Updated On: August 23, 2019
Our FREE Container Home Cheat Sheets will help you decide if shipping containers are right for you, and whether to build or buy!
I want the Cheat Sheets!
Table of Contents
If you are fortunate enough to live in a warm climate then during the summer months you may find your shipping container home gets a little too warm, just like any other home. What can you do about this? You could always just install air conditioning. But we have put together a list of other tips to keep your building cool.
Install Shades
It’s surprising how many people don’t actually use shades on their windows, especially people who live in hot climates. Shades can be used to both keep hot air out during the summer and keep hot air inside during the winter. Make sure you install white or light colored shades because they arebetter at reflecting the heat. Blinds can also be used, but aren’t quite as effective as shades.
If you want to really keep your home cool, also add curtains over any windows that get direct exposure to sunlight throughout the day.
Use the Night Air
A great tip shared by the Huffington Post is to use the cool night air. Most places get a bit of a reprieve from hot days when evening comes. Make use of this time to reset the temperature of your home. Open your curtains and windows just as you’re going to sleep to allow the cool night to cool your home. Close your windows early in the morning to avoid creating a sauna!
Use Your Garden
Often people aren’t aware of the impact that their garden has on theheat of their home. Your garden can be used to plant trees which act as a shade for your home. Not only that but they also look good. The HybridPoplar is one of the fastest growing trees which can be up to 50 feet fully grown. They are popular because they grow around 8 feet per year. Another popular pick is the Northern Catalpa. It doesn’t grow as fast as the Hybrid Poplar however it has an exceptionally thick canopy of leaves which can provide great cover for your home and keep the heat off. Remember that if you want to benefit from passive solar heating during those cold winter months, then don’t plant trees on the south side of your building.
Swap Your Lights
Incandescent lights can waste up to 90% of their energy in heat. So when you see them up there on your ceiling they really should be providing you only with light rather than warming your home! Switch out the incandescent lights for an energy saving light also known as a compact fluorescent light. Not only will it help to keep your house cooler, it will also save you some money on your electricity bill!
Box Fans
Given the long rectangular shape of many shipping container homes, box fans can be the perfect appliance to cool your home. The trick is you need to use one to blow the cold air in and another to blow the hot air out, like a pull/push system.
Where you place your fans depends on the positioning of your container home. A good rule of thumb is to place a box fan at any north facing windows/openings. This gives the benefit of any cool northern breezes! Then place box fans on the opposite side of your home to suck the hot air out of your home. You should be cool in no time.
Design Your Container Home to Keep Cool
If you have not done so already, read about the Vissershok Primary School in South Africahere. They built an additional classroom made from a shipping container. They wanted an affordable way to keep the classroom comfortable because temperatures can spike in the summertime.
The architects placed a sloped, over-sized roof on top of the classroom which aids in passive cooling by allowing the hot, interior air to rise up and out of the classrooms. In addition, themetal roof is coated in reflective paint so much of the sun’s heat is reflected away from the classrooms.
The architects also placed lots of small windows on both sides of the container. This allows the cool air to blow in one side of the classroom and out of the other, taking the warm air with it. It’s all about utilizing the natural environment in a smart way to keep heat out of the classroom.
The choice of your roof plays a critical part in how hot your shipping container home will be during those summer months. Using a reflective metal roof can be not only affordable but it can provide you with vast amounts of heat reduction. Traditional roofs such as a dark asphalt roof will actually absorb the sun’s heat and conduct it into your building. Reflective roofs send the heat back right out into the atmosphere. The downside of this is that during the winter, warm heat from the sun that you actually want is also reflected away from the container, so think careful about your climate as you explore these techniques.
Don’t Use Your Oven
If it’s already warm in your shipping container, it doesn’t make sense to turn on something which can produce up to 400 degrees, does it? Consider cooking in ways that don’t heat up the kitchen. Try cooking on a grill outside while enjoying the glorious weather, cooking early in the day, and cooking with slow cookers and instant pots.
Portable Air Conditioning Units
If you are in a sweltering location, instead of installing air conditioning throughout your home, you can buy a portable air conditioning unit. The cooling capacity of the unit will vary depending on the size of the room where you will be using the unit. A unit with 12,000 BTU will sufficiently cool a room up to 400 square feet.
Film Your Windows
If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at our in-depth case study on the Graceville Container Home you can read it here. They used Low-E glass windows on all of their second and third floor external walls. Glass with Low-E coatings allow significantly less heat through than traditional windows. This acts something like the reflective metal roof in that you are preventing the heat from entering your building in the first place. Don’t be discouraged if your windows have already been installed without Low-E glass because you can still purchase Low-E film to apply to those windows.
These tips and tricks will help to keep you cool during the summer months!
Let us know in the comments section below if you have any other great tips for keeping your container home cool.
Our eBook and floor plans will inspire your creativity and simplify the container building home process
Check out more great articles:
Seven Myths About Shipping Container Homes Debunked
If you’ve been interested in shipping container homes for any length of time, you have probably noticed that there is a tremendous amount of information
Are Shipping Container Homes Dangerous To Live In?
Lots of people come to our site and see shipping container homes and fall in love with how incredible they look and also how affordable
Six Mistakes To Avoid With A Shipping Container Home
This trend of constructing with shipping containers isn’t surprising considering that container homes are Eco-friendly, affordable, and incredibly strong. When you look at examples of
31 Responses
I’m just getting started at looking a shipping containers for a house to live in. Seen some good info on your site.
Reply
Glad you’re enjoying the site so far!
Reply
I`m Planing on Building a House Using Shipping Container
But the the challenge there is , my country Nigeria is a tropical country.
so i looked whats the best to keep it Cool i Know there are Options With AC Units
But whats the best thing to use Heat proof or Resistant on the roof or walls of the Container or insulation?
Awesome
From NigeriaReply
Having the shade of trees or a secondary roof structure is good to keep heat gain from the sun minimized. Or using a cool roof coating (https://www.discovercontainers.com/cool-roof-coatings/). Next, yes, insulation is very helpful and will reduce the work your AC unit has to do. We talk about container home insulation here: https://www.discovercontainers.com/5-methods-to-insulate-your-shipping-container-home/
Reply
En mi proyecto pienso colocar 6 ventiladores de tipo computación grandes en las paredes, entre el techo del container y el techo que haré abajo, dejando una cámara de aire, 3 ventiladores introducirán aire y 3 lo sacaran, no estarán alineados unos con otros para que puedan circular el aire que entra antes de extraerlo los otros 3, no es lo máximo, pero creo ayudara a refrescar… opcional, por dentro en el techo, pienso aplicarle body-schutz, ya que en vehículos reduce el ruido y la temperatura.
Agradecería, si creen que es una mala idea cualquier idea que pienso aplicar en los míos, díganmelo para no botar dinero.Reply
Can central air be installec?
Reply
It’s technically possible, but then you have to find a place to place the condenser unit (usually an attic or closet) and the ductwork (usually an attic or crawlspace). Given that container houses usually don’t have attics or crawlspaces, and often are small so closet space is at a premium, central air conditioning usually isn’t the best choice.
Reply
Hi Tom,
My name is akash and i am from India
I have started working on containers as a business in India because i can see there are lots of people in India who still cannot afford to buy homes so i am planning and in fact i have started working on my plan.
I need your help in certain things.
If i can get in touch with you on email .Many thanks
Akash SinghReply
Feel free to reach out via our contact page here https://www.discovercontainers.com/contact-us/
Reply
Hi Akash
Are you still making container houses?
Can you contact me at [emailprotected]
I’m currently in BangaloreReply
Thank you very much for this valid info , i need it for a house plus project im doing in school
Reply
Happy to help!
Reply
We are completing building our 2300 square foot home using 8 ( 8 X 20 ) containers and conventional methods. We installed a whole house fan in the upper staircase to ‘”draw” cool night time air in the house. Our builder said it could not be done because we did not have an ATTIC to install the whole house fan for exhaust. We purchased a 9500 CFM 2 speed 30 Inch exhaust fan from an Industrial fan supply company and had the builder install in the wall and exhaust through exterior louvers . ( like the fans you see on warehouse and livestock buildings. ) Our home will be finished in the next 3 weeks and look forward to seeing how the fan works at night!!!
Jack
Reply
That sounds fantastic Jack. We’ve sent you an email 🙂
Reply
Sent you pictures of our whole house fan installation. Haven’t had a chance to run it yet as winter is now coming soon in the Midwest. We will be finish with construction in the next few weeks .
Reply
John Hadley, buenas y felicitaciones, me encantaría si me pudieras suministrar imágenes sobre esos ventiladores, no porque vaya hacer lo mismo… mas es curiosidad y ver como puedo adaptarlo, si es compatible, a la idea que tengo.
De antemano, muchas gracias.Reply
Jack new to all this but very interested in how yours turned out if you don’t mind and thank you in advance 😬
Reply
hi all..
I`m Planing on Building a House Using Shipping Container
But the problem is that i live in hot Country that can go to 120F Sometimes
so i looked whats the best to keep it Cool i Know there are Options With AC Units
But whats the best thing to use Heat proof or Resistant on the roof or walls of the Container ?Nawaf.
Reply
Hi Nawaf,
The best thing you can do to manage the temperature is to make sure the containers are well insulated- on the roof and walls of the container.
We have an insulation article on the blog which discusses the various insulation approaches possible…
Reply
I spray foamed my 40′ hi-cube with closed cell foam and I heat and cool with a 12,000 BTU Gree mini split heat pump. It’s very efficient using variable speed technology and heats down to -0. Plus the only penetration was a 2″ hole and it’s hid behind the interior head unit on the wall. I purchased everything online for less than $1,100!
Reply
Fantastic work Barry!
Did you manage to install the pump yourself?
Reply
Hi, Barry and Tom,.
We have just started planning for a high top container home with a gardening courtyard space to be built in southern Iowa, where winters can be very cold and blizzardish and summers can reach a humid 104 degrees and still hold hands with tornadoes? We like your spray foam idea and also wonder if we could fill between the outer container wall and an inner shiplap wall with something like pea gravel or crushed corn cobs or something you might recommend? We would like to try adding in some diatomaceous earth to that mixture (to discourage insects) and then finish the top half of the wall with spray foam (between container wall and shiplap?).
Also, do you have any tips for building where winters are blizzardy and summers can top 104 DEGREES and humid? And bring tornadoes now and then? (Are we fools to consider pier foundation?)
THanks so much and , hey, we are totally in awe of your online buying budget. Would you be okay with sharing your sources? E-Bay and Craig’s List?
Thank you brethren in innovation,
Jonathan and Jayne
Reply
Hi Jonathan and Jayne,
It’s great to hear from you!
In terms of the insulation, we don’t recommend most ‘alternative materials’ such as the ones you’ve mentioned, but send us an email and we can discuss your project more in depth.
Reply
Im planning on building on in aruba
What siding can i use? Been told about dense glass. Are there other options?
Planning on fully solar panelling the room to run the ac’s.
Any thoughts?
Demian
Reply
Hi Demian,
Yes you have a lot of options. Densglass in our experience is typically used more as an underlayment than a finished exterior surface, but with the right coating it would probably work.
Other options include stucco, wood, etc. It really depends on your budget and the look you’re after. Send us an email if you’d like to discuss this further.Reply
What about burying or partially-burying/ berming the container? We’re in a hot/dry climate.
Reply
Hi David,
This is a possibility. You would need to treat the outside of the container before it’s buried so it doesn’t corrode, and we’d strongly recommend additional structural support for the walls, and especially the roof. Containers are only designed to support weight on their floors, and from containers stacked directly above that are resting on the 4 corner castings on the roof. The interior climate control benefits you’d derive from such a design vary wildly with climate, soil type, depth of burial, etc. Your first question is determining if, based on where you live, a subterranean/underground/earth bermed house of ANY type is worthwhile (do the benefits outweigh the costs). If the answer to that is yes, then you move to the question of is a container the right way to achieve that.
Reply
Hi, we’ve designed our shipping container house, received the permits and are now baulking at the idea of beginning. Our plan was (hopefully still) is to use mud to insulate the outside. You mentioned the need to ‘batten’ the mud to the walls. Do you know anyone who has actually done this? How do you envision it? Seems to us we would need a lot of wood and labour…
We’ve planned a two story 60m house. We’re really stuck so advice would be hugely appreciated.
2. If you simply use spray insulation, what is your ‘second wall’ for spraying between?
Thank you!Reply
Hi Miriam,
If by ‘mud’ you’re referring to the earthen variety, know that dirt is not a very good insulator. We’d recommend checking out our article on heat transfer for more information: https://www.discovercontainers.com/essential-knowledge-about-heat-transfer-in-shipping-container-buildings/
This link also has good information specific to soil: https://inspectapedia.com/insulation/R-Value_of_Soil.php
We’re happy to discuss this more in-depth via email if you have additional questions.
Reply
I have actually used my oven to warm up before, just by baking cookies. It made the whole house smell good, and I was warmer afterwards. Cooling down a tiny house is harder. We’re thinking of building one on our property, but it wouldn’t be usable in the summer if there isn’t some kind of AC unit. Thanks for all the suggestions and advice, this is all good to know!
Reply
Hi Ashley,
Yes I think you’re right and you will certainly need an AC unit in the summer!
When are you looking to build it?
Reply
