Coach fire

[dbenck]

Do you think the smoke smell can be removed from this
without the odors coming back when closed up ? Lots of
things need to be removed. Maybe the front can be saved?
2003 with 45,000 miles.

[dbenck]

Forgot an exterior picture.

David Benck

[Len Silva]

Once you get it cleaned up as much as possible, you can buy or rent an ozone generator for a week or two.  They do a remarkable job of cleaning out odors.

[rv_safetyman]

We had a fire in our house in '79 (part of what got me started in my fire detection/suppression system effort).  The house did not have a lot of structural damage, but had huge smoke damage.  The smoke residue was everywhere. 

The fire reconstruction specialists really know how to deal with that kind of situation.  First they removed and discarded some things like the carpet.  For the clothing and drapes, they took them to a special facility that used, as noted above, ozone generators to "neutralize" the smell.  It worked wonders. 

For the structure, they replace some of the damaged wood, and then used a special sealer on the rest. 

Colorado is rather dry, but we do have days of very humid conditions, and we never, repeat never, did smell anything out of the ordinary.

There are folks in every major city that specialize in remedial efforts for smoke problems (fire and smoker residue when selling a house).  They could be a great resource.

For the bus in question, you will probably need to gut most or all of the interior.  That will go a long way towards getting rid of the problem.  Then using a good sealer should finish the job before you begin the rebuild.

Given the terrible market for buses right now, I would think you should be very careful about buying this bus.  Have a knowledgeable person do a through evaluation of what the hidden damage might be and what it would take to restore the bus.  You would basically be buying a shell (albeit a once valuable one), and then starting a conversion.  Other folks may chime in, but if you have someone completely redo the interior professionally, I would think that would cost a minimum of $50K.  If you have the skills to do it yourself, count on at least 500 hours of labor.

Jim

[Len Silva]

Not sure from the pictures but it looks like it didn't even blister the paint on the outside.  It might be a good find for the right price and if you can do it all yourself.  The right price for me would be significantly less than the price for an empty shell, even considering what components you might be able to salvage.

[Jeremy]

Love that wacky satellite dish...




Jeremy

[Merlin-PV]

get yourself a bucket of cheap latex paint use a spray gun give it two or three coats (heavy) coats it will never smell again That little trick is done on lots of fire reconstruction can spray it right on the charcoal and in 15 minutes the smell is gone

[Tim Strommen]

First - if it's a "total loss" with the previous owner's insurance, you may not be able to get a title for it... (and no insurance for yourself, thus not be able to drive it anywhere).  In that case, walk away...

If that is all cleared up, you next need to root-cause the problem that caused the fire.  If it wasn't a fundamental design issue, then it might be worth the time to fix the bus.  Any foam or fabric will need to be removed and replaced (fabric maight be washable, but that depends on the fabric and its configuration).  One area that's a gotcha is the duct work.  If the ducts are acoustically dampened or soft-lined, you may need to pull out all of the ducts and replace them (if they are not easily acesible, you may have to tear down the interior completely).  Any wiring that was even browned should be replaced, since you can't see inside the wire to tell if melting occured and the conductor isn't centered in the insulation.  Any appliance that looks like it was exposed to heat should also be replaced.

If the frame of the bus has signs that high heat got to it, you may be able to repair a section, but the insurance company will probably try to total it in that case.

-T

[chart1]

This was a $400,000 shell new. As earlier post said depending how the insurance companies final claim was will depend on if this coach could ever be titled again. A total loss claim will make this a parts bus. I have seen the prices that these burned buses have been up for sale for and you can buy one ready to go without all the previous damage for less that what it would take to rebuild one. It is a buyers market right now.

[rv_safetyman]

I suspect if the insurance company totals it, you could seek a salvage title.  There was a thread on that subject a while back and it did not seem like that was much of a negative.

Jim

[luvrbus]

That bus was valued at 416,000 dollars the repairs estimate was 488,556 dollars the price is up to 17,770.00 now I going to hang around for a while on it but not much longer it will have a salvage title. A mil+ coach and the owner got 416,000 so much for your agreed valve insurance


good luck

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Guy's

I hope I didn't miss something but, what started the fire and where?

Nick-

[luvrbus]

There is a 2000 H model water damaged unit and also another 2003 roll over for sale on another site fwiw

[dbenck]

Current owner has it listed with a salvage title. I talked to them on the
fire location/cause and they say that it was not determinded. Looks like
the bath/bedroom ceiling was the hot spot. Does not look to me like it was
in use, from the pictures it seems nothing was removed from the damaged
areas, no bedding, light spots where items were sitting. Its listed at $ 163,000.00
Coach was in Florida and they drove it back to Michigan with no problems, except a
bad inside odor !!

David