any body with fire restorestion experance?

[Bob Gil]

I have pulled the ply wood off the top of the engine compartment the bed base.

It was only 1/2 inch plywood burn't half way thur at least.   I was going to replace all the wood in the rear but I have found the water tank is built in that area too.  It is inside the bus and in front of the bed area.  There is a piece of 3/4 inch ply wood at the rear of it that has been burn't some.  I am not sure if i should just cut a piece of 1/2 inch plywood and put it against the old wood or pull every thing out and start all over. 

If I leave that one piece of 3/4 and put the 1/2 over it I don't think it will cause any problems I am still going to have to replace all the supports in the bed base any way.

Is one piece of 1/2 inch plywood enough between the engine and the mattress?  Should there be some kind of insulation?  Would it work to put a bottom and a top plywood and put spray foam in between them?  That would give about the width of a 2x4 worth of insulation.

[Len Silva]

No fire restoration experience here but.....I would like to see some sheet metal and an air gap between the engine and the plywood.

[Bob Gil]

I was thinking maybe a bottom sheet of metal and then the top plywood and the spray foam but I wanted to here what y'all had to say.

I would think that it might be a little warm to try to sleep on the bed if you had been driving all day.  I remember many hot evening trying to sleep in the sleeper of a cab over truck going down the road and sitting still both could be warm from the engine heat.  There was not much insulation there either.

[HighTechRedneck]

If it were me, I would not leave any partially burned wood on the bus.  Two reasons.  First, you don't want the smell of burnt wood working its way back in to the interior when you are done.  Second, while not an expert, it seems to me that plywood exposed to those kind of conditions would not be as strong and may even be more vulnerable to burning due to excessive dryness.  I could be wrong on the second point.

My bus and most buses that I've had the opportunity to study up close insulate the firewall with high temperature insulation.  I don't think I would feel safe without the firewall insulation and engine heat would certainly be uncomfortable during operation.

[idarusskie]

I would agree.  Wood after its been chard for some time burns easier the next time.  In buildings when they build a "fire wall" its to give time for the fire department to respond.  In this case it may be you or your kids sleeping the next time it catches fire and you need time to get out.  In a building they would used something like cement or sheet rock.  Maybe Handibacker( the stuff they put under tiles) would work but I do not know if its fire proof enough.  2 layers of sheet rock ( overlapping the joints) maybe smart but it can be heavy.

[Melbo]

I do not perform fire restoration but have worked around where it has been done.

There is a spray that is used to seal the wood after a structural engineer has done an evaluation to be sure the remaining members are strong enough to support the structure.

I have never applied the spray but like I said have worked around where it has been applied.

HTH

Melbo

[zubzub]

what everyone else says, and the foam is a bad idea unless you get a special fire retardant foam, 'cause regular foam burns, burns, burns....I know too much about that!

[captain ron]

I've done some fire restoration years ago. There was a standard for the amount of char on structural elements before they had to be replaced. As far as sheeting goes we almost always replaced it. The spray we used was KILZ. And unless you sprayed everything every time it rains you will smell smoke.

[niles500]

Cheaper than Kilz and does the same thing - Lacquer - whatever you can't remove - cover it with lacquer - HTH

[zubzub]

called white laquer, really stinks, not too cheap around here....but it's also good as it is so thin drops etc should not show.

[bobofthenorth]

I've been through two fire so-called restorations.  The insurance companies will do whatever they can to scrimp and save a buck.  Don't go there.  If its burnt, rip it out.  They call that smoke paint "smoke sealer" but it still lets the smell out. 

[cody]

Just my opinion but I would really concider replacing the floor, plywood that has been exposed to excessive heat looses it's structural integrity, the glue that holds the plys bonded will deteriorate.  Another point brought up is the smoke impregnation that will be hard to seal or overcome, for the cost of that small area it's just not worth trying to save the material, I would remove it and start over, that way its done and done properly for the long term. It's also a good time to put in a heat shield to prevent it from happening again, the additional margin of safety you can build in might be well worth concidering.  I'd also concider sandwiching a layer of sheet soundproofing in between the layers of plywood, the lead based soundproofing can be found as thin as 1/8th inch and can do wonders as far as quieting down the bedroom area, much more comfortable for the long term. Just my thoughts on it.

[skipn]

Bob,

    In reading/viewing this post and some of your other posts a few ideas.
  take them with a grain of salt maybe a dash of pepper...

Door replacement..... If the door was originally removed to get air movement through the engine compartment then
     you might consider putting an electric radiator fan there instead of a door. Put a switch up front so you can
     control it even when the engine is off. ( might make it cooler in the bed area)

Remember to make a hatch door in the floor, so if need to in the future you can get to the air compressor or the various
other things that seem to be floating back there.

Looks like there may be some rust issues in the floor cross members.  If you go to replace them consider raising them
about 3 to 4 inches.....it will give your engine more room to breath off some of that extra heat.

   Your project looks like fun if one is not affraid of a little work (well maybe a lot of work)

     Good luck
Skip

[jlaney]

hello
chared wood will combust quicker than new plywood. ask me how i know
thanks j.t.

[Bob Gil]

Door replacement..  Not sure I think the door might have burn't in the fire.  I am thinking it might have been there to direct the air thur the radiator as it and the batteries would be on the opposite side of it from the engine.

I don't think there is a rust problem about all that you can see in these two pictures is wood and it has burn't some. 

From the pictures I don't think you can see that the bottom of the bed.  there is enough room to stand in the generator side of the compartment and the intake is about 4 inches below the bottom of the bed. (See attached picture)  i don't think it would do much to move the bottom of the bed up and it would make it awfully tall to get up on.  It is already a lot higher than I would like and there is still no mattress.

I plan on removing most of the wood but there is one piece of 3/4 inch plywood that goes down in front of the compartment and goes between the metal on the rear of the compartment and the fresh water tank.  about a foot of the top of it has bee chared.  I wanted to avoid removing it if possible.  I was thinking of putting a piece of hardy board and sheet metal up over the chared plywood.  Coating it with some thing and sealing it with wood glue and good caulking.

Then I want to reframe the bottom of the bed (top of the engine compartment)(I did not like the way it was done the first time anyway.) with good 2x4 lumber and put sheet metal on the bottom of it and insulate the gap and put plywood back on the top. 

I don't know what to use to insulate it but would want it to be fire retardant at least.