Converting a shipping container into a house? Please keep in mind the following

Design

An important feature of a shipping containers is that they are incredibly strong. Just look at a container ship how high they are stacked while fully loaded! Shipping containers are the perfect building block to build quickly and affordably.

Unfortunately, some people over-adapt their containers. Cutting large pieces of steel from the container will reduce the strength and hence the structural integrity of the container. You also have to incur additional costs, because you have to reinforce the containers with steel beams and extrusions. You also need to weld the steel beams in place, which can further increase your costs and involve time consuming preparation work.

You can remove steel parts for windows and doors without much hassle, but when removing entire walls, you will need support beams.

The process

Let's start with the structure. You have to cut out parts of every container house. Not only the corrugated side walls of the container or the roof, but also the very heavy steel of the floor slab or the gigantic doors have to be processed. When you remove a piece of side wall, the opening must be provided with steel extrusions all around; these must be welded around the edges to maintain the structural rigidity of the container. This is both time consuming and expensive - compared to working with wood.

Metalworking is a very specialized profession. The average hourly rate of a welder is around 60 euros per hour (while an experienced carpenter charges around 35 - 40 euros per hour). Here is the first conflict: the desire to use a container to reduce costs at the higher cost of working with steel.

When you are finished with the shell, you have a building that may look finished on the outside, but is still raw & open on the inside. You are only now at 25% of the total work.

You still need to place wooden or steel studs to support the structure, insulation, electrical wiring, pipes, windows and doors, etc before you can place wooden floor, bathroom tiles, plumbing fixture, heating units, air-conditioning, etc.,

Plumbers, carpenters, etc. often have no experience with shipping containers. If a plumber knows how to use wood and stone to run and seal pipes through them, they are often not familiar with doing the same with a steel casing. Installing wooden studs is already a challenge - you cannot screw these into the steel exterior of containers, otherwise you will pierce the waterproof shell.

INSULATION

A mistake many people make with insulation is that it does not take the local climate into account. In areas with a lot of rain, for example, make sure that your insulation gives you a moisture-resistant layer. The best option would be to use polyurethane foam insulation. In very hot, dry climates, your insulation should focus on keeping your container home cool. In general, you don't want a moisture-blocking layer in this case.

There is no one right approach when it comes to insulation. It depends on many things such as the local climate, your budget, the age of the container and the style of your home.

Most people would agree that spray foam insulation is the best thing to use in most circumstances. It is certainly not the best choice for every situation. There are many other types of insulation to take into account, such as insulation panels and rock wool.

RECAP

If you want to convert a shipping container into a home, you should know that it takes about as much work as a full-scale renovation - that is, turning a completely unprocessed space into a finished space. Interested in this innovative housing type? Get in touch