How to Build up a Container Home
Shipping container homes are the hallmarks of architectural styling. These are Intermodal Steel Building Units, or ISBUs that are reused as structures for any place and for any purpose. May it be home, studio, port or a palace shipping containers are cost-efficient and durable buildings for residential, commercial and industrial uses. Container houses in Australia are not an uncommon sight and options for shipping containers for hire in Australia are available in plenty.
Shipping container houses are relatively easy to build. You can set up a structure in no time and they last for quite some time. The containers are designed to hold up to 57,000 pounds. There is a great amount of preparation, construction and research necessary for turning a shipping container into a home. This includes setting up a foundation, cutting frames for doors, windows, insulating, installing utilities and adding a roof and flooring.
Building a foundation
There are primarily three types of foundations: a traditional concrete block, a crawl space and a basement. Out of the factors that influence the decision the major ones are housing plan, water table, type of soil, climate and bedrock, the cost of the shipping container.
Insulation:
By just putting on a closed-cell foam layer to the inner and outer walls of the building will work perfectly for insulating against most problems of heat, cold and moisture.
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Hot summers require a reflective paint on the outer side of the building. A cool coating will reflect the UV rays of the sun and prevent too much heat gain.
Utilities:
This is quite similar to installing the necessities in a conventional house. Plumbing is normally limited to two to three locations. Wiring often runs behind the wall and below the flooring.
Installing the roof:
One of the advantages of a shipping container is that it is already quite robust and has weather-resistant roof and walls. A conventional hip roof can easily be put up by metal scraps, welding and clamps. The advantages of these are a better run-off of water, harvesting of rainwater, a reflection of heat and an extra shade over the door and windows.
Flooring:
Shipping containers already have a floor made of half inch plywood. One thing is that the plywood is treated with harmful chemicals like insecticides and fungicides. These chemicals are harmful to humans and can easily be transmitted on touching the floor.
