Whether you got your shipping container to create additional living space or just to use for storage, it’s always a good idea to insulate it, especially if you live in a cold and rainy climate. Insulation makes a shipping container home nice and toasty, while insulated storage ensures your valuable belongings remain valuable for a long time! Rain can lead to condensation inside a shipping container with no insulation, and you probably already have a good idea of the damage unchecked moisture can wreak. Here are some tips for insulating a shipping container.
- Avoid Traditional Insulating Materials
While effective in insulating a brick-and-mortar home, a shipping container’s steel walls are not ideal for fibreglass or wool—these materials allow for some moisture to get through, which may lead to corrosion.
- The Spray-On Method
While not inexpensive and somewhat cumbersome to apply, spraying foam creates a solid vapour barrier throughout the shipping container. It’s a good safeguard against any potential mold and corrosion, and it is the recommended insulating method of most experts.
- The Roll-On (aka Blanket) Insulation Option
This method is less expensive than the spray-on method, but it does require the construction of stud walls. It also may be a more tricky option, since the blankets commonly contain rock wool. You’ll have to make sure that whatever material is used in the roll-on blankets is corrosion-proof, (i.e. cotton).
- Panels – the more DIY Friendly Insulation Method
While this method also requires stud walls, panels can be bought already sized up, so all you have to do is fit them in. While easier to install, panels do tend to be more expensive than the spray-on or roll-on methods. These panels are quite thin so they won’t take too much space out of the container, and they still deliver effective insulation.
- Environmentally Friendly Insulation Options
If you are eco-minded, there are some environmentally friendly insulation options. Attaching egg cartons to the walls of the shipping container, for instance, is one eco-friendly alternative. If you live in a climate that’s not very rainy but prone to heat, insulation solutions such as mud on the roof and outside walls of the shipping container, or a “living roof” (basically, a garden on your roof), can be effective and innovative ways to make your shipping container climate-controlled.
If you don’t have the time for any of these insulation projects, you can always request that your shipping container be delivered to you with insulation already installed. A shipping container company that offers a full modification service is a good choice. Their team will ensure that your container is delivered already properly insulated for whatever climate and purpose it is destined for.
Leave a Reply