DEAR SUN SPOTS: Last fall my husband and I purchased a 2003 Thomas Freightliner school bus with plans to renovate it into a tiny house for our family. We very much want to get off assistance and are on a budget. My husband is graduating from Central Maine Community College and we are attempting to make our lives better for ourselves and our two children.

We would like to move forward with this alternative home plan as quickly as possible.

The bus needs repairs and we have not had luck in finding a metal fabricator to repair a hole in one of the support crossbeams and small holes in the floor and around the wheel well. This needs to be done before we can put down the floor and start the conversion. Since we have yet to find someone, we don’t have an idea of what the metalwork will cost but we’d like to have it completed over the summer.

We are also looking for a place to store the bus for the winter beginning in October.

Lastly, we’re hoping to find a retired or current bus driver who would meet us to teach us some tips for driving the bus. I have driven it a few times, but don’t know all I should about it. This bus was once used by the Oxford school system, if that fact helps.

Helpers can reach me directly at chewygranolamama@gmail.com and I will be watching Sun Spots in case anyone answers here.

Thank you for this service! I wish I had remembered it months ago. — No name, no town

ANSWER: It would be so fun to follow the story and have before and after photos. I picture some DIY blogs…

For inspiration, your family may want to watch some YouTube videos about converting old school buses into tiny homes and RVs. Here is just one example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR5RUqMCPak . Warning: These videos can be addictive!

Some ideas for you are to create a GoFundMe account, and to check out New England School of Metalwork in Auburn:(https://newenglandschoolofmetalwork.com/);Mid-Coast School of Technology in Auburn: (http://midcoast.mainecte.org/program/welding-fabrication/);and Region 10 Technical School in Brunswick (https://www.r10tech.org/). I’m wondering if any of the students and instructors at these institutions would take on your project. There are several metal fabricators around the state and I’m wondering if a professional at an auto body shop could help you out. You may want to contact a few.

As far as bus drivers go, you could reach out to the transportation departments of area school districts, starting with Oxford Hills in Paris.

This sounds like quite a project! I do hope some Sun Spotters reach out to help you by recommending someone for the repairs, an affordable place to store the bus, and someone who has bus driving experience. It’s a tall order, but Sun Spots is on the job. Please keep us posted. Your project sounds very interesting to me.

DEAR SUN SPOTS: Goodwill and other thrift stores accept vinyl records as donations. —No name, no town

ANSWER: Yes, they do! Just please be sure the records are playable before donating.

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