Shipping Container Homes: How to Build a Shipping Container Home - Including Building Tips, Techniques, Plans, Designs, and Startling Ideas by Louis Meier

Author:Louis Meier [Meier, Louis]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2018-11-09T16:00:00+00:00

First things first: you can’t just set your roof in place. You need to actually anchor it to the container. The easiest way to do this is with right-angle steel plates. You’ll need a beam running each length of the roof. A 2" x 6" will do the job perfectly. Mark out where you’ll set the beam, and then line the edge with right-angled steel plates. Weld these plates into place and snug your beam up against them. The raised flange of the right-angled brackets will be used to secure the side of the beam. You’ll need to drill through the flange – unless it comes with a hole already and then screw through the wood to connect the rood securely.

After the beams have been placed, it’s time for the trusses. Set them a maximum of 18" apart. If you do the math, you’ll find that this comes out to 14 trusses for a 20 ft. container and 28 for a 40 ft. The trusses will be screwed directly into the beams using a skew nailing technique. This means that you’ll pound one nail in from the left and another from the right. Try to keep the angle about 25 degrees away from the vertical. The resulting shape of the nails would be an x pattern, if you could see the wood in cross-section. This will provide the greatest structural stability to each truss when dealing with lateral pressure.

At this point, your roof is really coming together. The trusses show you the shape that your roof will take once the final touches have been made. Next, set up your purlins. These are long beams that go across the angled side of the trusses. They should line the slope, starting at the top edge and placed no more than 1 ft. apart after that. If you work with 20 ft. purlins, you should need only one for each run across a 20 ft. container, and two for a 40 ft. At this point, you can also add braces to the trusses. These may come in the form of right-angles “hurricane clips” to make your roof even more resistant to wind-force pressure.

Finally, it’s time to cover your roof. Once again, you’re looking at options. Do you prefer shingles? Coated or galvanized steel sheets? And, once again, the best choice for you will depend on resources and desired functionality. The cheapest route is to work with shingles. It’s also relatively simple if you don’t have many people or much equipment to work with. However, shingles don’t last all that long, so you’ll be set for some repairs in a few years. If you want something with a little more staying power, you may wish to explore the galvanized steel option. It’s more durable than shingles and pretty easy to install.

The option you’ll want to go for if the price isn’t a consideration is coated steel. It’s going to require a bit more in terms of tools, skills, and expertise, but it will pay off dividends in the long run.

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