Chapter 7 – Heating, Cooling And Insulation

A container home is basically a big metal box. Here’s something you need to know about metals: When it’s hot outside, the metal is going to absorb all of that heat. And when it’s cold, well, you get the basic idea right? Therefore it is not particularly efficient when it comes to heating and cooling.

So how can you ensure that you won’t freeze or get baked to death inside your new home?

The answer: proper heating, cooling and insulation.

In this chapter we will discuss paint, roofing and other things you can do to properly heat, cool and insulate your home.

The use of highly reflective paint is one of the things normally done to shipping containers even if they’re not used for living purposes. This is to ensure that the items stored inside while in transit won’t be affected greatly by the outside temperature. That should be your first clue as to how you can effectively control the temperature inside your house.

Another way to properly insulate your home is to use commercial insulation pads that you can buy from your local wholesale stores. Use plywood to hide these materials out of sight.

Plywood interior

Using plywood for your interior provides you with a cost efficient and very customizable material to work with in order to beautify your home. In order to do this, any internal damage your container van has should be addressed first. This basically covers dings and dents which your future home already incurred during its years of service transporting items at sea. So keep it as straight as possible and then install the basic framework for your plywood walls to attach to. The most commonly used material for this would be 2x2 boards and set up through the whole entirety of the container van. Once that is secured, it is just simple enough to lay the plywood on top of the framework and you have a more appealing interior now. Go for marine quality ply board so that you have added moisture resistance. You can also paint these or lay another layer of wallpaper on top of the ply wood. Whatever you intend to do with your interior is entirely up to your imagination and budget.

Air conditioning

An air conditioning unit can be installed into your tiny home. For a 20 footer container home you won’t need an especially large one. In fact a 1HP or 0.5HP air conditioning unit should be enough for the entire place. You can buy an air conditioner in almost all malls and appliance stores.

Using Exhaust fans

Exhaust fans are another good way to reduce heat inside your house. Strategically placed, these exhaust fans can greatly reduce heat or cold within your home. If you’re going to use exhaust fans, try getting the ones that have a reverse feature. Having the reversible exhaust fans will allow you to suck air out or air in depending on your heating and cooling needs.

This way you can reduce the need for an air conditioning unit as you suck in cold air from outside into your home if you need it. This is usually a good idea at night.

In the morning, you can turn your exhaust fans back to their normal feature and suck out warm air from inside and deposit it outside.

And where’s the best place to put these? Remember the holes you placed on top of your container home to make way for vents leading to the roof? This is a perfect spot to install exhaust fans. With proper venting and tubing you’ll be able to direct hot or cold air wherever you need it in your house.

Roofing

You will need to create heat vents on top of your container home to reduce over-heating.

A traditional roof can then be placed on top of your container home in order to reduce heat in your home during daytime.

Furthermore, additional awnings can be done to major entry/ exit areas to reduce the amount of sunlight and heat coming into your home. Try to make these awnings removable so you can have many options regarding the amount of sunlight you want.

Large Bay windows

There is a more cost efficient way to cool your house: Install huge windows. By opening up these windows, you’ll allow more air circulation into your home.

Added note: You can also use nature to your advantage in order to heat, cool or insulate your house. If you live in a generally sunny or hot area, placing your container home nearer to the trees should provide you with a cooler exterior as well as additional shade if there are branches high enough to cover your container home.