Building a Shipping Container Home in Winnipeg
Jan 9th, 2010 by kyle
A couple of friends and I have been tossing around the possibility of building a L.E.E.D. certified home here in Winnipeg. Specifically, I would like to build a home out of shipping containers and employ as many “green” technologies and design philosophies as possible.
I plan on using two 8′ x 40′ containers on each floor, set on a standard foundation for a home with approximately 1200 sf of living space plus a finished basement.
Some of the “green” technologies that I am considering are as follows:
- geothermal heating and cooling
- gray water reuse in toilets
- on-demand hot water heaters
- dual flush and low flow fixtures
- rooftop garden
- permeable surfaces on walkways and driveway
- rain water harvesting
- Energy Star appliances
- high efficiency windows and doors
As a starting point, I wanted to see what I could do to give the home some curbside appeal. Anyway, as a first stab at it, this is what I have come up with.
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- Front Iso View
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- Front Iso View
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- Rear Iso View
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- Basement Plan
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- 1st Floor Plan
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- 2nd Floor Plan
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- Roof Plan
The door on the roof provides access with a set of retractable attic stairs.
Please post comments of what you think of the images.
By the way, this is a house we would be selling, not living in ourselves. So if you would be interested in something like this, let me know your ideas and maybe we can help each other.
Let me know of any “green” technologies or ideas that you think would be a valuable addition to a home of this nature.
My comments are really about the layout rather than any green technologies. Basically, everything I know about already seems to be included – other than perhaps composting toilets but I think the space available precludes that in any case.
The basic layout is much like the Victoria terrace cottage I lived in when I lived in the UK. Living space and kitchen downstairs with bathroom(s) and bedrooms upstairs. On the ground floor I would recommend looking at not having the wall separating the dining room from the stairs. I don’t know the hallway adds anything in terms of usable space and if there are guests the larger area might be nice. On the second floor I would play with the dual bathroom setup to try giving a shower to master suite and having the full bath in the family bathroom.
The other thing I would want to look at would be the situation of the lot where the house is located. As this is a long, skinny house there are a lot of windows on the side walls. Depending on the house’s location and distance to the neighbours these may not all be desirable.
The terrace cottage I lived in was a two-up/two down and approximately 600 sq. ft. in total so there’s definitely more space with two container concept. The setup at my place was entry into the living space with the bottom of the stairs about 10 feet away. The kitchen and the back door were the second room taking up the back third. Up the stairs there was a landing with a bedroom at the front of the house and another at the back with the bathroom between the two. The proposed layout reminded me of it enough I wanted to comment.
Thanks Yolande. I appreciate your input.
One of the reasons I kept the wall between the stairs and dining area is that I want to preserve the structural integrity of the house as much as possible. Anytime I remove a wall or section of a wall, I need to reinforce that area and it can get expensive.
There are many technologies I would like to use that may lead to limited potential sales of the house. Composting toilets are one. I think it would scare many people off. However, it could definitely be an option.
A couple of other things I am thinking of doing would be to use solar panels, make extensive use of materials being removed from the containers, and to source materials reclaimed from the area. Even better if the infill project were to begin as a tear-down and I could make use of the materials in the old structure.
So impressed with your concept. Go green. It’s only within the last week that I have become aware of container housing. Also, within the last week the idea of turning a recently acquired acreage outside Wpg city limits, into a container/trailer/modular home court. So, this whole idea is in it’s initial stage. As an incentive to prospective container home purchasers I, myself, would like to have a container home on site as a rental unit….possibly more…. If you could send any information about ordering/building/transporting/costs/time frames etc I would be MOST grateful. I do understand that individual design and tastes influence costs.
Building with containers is worth taking a look at if you are contemplating a new home.
Good resource is the Residential Shipping Container Primer website. A DO IT YOURSELF (DIY) REFERENCE AND FOR CONVERTING RECYCLED INTERMODAL CARGO SHIPPING CONTAINERS INTO BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURE.
Lots of example buildings, details, facts, and links to other articles. They have something new that you can setup your own project wiki to get help with your project if you are the design build sort…