Cheep easy way to insulate a shipping containers

[Guda]

I just got done outsulating my containers & it was less than $1000 for 2 20'ers. If you outsulate then you can use Superstrut & have no burnable materials in your container. WATCH

 

[Picasso]

Dont forget under it!

 

[Guda]

Dont forget under it!

Yes! There would be concrete foundations to set walls on to further outsulate. Ah but the day of the pour the concrete truck called in sick.... Then the weather got too cold until March ;(

 

[100kwh-hunter]

Professional insulator here:

What kind of insulation you use, it looks like xps 2 inch.
regarding moister this is a clever choise, but why did you not use first a layer of pir sheets to get a higher rd value?
Or froth foam even higher rd value and better water resistant plus complete air tight.

For insulating the bottom/floor it is good enough to dig a small trench around your container and put insulation in it.
In the Netherlands the "Frost border" is 60 cm/22inch deep.

I am not aware about your weather conditions but if the concrete fabric can put 5 to 10% lye?NaOH (soap making stuff) you can poor concrete to about -7 celcius, provided that your "casting mold" is insulated a rd of 0.5 will be enough aka eps foam.

I like your thinking and work, good job! keep on posting your progress.
Good luck, best Igor

 

[Guda]

What kind of insulation you use, it looks like xps 2 inch

Correct

regarding moister this is a clever choise, but why did you not use first a layer of pir sheets to get a higher rd value?

Eventually all those wall will be interior. There will be a insulated roof added also. This was quick & pretty cheep.

For insulating the bottom/floor it is good enough to dig a small trench around your container and put insulation in it.
In the Netherlands the "Frost border" is 60 cm/22inch deep

I've already got my forms in place. And those wall will be interior.

I am not aware about your weather conditions but if the concrete fabric can put 5 to 10% lye?NaOH (soap making stuff) you can poor concrete to about -7 celcius, provided that your "casting mold" is insulated a rd of 0.5 will be enough aka eps foam.

To get strong concrete it has to be cured well. Only way it to keep it warm. Too hard, not worth the hassle.

I like your thinking and work, good job! keep on posting your progress.
Good luck, best Igor

Thank you!

Update video coming out but, I had MAJOR issue with condensation. Like literal puddles under & IN my bed. I sleep on the floor on a air matters with a ton of blankets. I went to blow up the matters & every little cup was full of moldy water. It was crazy bad. Still fighting it. Black mold infection in my sinus has come back. I was having motivational issues for a week before I found it. Its been a few days now & I.m feeling much better. The mold grew into the caulking so I have a ton of work to get it gone. Found it right as I was going to bed. Took 2+ hours that night & a few hours the next day. I've moved my bed build up on the list. Getting off the floor will take care of most the issue.

 

[newbostonconst]

You need to get out of there and definitely not sleep there, very unsafe.....pull everything out and disinfect. You may need to pull out all the insulation and discard. In the US they condemn places like you are describing and make people tear them down....

 

[100kwh-hunter]

No need to tear down, dehumidifier will do the trick....7 days below 50% rh is enough and vacuum, BUT...sleep somewhere else, your berating out is what the feed on.
Make sure that in every space there is no chance for moister to accumulate, seek for cold spots in your insulation-----> condense, you dont want that.
A cheap dehumidifier will and can do the trick, problem with those cheap ones: the temp must be above 15 Celsius in order to work!
Best

 

[Guda]

You may need to pull out all the insulation

Its outside. The only thing the mold is in is the caulking around the edge.

dehumidifier will do the trick....7 days below 50%

I actually had one. Need to get a hose for it & I'll run it when I have enough power. It drys by cooling... So I'll be running a heater & cooler at the same time....

, BUT...sleep somewhere else, your berating out is what the feed on.

No where else to go. Place burned down Jan 31st & lived in a tent for several months before I got the container.

Ive been running fans, keeping the heat up & leaving the door open a few times a day. I also stopped drying my dishes in this container & try to dry off after washing before coming inside. Stopped watering my plant also, it should be fine. The mattress is moist in the mornings so I roll back the bedding to let it dry. Seams like I'm getting it under control.

I'd like to be able to cook inside but with no ventilation its not a good idea. I've gotta put in a hood & a bathroom vent. I want to hook it all to a heat exchanger. I am trying to put as few holes as possible. So I have to think long term how I want things. Sometimes I just have to wait for the ultimate solution rather than a bunch of temporary things cobbled together. I love to cook, like really love it. Baking, smoking, roasting, you name it I want to cook it. Don't say ice cream or I'll deep fry it Point being is I really want a stove, already ran the gas pipe. But ventilation. Ventilation will solve all kinds off issues & unlock all kinds of things I can do inside. Like cook & bath.

 

[newbostonconst]

Good Luck and keep us up to date...Just saw the video...Thanks

 

[Freep]

I just got done outsulating my containers & it was less than $1000 for 2 20'ers. If you outsulate then you can use Superstrut & have no burnable materials in your container. WATCH

Do you have a price comparison to show how much cheaper it is? Insulation has always seemed cheap to me.

 

[Guda]

Do you have a price comparison to show how much cheaper it is? Insulation has always seemed cheap to me.

I consider it a cheaper method than insulating inside because of the other materials required to fix the insulation to the inside of the container & then make the walls usable. And the time required is a fraction of doin the inside. Also, putting the insulation on the outside makes the container thermal mass. I have all the room on the inside. My interior walls are finished. I hook my Superstrut right to the tie downs & build what ever I want. I am going extremely fire proof.

 

[100kwh-hunter]

Quick replay.....outside insulation no matter what forn is cheaper AND better then inside insulation....
Btw tomorrow i will give proper replays due to time shortish, sorry.

 

[Guda]

outside insulation no matter what forn is cheaper AND better then inside insulation....

Big time

If you are a fan of the build show, Matt enplanes it like this. If you are cold, you dont shove a jacket inside your ribs, you put it around you.

My plan for this place is to surround it on all sides so keeping the core moderate temperature will be easy.

 

[100kwh-hunter]

Do you have a price comparison to show how much cheaper it is? Insulation has always seemed cheap to me.

Insulation can be very cheap or really expensive, it all depends on how much you want to save on your heating bill.
Also very important noise reduction and air closed.
I insulated my house with 3 layers.
Inner layer: rockwool 3 inch, for noise reduction and more stable temperature.
layer in between: 5 inch pir sheets
Outside layer:4 to 5 inch spayed pir foam.
All layers are thermal camera (temp diff in/outside 30c)tested and air tight.
My heating bill was falling down like a concrete blok from a 100 stories high building to zero.

With price it also depends on your climate, to much moister you can not use eps.
To hot on a wall/roof you can not use pir. (Behind a brick wall south facing temps can reach 80C!)
To windy you can not use rockwool or glas fiber.
How much room do you want to spend on insulation and how well it must insulate....
For total rd value of 35 and 1 inch thick get vermiculite sheet...100 euro a squire meter.

For regular insulation in the Netherlands: is a value of 4 wanted--->walls and floor
3.5 inch of pir sheet
6 to 8 inch on rockwool or glass fiber(depends on wind factor and how well you do it)
eps 8 to 10 inch
xps 6 inch

Flat roof add 50% on a angle add 25%
All are around $20 for a squire meter.
Dont forget your windows

 

[100kwh-hunter]

btw
Concrete will harden no matter what, except below -7c
It also depends on the chemistry and composition of the concrete it self.
In general the more time it needs to set the harder it gets.
For your container house a "b rate class c" will be more then enough.

Sorry to hear about youre house.....sheeeeeet.
But why deep fry ice cream?
Wish you did not wrote that down....dessert for tonight(i am already drooling)
Total wrap the ice cream in hot pancakes, pour pre heated smoked wiskey over it, set on fire and serve.....
Did not make that one for a while.

To make your house more comfortable dry, why not use salt, plain old kitchen salt, it attracts moister.
Or:
Anhydrous calcium chloride
The hydrated salt can be dried for re-use but will dissolve in its own water of hydration if heated quickly and form a hard amalgamated solid when cooled.
It pretty cheap and can bought in buckets up to 25 kilo.
Put a thick layer on a plate and place several of them in your house....
Btw was there any progress on your build?

 

[Picasso]

heated smoked wiskey

ok thats a new one to try. MMmm winter is here.

 

[Guda]

But why deep fry ice cream?
Wish you did not wrote that down....dessert for tonight(i am already drooling)
Total wrap the ice cream in hot pancakes, pour pre heated smoked wiskey over it, set on fire and serve.....
Did not make that one for a while.

LOL! MMMMMM Now I am the hungry one.

To make your house more comfortable dry, why not use salt, plain old kitchen salt, it attracts moister.
Or:
Anhydrous calcium chloride
The hydrated salt can be dried for re-use but will dissolve in its own water of hydration if heated quickly and form a hard amalgamated solid when cooled.
It pretty cheap and can bought in buckets up to 25 kilo.
Put a thick layer on a plate and place several of them in your house....

I might have to try something like this. As the moisture comes back every day.

Btw was there any progress on your build?

My shoulders are wrecked. Wiring tomorrow.

ok thats a new one to try. MMmm winter is here.

I'm tellin ya. Solar ppl have the goods!

 

[Camginger]

Hi. I'm new here. I've just converted a shuttle bus into a ...''RV''... and moved into it a few weeks ago, even while converting and insulating it at the same time. Well, I just did my best in a very short time. So it's not that pretty inside, buy I insulated it almost completely. But after watching tons of videos on YT about converting small buses into RV, I found a video of a young couple living in a van in Canada explaining how they're dealing with the moisture problem during the winter. I learned that living in a bus (like a container) is totally different than living in a house. They installed 1 (or 2, I don't remember) 12 volt fans inside their van, and they ALSO always leave a window cracked open. So the moisture problem is taking cared of. That way, there's always an air exchange from inside with the outside air, so the moisture problem is taking cared of. So coming back to my situation, here I am, in my shuttle bus, the weather outside goes from -5 Celsius to up to -20 Celsius right now and I don't have any moisture problem. Unfortunatelly, the sun is very shy right now where I am, there were no sun for almost 2 weeks now... So I parked my shuttle bus in a camp ground with a 30 amps electric outlet, so I don't have the solar or stress problem. Before I learned that trick (a few weeks ago) I was closing the inside of my shuttle bus all tight from the outside with no air exchange between the inside with the outside air... Big problem, every morning, the water was glisening on the walls and dropping from the ceiling!!! So a container must be similar to a small (or a big) bus. So since your container is well insulated, leave some small gap(s) somewhere in your container so there can be air exchange with the oustside air. And use at least one 12 volt fan. I tried a small computer fan, but it was WAY too small, it was like not having a fan at all!!! Now I'm using a 6 inch fan, and it solved all my moisture problem. Only when I cook, then I really have to open (I mean crack) a few windows. I just thought that this could help with your moisture problem. Also, when I was looking what to buy for my solar system, I went with the 24 volt MPP Solar ''All in One'' that Will was talking about. But since there was almost no sun at all for the last 2 weeks here, that's why I decided to park my shuttle bus in a camp ground with the electricity included. In my case, all my solar pannels are still not installed right now, and also I unplugged my ''all in one'' system, and I recharge my battery bank with a small smart battery charger to maintain my batteries, but since I do have access to the grid power, I'm not really using my battery bank right now. But I'm here, still learning. There's just so much to learn. Anyway, I just hope this might help you.

 

[Guda]

Hi. I'm new here. I've just converted a shuttle bus into a ...''RV''... and moved into it a few weeks ago, even while converting and insulating it at the same time. Well, I just did my best in a very short time. So it's not that pretty inside, buy I insulated it almost completely. But after watching tons of videos on YT about converting small buses into RV, I found a video of a young couple living in a van in Canada explaining how they're dealing with the moisture problem during the winter. I learned that living in a bus (like a container) is totally different than living in a house. They installed 1 (or 2, I don't remember) 12 volt fans inside their van, and they ALSO always leave a window cracked open. So the moisture problem is taking cared of. That way, there's always an air exchange from inside with the outside air, so the moisture problem is taking cared of. So coming back to my situation, here I am, in my shuttle bus, the weather outside goes from -5 Celsius to up to -20 Celsius right now and I don't have any moisture problem. Unfortunatelly, the sun is very shy right now where I am, there were no sun for almost 2 weeks now... So I parked my shuttle bus in a camp ground with a 30 amps electric outlet, so I don't have the solar or stress problem. Before I learned that trick (a few weeks ago) I was closing the inside of my shuttle bus all tight from the outside with no air exchange between the inside with the outside air... Big problem, every morning, the water was glisening on the walls and dropping from the ceiling!!! So a container must be similar to a small (or a big) bus. So since your container is well insulated, leave some small gap(s) somewhere in your container so there can be air exchange with the oustside air. And use at least one 12 volt fan. I tried a small computer fan, but it was WAY too small, it was like not having a fan at all!!! Now I'm using a 6 inch fan, and it solved all my moisture problem. Only when I cook, then I really have to open (I mean crack) a few windows. I just thought that this could help with your moisture problem. Also, when I was looking what to buy for my solar system, I went with the 24 volt MPP Solar ''All in One'' that Will was talking about. But since there was almost no sun at all for the last 2 weeks here, that's why I decided to park my shuttle bus in a camp ground with the electricity included. In my case, all my solar pannels are still not installed right now, and also I unplugged my ''all in one'' system, and I recharge my battery bank with a small smart battery charger to maintain my batteries, but since I do have access to the grid power, I'm not really using my battery bank right now. But I'm here, still learning. There's just so much to learn. Anyway, I just hope this might help you.

Thank you so much!

What I have been doing is leaving the door open several times a day. Running the heat up high & then leaving the door open to let the moisture out. I have a few fans running, RBG computer fans . Now that I am on top of it I get it dry daily.

You are correct, I need an opening. I need to add vet fans & a window. I need a roof first. Once I can get the roof up I'll be able to open up vents. Shower/bath vent & a stove vent. Looking at heat exchangers. The air is pretty dusty most the time so I want to put in filters.

I just bought everything to build a bed. Getting up off the floor is going to help a lot.

Sounds like you are on a bit of an adventure. Be very careful of fire. Have extinguishers inside & out ready to go. I lost my cats , 2 RVs & pretty much everything in a fire at the start of the year. They burn fast. I am scared of living in them now. Or anything that can burn.

 

[Picasso]

On my new cabin I did Panasonic FV-04VE1 for air exchange since I have a mostly airtight build with spray foam and conventional insulation. Much needed because my on demand water heater inside the house does not have a fresh air intake external to the house. IE it draws air to exhaust from inside the house.