought this off of from a company called Grout 3 60 .

They've got basically every color under the sun that you could think of in grout , which I had really never seen before .

So yeah , installing this blue grout was the step that I was looking forward to most in this school bus project .

So before I did anything , I watched a couple of tutorials by Jeff from home renovation which I'll leave linked down in the description in those videos .

I learned that it's best to have your grout float running a diagonal .

That way you're not running parallel or perpendicular with your grout lines .

Then after about 10 minutes , I was able to come back with a wet sponge and clean off the majority of the excess grout from my tiles .

Now there's still gonna be a haze left over after using a sponge .

So I just came back with a limp free cloth and I cleaned up all of the excess haze .

It really looked great .

I did the exact same steps on the floor , but instead of talking through it , I'm just gonna let the time lapse play .

Enjoy .

You're gonna wanna seal any grout that you use , especially colored grout that pigment can wash out and stain everything in your bathroom .

If you don't , I applied three coats of this grout sealer that also protects the ceramic tile .

I'm gonna be honest with you .

I've got no clue how many days into this bathroom build we are , but things are moving really quickly .

Now , my next step is to install the toilet and I picked up a really cool one off of Amazon that is lightweight and made for R V S , but it's a full height toilet , which is awesome .

I know I've been talking about Shark Bite connectors quite a bit in this series and I really like them .

They're great for Diy S and beginner projects because you don't need a special crimping tool like you do with other pecs connections .

The other cool part about Shark Bite connectors is that they have fittings for almost every application from toilets to faucets to appliances .

And more before I started building the bus , I was doing an Amazon hunt for shower options that still felt homey and residential but could articulate and reach in any area of the bus .

And I found this exposed rainfall shower unit that's really affordable and it's even got a handheld shower head as well .

The last major step for this bathroom is to build and install the vanity that's going to go in this half of the space .

Now , this project is a big one and I really think that it deserves its own video .

So this is where I'm gonna stop the bathroom build .

And next week I'm gonna be releasing the Diy steel and Epoxy vanity that I've already started .

So with that being said before , I do the big reveal of this bathroom , let's go check out what this bathroom looked like before .

I think we can both agree that this was a rough starting point for where we eventually ended up in this bathroom .

It's really not a huge space and I did my best to make the most of it .

So let's check out these afters .

Let's be real .

This square tile and blue grout is the freshest thing that I've seen in a bathroom in a long time .

I think it's so cool .

Now , I definitely don't want to take credit for this trend , but I really expect it to blow up over the next couple of years .

And like I mentioned earlier , this is gonna add quite a bit of weight , but I'm ok with that .

If you wanted to do all PV C walls in your project , feel free .

So to answer all the questions .

No , I don't plan on taking a and showering at the same time .

Although you could , unfortunately , where I have the bus parked right now , there's no running water so I can't test all of the plumbing and the fixtures that I just installed .

Now , if you're doing this project yourself , make sure and test all of your fittings behind the wall before you seal them up .

I didn't do that and I kind of regret it because if I have a leak , well , I'm screwed So let's just cross our fingers .

But in the meantime , check out this whole toilet shower combo , I'll show you how it works .

So thankfully , there's plenty of space for the toilet lid to open without inter with the shower , there's also plenty of room for the shower knob to articulate without running into the toilet .

I expect to be articulating the shower head towards pointing out like this with a shower curtain covering up the doorway .

I can be able to take a shower here , then I can put the shower back where it was and it's out of the way .

So one more huge .

Thanks for watching .

I genuinely appreciate it .

If you're not already make sure and click the subscribe button down below that way you can stay updated every time I post new videos , I know it's been a little while since I posted a video and that's because this bathroom took a lot of work to get complete .

But the next video is going to be the kitchen , which is gonna be a lot of cabinets and things that I'm already familiar with .

So I expect that video to come out pretty soon .

Lastly , if you want to follow me on Instagram , you can do that at Modern Builds .

I post all the time and make sure you listen to my podcast , a link down in the description , the Modern Maker Podcast .

One last huge .

Thank you for all the support on this bus innovation and we'll see you next time on modern builds .