I just finished up my bus door and wanted to share, it’s my first big welding project I’ve ever done.

I knew I wanted to have a more secure more airtight door than the stock door, I’m not a fan of wooden doors. I see a lot of people using. I thought about making a custom door like Chuck Cassidy does in his video, but I wanted to keep the look of the bus door and wanted to save some money.

It was a two-piece door that opened in the middle, I removed the hinge on the left side then welded on some 1x2 tube steel for the frame with a 0.5 tube for the gasket to seal on

The door was originally made of 1in square tube, the gap between the doors is filled with some pieces of 1x2 tube on the top, bottom, and middle. With a piece of 1x1 angle welded on the top and bottom for the major structural support.

I built it in place so I could control the gaps, I think I did pretty well overall. The very top of the door I did have to add double the amount of gasket because it ended up being a little bit off.

I used the original hinge on the right side, not sure how much weight it’s designed to hold, but it didn’t seem to have any problems with me hanging on the hinge and it seems to hold the weight of the one piece door just fine.

I used an RV door latch, yes, I am aware they are not the most secure thing in the world. I will add some sort of deadbolt on the inside. I use some 1/8th plate to make the thickness of the door 1.5 inches total around the latch so it would fit. 

The stretch section in the middle I covered up with some 1/16th sheet welded in place. I will be adding some spray foam in the gap in the middle to seal it, then probably some very thin plywood for the inside face.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! I know I’m not the first one to turn a two-piece door into one piece, but I do like how clean it turned out

Just wanted to show off the one piece door I just finished!