“The sky’s the limit if you have a roof over your head.”
– Sol Hurok
The converted containers at Olsen House had their roofs installed just in time for a powerful wind storm to hit the area. While many houses nearby sustained damage, the Olsen House roof withstood the barrage despite having no windows or doors installed.
Several factors contribute to the roof’s strength. Purlins (the horizontal structural members in the roof) are screwed, rather than nailed, into the roof beams. The screws provide a better grip and attach the purlins more strongly to the structure. Metal storm clips are screwed into the purlins, and finally, the flat metal roof sheeting has clip locks that allow it to clip directly onto the storm clips.
This clip lock system ensures that there is no need for nails or screws to be punched through the roof sheets and it is therefore very resistant to leaks. On the interior of the containers, 40mm iso boards are used to create the ceilings, with 80mm polyester fibre providing insulation.
One might be forgiven for thinking that shipping containers can simply be snapped together like jigsaw puzzle pieces to form a home, but the reality of the conversion is far different. No two shipping containers are the exactly same (slightly different thicknesses of material are used by different companies when building the containers) and this is especially true for used shipping containers that may have accumulated a few dings and dents during their lifetimes.
In practical terms, this means that contractors may not be able to use the same measurements between walls that, on paper, should be identical. A good deal of creativity and flexibility is required on the building site in order to meet these challenges.
Large metal frames are being added to the exterior of the Olsen House containers to provide a skeleton on which the windows, doors, and cladding will be mounted. This will allow the cladding to be mounted in such a way that no screws will be visible from the outside once the house is completed.
Shipping containers tend to get very hot or very cold depending on the ambient temperature. In order to convert a shipping container into a house, good insulation is therefore essential.
Good quality insulation such as this will mean that minimal energy needs to be used for heating and cooling the house once it is occupied.
“A house is made with walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson