Do you dream of living in a home that feels like a treehouse but more modern? Well, you may be in luck. Modern architects and designers have been building homes and office buildings out of shipping containers for years. In principle, constructing a home out of shipping containers should be rather simple. Millions of unused shipping containers that are the ideal size for a house are lying around at ports all over the world.
A few shipping containers may be stacked on top of one another to create a house if you desire a multi-story or bigger square footage residence. Sadly, nothing is ever as simple as it first appears to be. There are a few things to keep in mind while constructing a shipping container house to guarantee that it is structurally solid, environmentally friendly, and aesthetically pleasing.
These homes are modern and sustainable. Container homes have become increasingly popular in recent years. From architecture portfolios to TV shows, these sustainable homes are growing in popularity. However, many people are unaware of the planning and construction management required to build a container home. In this blog, we will discuss 5 points for consideration before building a container home. In this blog, we will discuss why it is important to have container home builders and the different aspects of container home construction that you should think about before you build.
Recognize The Building Code Restriction
A shipping container home may not be permitted in many towns and localities due to various regulations. Check your local and state construction codes before making an AUD 4,500 investment in old shipping containers. It’s crucial to be aware of any regulations that could have an effect on a project including a container house, design options, zoning for the site, deed limitations, and governing bodies. Federal, state, local, county, or municipal governments may all enact regulations. When it comes to shipping container homes, a lot of states and territories are friendly and simple to deal with.
View Before Purchase
Without first checking and driving a secondhand automobile, you would never buy one. It’s possible that you won’t be able to perform a thorough tour when buying a secondhand shipping container. much more so if it is situated in a remote port on the opposite side of the globe. On the other hand, you may request from the seller specific images and a complete description of the container.
Older shipping containers, in particular, may have numerous dents, corrosion problems, or other structural difficulties as a result of years of being thrown around on the open seas. One-trip containers are slightly more costly, but they are virtually always in good condition. If you want to save yourself the time and money of replacing a container that has several dents, they can be worth the cost.
Plan Your Insolation
Without a solid strategy for installing the necessary insulation, an unpainted steel shipping container will be oppressively hot in the summer and icy in the winter. Consult with several contractors when constructing your shipping container house for insulation ideas, and keep in mind that the walls and roof will need to be well insulated. Insulation that is blanket-style requires an inner stud wall, whereas insulation made of foam may be sprayed directly onto walls. Consider using sheep wool as insulation or even putting a green roof on your shipping container house if you’re looking for a greener, more sustainable option.
Seek For A Full-Service Contractor
In order to avoid having to deal with positioning and altering your unfinished containers while dealing with several contractors for the interior finishing, it is advisable to select one contractor that can manage the entire process. Finding builders with the necessary experience might be challenging because shipping container construction is still a relatively new speciality in the building sector. A list of 16 businesses in Australia that are experts in building pre-built homes out of shipping containers is shown below.
Protect Yourself From Dangerous Chemicals
Remember that old shipping containers were built to withstand a lifetime at sea if you are buying them for your house. In order to prevent rats and other rodents from chewing through the wood flooring, the majority of shipping containers have hefty pesticide applications. These containers’ paint frequently incorporates chemicals to shield them against seawater spray’s salty splatter.
You may either purchase a brand-new shipping container that is chemical-free or make some modifications to keep dangerous chemicals out of your shipping container house. Consider pulling out the pesticide-contaminated wood flooring and replacing it with your own. The shipping container’s inside will have foam insulation to prevent any toxic chemical paints from off-gassing.
Do Not Cut Your Containers
Being made of solid steel, shipping containers are quite durable. If you wish to construct a second story or erect a separate roof structure, the walls can most definitely support the weight of the building. However, every time you drill a hole in your shipping container to add a door or window, the structural integrity of the container is compromised. You’ll probably need to spend money on steel beam reinforcement. Your budget will increase as you make more cuts into your container and as a result, it will require additional reinforcement.
Plumbing And Electrical Planning
Make sure you account for where the electrical and plumbing lines will enter and exit your home when planning your shipping container dwelling. Prior to finishing the inside, request from your contractor that the holes for the electrical and plumbing lines be cut. By doing this, you can save having to move your kitchen cabinets so you can run that extra pipe you forgot about through a hole.
Recognize the Variations Among Containers
The same cannot be said for every cargo container. High cube containers add an additional foot to the eight-foot height of standard shipping containers. High cube shipping containers are typically approximately $1,000 more costly than standard shipping containers, but the extra height may surely come in useful. If you plan to insulate your floor or ceiling significantly, you can be left with a house that ends up looking weirdly “Hobbitish.”
Consider the Wind
Homes constructed from shipping containers that are located in windy locations will probably be loud. These kinds of houses lack aerodynamic properties due to their rectangular design. Afterward, it’s possible that strong winds and gusts would strike the house’s walls, making noise within. If you reside in a windy place, think about positioning your house behind a windbreak or in a location that will shield it from the savage gusts.
Limit Your Welding Usage
A small home may be perfectly constructed out of a single shipping container, but if you need more space, you will need to buy many of them. To increase structural integrity, shipping container joints must be welded. Welding is obviously expensive, thus designers should take this into account while creating their designs in an effort to reduce the quantity of welding required.
Consider Other Options
It is usually advisable to start with local and vernacular solutions first, even though shipping container housing is popular because of its sustainability. Because they weigh a lot, shipping containers must be transported from a far-off port to your location, which can have a significant negative impact on the environment. If you can locate a used shipping container that is relatively accessible to you, especially if you live close to a port, shipping container building is more environmentally friendly. Straw bales and natural plasters for internal insulation and walls are two traditional building techniques that might be used with shipping container residences.
Are You Willing To Spend Extra Money
The alleged cost of shipping container homes is one of the reasons why so many people are drawn to them. It’s critical to realise that the costs associated with completing a shipping container home’s outside and inside might rise. The price of your home will increase with its size, as it does with practically all building methods. A multi-container home may wind up being equally as expensive to build because of the additional costs connected with welding, insulating, and finishing.
Constructing a container home is a unique endeavour, but it comes with many benefits, such as affordability and increased energy efficiency. You can learn more about the benefits of container homes by contacting MadMod Container Homes. We hope you enjoyed reading our article. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to leave a note in the comments section below.
