Here’s my design for a $25k Container Home (2560 square feet = $9.77 per square foot):
For this one, I removed the sloped roof and replaced it with a flat roof, which could be turned into a place for the solar/wind power system. Simplistic, inexpensive and minimalist is the point. Since the building parts/materials cost are kept to a minimum, the idea of course is to maximize the emphasis on solar and wind power systems for off the grid living. Making the roof flat allows the space to be used for the power system array, OR it can be the base for a third story later, which would cost no more than about $10k (2 containers + flooring/roofing materials) to add to the home thereby increasing the square footage by 1280 square feet from 2560 to 3840 sq ft. This can add as many as 5-6 more rooms onto the home very inexpensively. Structural integrity is preserved, and actually strengthened by adding another level. The back deck is approximately 31′x12′ = 372 sq ft, as is the 1st floor patio, for a combined square footage of recreational space of 744 sq ft. This $25k cost does not include the hardware, lighting, fixtures, heating/cooling etc. The price is for the structure itself, including the foundation, plumbing, electrical, deck, stairs, and stick framed walls. Not bad for $25k.
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Excellent work! I wonder though, what kind of adaptations could be made for desert dwellings. Building up is a negative because that’s where all the heat ends up and cooling is energy intensive. Could this design be adapted into a subterranean design for at least one of the floors? Would building laterally rather than vertically be a good option? I live in Arizona and builders save money by building two or more story houses which are expensive to cool and, even with secondary A/C units, higher levels are uncomfortably warm in the summer. The obvious answer is to build down but the cost of penetrating the caliche deters most builders from making this effort.
This is actually my design for a home in Arizona. The idea is to build up the walls with strawbale, and adobe/mud/plaster/stucco on the outside. This provides an insulative R Value of 30-50, and will help keep the home cool in the summer no matter how hot the Arizona desert is. The combination of strawbale and mud/plaster over that provides a double insulation layers. Also, the glass walls in the front and rear do not have to be glass. Wood or Steel frame walls would work to better insulate the home. I personally like the glass wall design.
One could conceivably build the first level under ground, and the second at ground level, thereby completely insulating the lower level from the sun. I’m not sure how much this would decrease the cooling/heating costs, or if it would at all. It seems like it would.
All my designs would have strawbale/mud/plaster/stucco over the metal of the containers. With some creative flooring, paneling and ceilings, the interior would be indistinguishable from a normal home aside from the narrowness of the rooms. From the outside, you’d really not be able to tell it’s a shipping container home. It would appear to be a wood frame, or adobe home, but structurally it would be solid as steel!