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If you’ve been a reader of our site for any length of time you will know the most important thing when building your shipping container home is making sure you get your insulation right. Failure to do this will cause you a whole host of issues such as: damp, rust, condensation and highly fluctuating internal temperatures.

Of equal importance to insulating your container home is ventilating it properly. Without providing your container with effective ventilation, whether passive or mechanical, you are asking for serious problems with your newly built home. Ventilation becomes even more important when we consider ‘tiny’ shipping container homes which are less than 600 square feet, because any ventilation issue is enhanced due to the small space.

Shipping containers are designed to be inherently air tight. This is due to them being used to ship goods in all kinds of weather across the ocean. Wemust remember when goods are inside of containers the last thing we want in there is corrosive saltwater!

This doesn’t bode well when we take shipping containers and use them as habitable homes, because as we know, homes require ventilation. Not to worry though- as today we are going to address exactly how you can ventilate your shipping container home.

Problems Caused By a Lack of Ventilation

Poor ventilation can go both ways, you can either have a home which has a lack of ventilation and doesn’t allow the movement of external air to enter your shipping container. Or, you can have a home which provides too much ventilation and proves either impossible or very expensive to maintain a consistent temperature with your container.

Having poor ventilation within your container can cause harm to both your home and the people living within it. One of the biggest problems caused by poor ventilation is mold.

Mold

Mold is a fungus which when left untreated can be very expensive to remove and when its fumes are inhaled by a human can cause harm.

Diseases

Poor ventilation has been linked with numerous human diseases such as: pneumonia, dry eyes and nausea. In addition it has also been linked with respiratory diseases, the most common of which is asthma.

Rust

Poor ventilation can also lead to a build-up of condensation which can cause your steel containers to rust. This rust can also affect any metal pipework (such as your plumbing) which run throughout your container. Repairing rusting containers can be a time consuming and costly job.

Poor Aromas

The final problem we are going to look at is odours. Poor ventilation can lead to damp which creates musty odours. You’ve probably smelt this before if you’ve walked into an old room which hasn’t had any fresh air for a while.

Also, because the air has nowhere to go, any scent within your home will linger and cause a build-up of generally unwanted scents!

Enemy #1: Condensation!

So we know that a lack of ventilation can cause a whole host of problems but perhaps the biggest problem it will cause you is condensation.

Condensation is the collection of droplets of water on a surface.

How do these droplets occur?

When warm air touches a surface that is colder than itself, the moisture within the warm air escapes onto the colder surface.

And as we know, where there is water, shortly after there will be mold.

Various Forms of Condensation

Cold Bridge

This occurs when warm air touches a surface that is colder than itself. This is most common on the external walls of your container.

Warm Front

This occurs when warm air gets inside your home and touches the cold internal walls of your containers- however in poorly ventilated homes this isn’t so common.

Passive and Mechanical Ventilation

So now we know what can happen if your containers don’t have sufficient ventilation, it’s time to address how you can ventilate your containers.

Noteworthy Articles

There are two overarching methodologies when it comes to ventilation. The first method being passive ventilation and the second method being mechanical ventilation.

Passive Ventilation

Passive ventilation gives you the ability to ventilate your home without having to spend lots of money. Mechanical ventilation such as air conditioning requires a hefty energy bill, however, passive ventilation utilizes the earth’s natural elements to ventilate your home.

Vents

The cheapest, and most common, way to provide your containers with passive ventilation is to fit either vents or a whirly bird onto your container. Placing vents onto your containers allows air to blow both and in out of your containers just by utilising the wind.

This is most commonly referred to as cross ventilation. You place vents on the side of your container in which the wind blows into and then place vents on the opposite side of your container. This allows air to blow in through vents on one side of your containers and out of the vents on the other side of your container.

Design

Another great way to passively ventilate your container is by designing it in such a way to utilise the wind to blow through your home.

Containers of hope is a shipping container home in San Jose, Costa Rica which uses windows placed just beneath its roof to allow air to blow through the containers. These strategically placed windows keep the container cool on hot summer days and it also helps to reduce the humidity of the containers.

We have also seen smart building design with Vissershok Primary School in South Africa- who decided to use shipping containers for classrooms.

Vissershok Primary School placed lots of small windows along both sides of the shipping containers wall, this again allows air to blow straight through the container and remove stale air.

Mechanical Ventilation

In certain climates, such as very humid places like southern Brazil, passive ventilation is insufficient and mechanical ventilation is required.