Planning a shipping container home

[swiss miss]

I am picking up a skeletal shipping container soon to use as the main frame for my new home. The goal is to build well insulated living spaces inside this metal core without doing any welding since I am better at carpentry. My block is flat with clay soil and gets plenty of hot dry summer days along with some winter frosts. I want to use ideas from tiny houses on wheels to make the most of the internal space but I plan to set the whole thing on stumps rather than a concrete slab. I need to figure out the best way to face the house to handle the sun and keep the interior comfortable all year. Because the frame is open I can add plenty of windows and doors without cutting through solid steel walls. I am looking for any existing builds that use this type of skeletal frame as a starting point so I can see what works best for a layout.

 

[st0lasG]

On flat clay ground with hot summers and some winter frost, most people point the long side of the house north or south to control how much sun comes in through the windows and eaves. Stumps work well as long as you keep good airflow under the floor and add solid insulation since metal frames gain and lose heat fast.

 

[jellyp0p$$$]

You can bolt timber framing to the steel and build the walls like a regular cabin. This will make the wiring and plumbing easier. Some off grid and tiny house builders have used open container frames the same way and their layouts show how flexible the design becomes once the walls are timber instead of steel.

 

[1tsmyHouse]

for the layout, check out the Luxury Tiny House floor plans on YouTube.
you aren't restricted by solid steel walls, so you can do floor to ceiling glass on the corners, which makes a narrow container frame feel massive
One tip from me, don’t forget to insulate the floor just as well as the walls, or those winter frosts will turn your floor into an ice block!