--- title: "Skoolie Repair and Roof Raise | Rancho Santa Margarita" description: "School bus conversion repair in Yorba Linda: roof raise splice bands, window delete plates, rusted floor pans under plywood and rib to skin rivet lines." focus_keyword: "skoolie repair rancho santa margarita" canonical: https://ocrv.me/vehicles/rvs-and-motorhomes/skoolie-repair/ kind: vehicleType updated: 2026-07-29 source: OCRV Center --- # Skoolie Repair in Rancho Santa Margarita for School Bus Builds > A skoolie is **ribbed steel skin riveted to hat channel ribs** on a truck chassis. The **roof raise splice band** and the floor pan under the plywood are where almost every job starts. ## What does skoolie repair involve? Skoolie repair covers the school bus body itself: ribbed steel sides, hat channel ribs, roof raise splice bands, welded window delete plates and the original steel floor pan under the new plywood. Rancho Santa Margarita owners bring these builds to Yorba Linda for welding, sealing and structural work. - The body is bolted to a truck frame, not welded as one shell - A raised roof adds a horizontal splice all the way around - Window deletes are welded plates that need proper edge treatment - Floor rust hides under the plywood the builder laid ### Key facts | Item | Value | | --- | --- | | Base vehicles | Blue Bird, Thomas or IC bodies (On International, Freightliner or Chevrolet chassis with DT466, ISB or 6.5L power) | | Body construction | Ribbed steel on hat channel (Riveted skin panels over formed steel ribs, bolted to the chassis rails) | | Roof raise | Adds a continuous splice band (Horizontal joint around the entire body at the cut line) | | Typical length | 20 to 40 feet (GVWR 14,500 to 33,000 lb depending on body and chassis) | | Welding rate | $210 per hour (Same department as body and structural work, $5 body supplies per body hour) | A school bus body is one of the toughest passenger structures built in North America, because it was engineered to protect children in a rollover. Ribbed steel sides riveted to formed hat channel ribs, a heavy steel floor pan, and the whole body bolted to a medium duty truck chassis. Owners convert them because that structure is genuinely good and because the vehicles are cheap. Then they cut it. Almost every skoolie has had windows deleted and plated, a roof raised, or both, and the quality of that cutting and welding is what determines whether the vehicle is sound. That is where our work on these usually begins. ## Ribs, skin and a chassis underneath A school bus body is ribbed steel skin riveted to formed hat channel ribs at roughly twenty eight inch spacing, with a heavy steel floor pan tying it together and the whole body bolted to a medium duty truck frame through body mounts. It is a genuinely strong structure and it was validated for rollover with children inside it. The important consequence for a builder or a repairer is that the ribs are the only real structure in the wall. Everything else is skin. A cabinet, a bed platform, a wood stove or a roof rack has to reach a rib to be properly attached, and the timber framing most builders add between the ribs is not a substitute for that. - Hat channel ribs are the load path, roughly every twenty eight inches - Skin panels are riveted and carry very little vertical load - The steel floor pan is structural and it is under the new plywood - Body mounts were sized for seats and passengers, not a build ## The roof raise is the highest risk joint on the vehicle Raising a roof means cutting every rib and every skin panel horizontally all the way around the body, adding an extension piece to each rib, and closing the outside with a splice band. Done well it is strong and dry. Done in a driveway with self tapping screws and a tube of sealant, it is a continuous leak path at eye level with dozens of interruptions. We inspect these from inside wherever we can, because the outside tells you very little. The perimeter interior sheathing comes off, we look at how each rib extension was joined and whether the band is fastened into the rib or only into the skin, and we probe the framing behind it for water that has been running down inside the wall. > **warning:** If a roof raise splice band is fastened only into the skin and not into the rib extensions, the joint is carrying load it cannot carry. Sealing it does not address that. ## What is under the plywood Every school bus has a steel floor pan with drainage holes, hundreds of seat bolt holes, and years of being mopped out. Converters generally lay foam board and plywood straight on top of it and never see it again. The rust that was starting underneath continues in a sealed cavity with no airflow, and it accelerates rather than stopping. It surfaces as a soft spot at the stepwell or over a rear wheel arch, which are the two places water pooled when the bus was in service. By then the plywood has to come up. We tell buyers to establish this before purchase, because a floor pan repair on a finished build means dismantling the interior above it. ## Welding plates into ribbed steel Deleting a window sounds simple and is not, because school bus side panels are ribbed with a formed profile. Welding a flat plate into a ribbed opening leaves gaps that get filled with sealant, and the weld heat destroys the coating on both sides of the joint in a panel that will never be seen from inside again. The right approach is a plate formed to match the rib profile, welded with the heat affected zone treated on both faces, and an exterior finish that does not rely on sealant to close a geometric gap. When we rework somebody else's delete, most of the hours go into removing filler and sealant to see what is actually under it. ## Rates and where skoolie budgets go wrong Welding, fabrication, structural and body work all bill at $210 per hour with body supplies at $5 per body hour and paint supplies at $55 per paint hour. Electrical and systems work is $260 per hour. A written estimate is $150, credited in full against an authorized repair, and deposits are fifty percent over $2,000. The recurring budget mistake on these builds is treating steel work as the cheap part. It is not, because access dominates. Reaching a splice band or a floor pan on a finished interior means removing finished work, and that removal and reinstatement is frequently larger than the weld itself. ## Who brings skoolies in Mostly builders partway through, who have reached the point where the remaining work needs welding, a lift, extraction or a measured assessment. That is a good stage to arrive at, because the interior is not finished yet and access is still cheap. We are happy to do the steel and hand the interior back to the owner. The other group is second owners of finished builds who have discovered a leak or a soft floor. Those are harder conversations because the finished interior is in the way. Either way, all of this happens in shop at Yorba Linda: there is no mobile service and no roadside option, and a skoolie needs a welding bay rather than a driveway. ## Questions and answers ### My raised roof leaks above the windows. What is failing? The splice band. Raising a roof cuts every rib and skin panel horizontally around the body, and the band closing that joint is a hand made seam with dozens of interruptions. Corners and the run above the windows go first. We take the perimeter interior sheathing off to see whether the band reaches the rib extensions. ### Is there rust under the plywood floor in my converted bus? Very likely. Every school bus has a steel pan with drainage holes and hundreds of seat bolt holes, and builders lay foam and plywood straight over it. The rust that was starting continues in a sealed cavity with no airflow. It shows up first at the stepwell or over a rear wheel arch. ### What do I actually screw a galley into in a bus wall? A hat channel rib, which sits roughly every twenty eight inches. The skin between ribs carries almost no load, and the timber framing most builders add between them is not a substitute. Anything heavy, including a bed platform or a wood stove, needs a fastener path that reaches a rib. ### Why is my welded window plate rusting through the paint? Because a flat plate was welded into a ribbed panel and the gaps were filled with sealant, and because the weld destroyed the coating on both faces. It corrodes from inside the joint outward. A correct delete uses a plate formed to the rib profile with the heat affected zone treated on both sides. ### Do the body mounts need attention after a conversion? They should be checked. Those mounts were sized for a bus carrying seats and children, and a build adds several thousand pounds of framing, tanks, batteries and appliances, often high or at the ends. Elongated mount holes are common on builds with a few thousand miles on them. ### Should I bring my bus in before I finish the interior? Yes, if any steel work is needed. Access is the expensive part of every skoolie job, and once the interior is finished, reaching a splice band or a floor pan means dismantling completed work. We are glad to do the welding and structural repairs and hand the interior back to you. --- Source: [OCRV Center](https://ocrv.me/vehicles/rvs-and-motorhomes/skoolie-repair/). Last verified 2026-07-29.