One of the most crucial aspects of converting your container into a livable home is ensuring proper insulation. Failing to do so can lead to a host of issues such as humidity, rust, condensation, and fluctuating indoor temperatures. Equally important to insulating your container home is providing adequate ventilation. Without effective ventilation, whether passive or mechanical, serious problems can develop in your new abode.
Ventilation becomes even more critical when considering small container homes measuring under 600 square feet, as ventilation issues are amplified in confined spaces.
Shipping containers are inherently designed to be airtight. This design serves the purpose of safeguarding goods during overseas transit in various weather conditions. However, when we repurpose containers as habitable buildings, this tight sealing can lead to problems. Buildings require ventilation. Today, we’ll delve into the specifics of “How to Properly Ventilate a Shipping Container Home.”
Problems Stemming from Inadequate Ventilation
Poor ventilation can manifest in two ways:
- You might end up with a house lacking ventilation, preventing external airflow from entering your container.
- You could have a house with excessive ventilation, making it either impossible or economically burdensome to maintain a consistent temperature inside the container.
Insufficient ventilation within your container can result in damage to both your home and the people residing within it. One of the most significant issues arising from poor ventilation is mold growth.
Mold
Mold is a type of fungus that, if left untreated, can be costly to remove. Inhaling mold spores can also lead to health issues.
Health Conditions
Poor ventilation has been linked to various human health conditions, including pneumonia, dry eyes, and nausea. It’s also associated with respiratory diseases, with asthma being the most common.
Rust
Inadequate ventilation can also lead to the accumulation of condensation, which can corrode steel containers. This rusting process can also affect any metal piping, such as plumbing. Repairing rusted containers can be both expensive and time-consuming.
Unpleasant Odors
Insufficient ventilation can result in moisture buildup, leading to unpleasant musty odors. You’ve probably encountered this smell when entering a closed room that hasn’t been ventilated for a while. Since the stagnant air has nowhere to go, any odors within your home will linger and result in an accumulation of undesirable scents.
Primary Culprit: Condensation
Lack of proper ventilation can lead to a multitude of issues, but perhaps the most significant among them is condensation. Condensation occurs when water droplets form on a surface.
How Does Condensation Form?
When warm air comes into contact with a cooler surface, the moisture in the warm air condenses on the cooler surface. As we know, where there’s water, there’s usually mold.
Different Types of Condensation Cold Bridge
This occurs when warm air touches a surface colder than itself. This is more common on the external walls of your container.
Warm Front
This occurs when warm air enters your home and comes into contact with the cold interior walls of the containers. However, in homes with inadequate ventilation, this is less common.
Properly Ventilating a Shipping Container Home
Now that we’re familiar with the potential consequences of insufficient ventilation in your containers, let’s explore how to ventilate them properly.
Highlighted Topics:
- How to Keep My Container Home Cool?
- How to Keep My Container Home Warm?
- Methods for Insulating Your Container Home
There are two general methodologies when it comes to ventilation:
The first is passive ventilation, and the second is mechanical ventilation.
Passive Ventilation
Passive ventilation provides the ability to ventilate your home without incurring substantial costs. Mechanical ventilation, such as air conditioning, requires significant energy consumption. On the other hand, passive ventilation utilizes natural environmental elements to keep your home well-ventilated.
Vent Openings
The most cost-effective and common method of achieving passive ventilation in your containers is by installing vent openings or louvers on the container. Placing these vent openings allows air to flow in and out of the containers solely through the action of the wind. This is often referred to as cross-ventilation.
Position the vent openings on one side of the container so that the wind blows against them. Then install vent openings on the opposite side of the container. This arrangement allows air to flow through the ventilation grates on one side of the container and exit through the ventilation grates on the other side.
Smart Design
Another excellent way to achieve passive ventilation in your container is through strategic design that capitalizes on the power of wind to flow through your home.
We saw this approach in action with the Containers of Hope, a container home in San Jose, Costa Rica. It employs windows positioned just below the roof to enable air to flow through the containers. These strategically placed windows help keep the containers cool during hot summer days and also aid in reducing humidity levels.
We’ve also witnessed an innovative building design at Vissershok Primary School in South Africa, which utilized containers for classrooms. Vissershok Primary School incorporated numerous small windows on both sides of the container walls. This allows air to flow directly through the container, eliminating stagnant air.
Mechanical Ventilation
In certain climates, like highly humid regions such as southern Brazil, passive ventilation might prove insufficient, necessitating mechanical ventilation. Indeed, in many countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, including mechanical ventilation in kitchens and bathrooms is a construction regulatory standard. Depending on your location, the minimum required extraction rate ranges around 15 liters per second per room.
Usually, individuals install exhaust fans (a type of mechanical exhaust ventilation) to meet these building code requirements. These fans expel moisture from your home before it settles on surfaces and transforms into humidity. Position the fan as high as possible on the wall farthest from the primary source of airflow (whether a door or window).
Supply-Only Ventilation
The opposite of mechanical exhaust-only ventilation is supply-only mechanical ventilation. In this scenario, instead of the fan expelling stale air from your home, it draws fresh air in. Supply-only ventilation proves beneficial when your home relies on passive ventilation and you simply need to enhance it on hot days.
Balanced Ventilation
Your final option, albeit more costly, involves employing a balanced ventilation system. This entails fans pushing out stale air and pulling in fresh air. The air can then be distributed throughout your container via ducts.
In moisture-prone areas such as bathrooms and kitchens, air can be extracted while fresh air is introduced to other areas of the house, like the living room and bedrooms. Utilizing a balanced ventilation system enables easy management of humidity levels in your home.
Dehumidifier
While not a mechanical ventilation device, a dehumidifier can help alleviate many problems stemming from poor ventilation.
A dehumidifier reduces air humidity levels, thereby minimizing water content and preventing the condensation that can corrode your containers!
They can be purchased as standalone appliances that can be moved from room to room. Alternatively, whole-home solutions with ducts distributed throughout the container are available.
Properly Ventilating a Shipping Container Home: Crawl Space Ventilation
One aspect we have yet to discuss is the importance of ensuring that the foundation of your container is ventilated. This is known as crawl space ventilation. Not all foundations can be ventilated. For instance, if you have a concrete slab foundation, you won’t be able to ventilate underneath it.
However, if your foundation consists of concrete or any other elevated type, it’s imperative to ensure adequate airflow beneath your containers.
Lack of crawl space ventilation can reintroduce the dreaded condensation, leading to serious issues like mold growth and decay.
Additionally, if the floor of the shipping container hasn’t been insulated, you may encounter even more problems, such as moisture rising from beneath the containers to the floor. The most common way to prevent moisture buildup and allow ventilation beneath the foundation is by using vent openings.
In many areas, building codes stipulate that you must use vents to provide airflow beneath the foundation.
These vents are usually equipped with wire mesh to keep pests and insects out of the crawl space. Ventilated crawl spaces work well in cold climates.
In humid climates, however, ventilated crawl spaces can do more harm than good, as the outside air tends to be more humid than the air already present in the crawl space.
In such humid climates, sealing off the crawl space entirely and using a dehumidifier would be a better solution.
Let us know in the comments below how you’ve chosen to ventilate your container home!
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