We hear people ask a lot about whether their climate is suitable for a shipping container home. Shipping container homes are made of steel; therefore, many people living in colder climates worry that their homes will be cold throughout the entire year. So, how do you winterize a container home?
Using spray foam is a fast and straightforward method for insulating your shipping container home. Also, ensure to seal your doors and windows, invest in double-glazed windows, a portable heater, winter curtains, and a thick rug for extra warmth. Having a second roof can also make a huge difference.
Shipping container homes are suitable for basically all environments assuming you ensure to set up your containers completely. This article will look at how to prepare your container home to be warm in a cold climate. Make sure to read through the entire article to learn all about it!
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How Do You Winterize a Shipping Container Home?
Shipping containers are made to be impenetrable for all weather conditions. They are intended for extreme weather conditions to be able to transport a wide range of products over the sea the whole year. Therefore, if you plan to live in a shipping container, it will be like living in a tank!
Nonetheless, products and all the other merchandise that are normally transported in containers don’t need to be warm inside, yet people do. Therefore, we need to take extra steps to guarantee that our shipping container house will stay warm throughout the year.
- Shipping container home insulation
You should insulate your container home to make living in it more pleasant, even in a cold environment. Since the heat moves quickly through the steel structure, your shipping container house will be freezing cold during winter without protection.
Insulation is used to keep the inside temperatures, and depending on your environment, you could require both insulation and weather-proofing to keep your house warm.
On average, wet conditions are more harmful to shipping container houses than dry climates. This is because moisture can make the metal rust. Therefore, keeping moisture and condensation away from your home’s structure is critical when insulating your container home externally.
A few types of external protection for shipping container homes include:
- Spray foam
- Wool
- Cotton-based insulation
- Cork
Fortunately, there are a few more steps that you can take yourself to keep your shipping container warm during winter. These include:
- Invest in a portable heater
A portable heater is another great solution to warm your container house on a budget. It is a great alternative to a wood burner to heat up a small space like a living room.
- Make homemade meals
The most effective way to warm up any space is to use your cooking apparatuses, particularly the oven. With an oven, which works at temperatures of up to 400 degrees, you will hit up an entire room in practically no time while preparing a meal—the heat produced in the kitchen will flow to different spaces in your home and warm it up.
- Buy a thick rug
Shipping containers usually have wooden flooring—this type of flooring is long-lasting and easy to maintain. However, a wooden floor can cause you to feel cold throughout the winter months. Although wooden flooring is great, you should cover it with a thick rug during the cold season.
- Rearrange your furniture
During summer, it’s alright to place your couch next to a window to enjoy the lovely sun. However, as the chilly climate sets in, move your furniture like your couch away from the entryways and windows and preferably place them closer to your heating system or wood burner.
- Invest in a wood burner
If you are looking for an inexpensive method for heating your home rapidly, a wood burner can take care of it. You just have to wait a moment for the burner to create adequate heat to warm up your living space and, surprisingly, your entire container home if it’s a small container.
- Double-glazed windows
Assume you live somewhere where people undergo freezing weather for many months. In this situation, you should consider purchasing double-glazed windows. Although they are a bit more costly than other windows, double-glazed windows are energy efficient. This means they give great insulation to lessen heat loss through the windows, allowing you to keep more heat inside during winter.
- Use your curtains to trap heat inside
Even during the chilly winter months, you can still enjoy the sun’s warmth during the day. First, open your curtains to bring the temperature up in your home with some sunshine. Then, after the sun sets, you can close your curtains to trap the heat that gets in during the day. For a better effect, consider putting on insulated winter curtains to minimize the rate at which heat escapes from your house.
- Close the doors
The warm air you create inside your home will escape to all open rooms. Consequently, you should close the doors to any rooms you are not using. To keep the heat in the living room, you can, for example, keep the doors to your other rooms locked so the heat stays where you want it.
- Seal your doors and windows
Shipping containers are typically hermetically sealed when appropriately shut. Nonetheless, by making changes, such as creating windows and new doors, gaps may appear through which warm air escapes from your house. Therefore, it’s fundamental to inspect your doors and windows for any openings and seal them using silicone caulk.
If you’re looking at a warmer climate, read our article on Insulating Your Philippines Container Home
What Is the Best Insulation for a Shipping Container House?
Quite possibly, one of the most significant challenges people face is finding proper ways to insulate a shipping container home. Many hate the idea of living inside a metal box during cold winter days. Luckily, a few insulation options change container homes from metal boxes to a beautiful and livable home.
Cork
Cork is biodegradable and is acquired from cork trees by collecting their bark instead of chopping them down. Additionally, it is not only an environmentally friendly insulation material but also a great choice for individuals searching for the advantage of sound protection for inside or outside metal walls.
Wool
This natural insulation is produced from renewable and natural material: sheep’s wool. Sheep’s wool is harmless to the ecosystem and a high-performance alternative for insulation. Moreover, the lanolin in sheep wool is naturally fire resistant, making it unnecessary to treat the wool with other chemicals.
Many companies, for instance, Black Mountain, specialize in selling sheep wool insulation products. Moreover, the hygroscopic fibers in sheep wool can absorb up to 35% of its weight in water without altering the thermal performance.
Spray foam
Spray foam insulation is one of the easiest and quickest ways to insulate a container home. This gives a fast and straightforward method for insulating your home by spraying the insulation material on your unit’s inside and outside walls.
Cotton insulation
This natural insulation material is produced using reused, post-customer cotton and denim clothing. It has an R-worth of 3.5 per inch, which is similar protection you get with fiberglass insulation. Besides, cotton protection likewise contains boric acid, a fire retardant. However, this protection should be introduced with a fume obstruction to keep it from getting wet and losing its protection properties.
Conclusion
Shipping container homes are suitable for basically all environments assuming you ensure to set up your containers completely. You need to insulate your container home to make living in it more pleasant, even in a cold environment.
Consult with local insulation businesses and talk to others who live in a shipping container home in the area. Experience sometimes gives you more to think about.
Shipping containers are made to be impenetrable for all weather conditions. Now all we need do is make it comfortable for ourselves.
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