How would you go about insulating a shipping container for use as a kids den/play space?
I'm thinking 50mm battens with rock wool (or celotex if I can afford it) in between, then 8-10mm ply lined.
Is it going to need some sort of vapour barrier to avoid condensation on the inside if the steel walls and roof?
It will have a double glazed window in one end and access is via a UPVC double glazed door in the side. End doors will be left shut.
Heating is likely to be electric fan or convection.
What about ventilation?
[Edited on 23/11/14 by nick205]
Saw a dude on Grand designs use 4 containers to build a luxury bachelor pad.
He lined the inside with batons like a stud wall and had polywhatsit stuff sprayed in to stop any air gaps to combat condensation. Think it was the
same kind of stuff they spray on the inside of tiled roofs to seal them up.
Check the trailer out:
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/grand-designs/videos/all/county-derry
Or, buy one that used to be a fridge box, that will be lined with insulation anyway.
Any reason for ply? rather expensive stuff compared to 12mm plasterboard.....
If worried about condensation behind the surface, it is easy to staple vapour barrier across the battens before fitting the sheet material.
Not sure 50mm of rockwool will have high enough insulation values, you may want cellotex or polystyrene. there are places that do insulation seconds,
may be worth a trawl as you will be after a fair amount. And don't forget the floor, that will want some form of insulation too.
what about polystyrene sheets cheep as chips and comes in lots of thicknesses
Use a multifoil type insulation..
Could be worth looking at having insulation sprayed on. Boat builders for narrow boats spray it on then attach wall boards.
Yes, because the walls are w not flat spray stuff fils all the gaps up. Standard flat insulation would leave gaps and then the dew point would be inside, spraying and filling the gaps moves the dew point outside.
I'd use a layer of this too, equates to 50mm of insulation without shrinking the room.
Foil
The spray on stuff does look a good solution for reducing the chance of air gaps and for filling the ribbed surfaces. I was thinking rockwool packed
in reasonably tight would do the same, but as you say 50mm isn't really going to cut it.
The container is already in-situ and effectively free with the house we've bought. If it doesn't get used for this purpose it'll most
likely get filled with damp junk or cut up and scrapped.
I've done one of these as a garage/cinema room.
Used fook bubble wrap as layer one: then rock wool as layer two in a 75mm timber gap with 25mm kingspan foil backed insulation which you can buy 2nds
really cheaply. Then used foil backed plasterboard which I filled the joins with filler and painted with pva then painted. Lasted 4 years and looked
great still when we left the house. Ps did the same with the floor but used 8x4 mdf to cover it. We bought a cheap dehumidifier which kept it bone
dry so it heated quicker.
Hope it helps.
We took the insulation from our loft then got it redone for £49 through them local offers....
Timber we used we got cheap from a merchant but only buying bend ones or slightly damaged
Foil backed plaster board was £9 a board
Kingspan was £10 a 8x4 sheet 50mm from goole.
Cost only £500 in total.
Even if you insulate it, it won't stop condensation, it will just move it to the coldest surface.
The way to stop condensation is warmth and ventilation.
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Even if you insulate it, it won't stop condensation, it will just move it to the coldest surface.
The way to stop condensation is warmth and ventilation.
How about a couple of those solar powered extractor fans? Not sure how well they work in practice, but should give some active ventilation without the need for constant mains power supply. Then as mentioned a dehumidifier to top things off every now and then (they're good but not cheap to run so wouldn't want one powered up all the time)
You definitely do not want ventilation and a dehumidifier, it is one or the other (or you will end up drying the air that has just come in, and your
dried air leaving...)
ventilation is easily achieved by opening a window, nothing magical. However, so many people forget that and think fans etc are better. They just do
it quicker, which is rarely needed (bathrooms the obvious exception)
there are those clever heat exchangers that vent houses and work well. They recover 80% plus of the heat in the air leaving. May not be too viable in
this case, I think they are still a fair few quid.
Overall, I would plump for a simple electric heater, vent well when left unused. a dehumidifier can easily be added later if required.
if you put insulation on the outside, then the steel will not get as cold so less condenstation? No idea how viable that is, probably simpler to buld a similar sized structure from wood....