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Floorplans and Layout of the Container House

Back on site, Bob joins Ray Price for a look at the ISBU's on their foundations. The total footprint of the house is 58 feet from front to back, or 1,800 square feet in total, with 2 ISBU's on each side. Between them, 7 3/4 inch-wide steel floor joists will run 16 inches on center and be welded on each end to the ISBU's, creating a total steel structure that will then get a plywood subfloor. Price shows Bob the floorplans for this Highland model. It has a front entry that leads to a living room, dining room, and kitchen combination that functions like a great room and family space. A central hallway leads to the back of the house and passes between two bedrooms on the right with a bath between them and two bedrooms on the left, including a master bedroom with its own bath, walk-in closet, and utility room. The single-car garage is built of cement block. The exterior will be finished in stucco like a traditional Florida home, and will match its identical, but smaller, prototype down the block.

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Floorplans and Layout of the Container House Now Playing

Floorplans and Layout of the Container House

Converting Steel Shipping Containers to Housing Now Playing

Converting Steel Shipping Containers to Housing

Rebuilding Neighborhoods through Public/Private Partnerships Now Playing

Rebuilding Neighborhoods through Public/Private Partnerships

Facing and Insulating the Steel Shipping Container Now Playing

Facing and Insulating the Steel Shipping Container

Site Clearing, Footings and Stem-Wall Foundation Now Playing

Site Clearing, Footings and Stem-Wall Foundation

Clip Transcript For:

Floorplans and Layout of the Container House

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" All right we're back on the inside with -- our project manager and what's the front to back dimension on the house 58 -- 58 feet that's great so essentially we've got two different sides -- action from shipping containers anymore they're. I I -- be used as the use Fiat. So there's going to be a pretty good sized house yes yes they do on the square feet and we've got plans -- that we look a little bit at how it's being built right yes. This is the floor framing power plant --"

" And that's -- I guess what we have is. Paula IS BUs. Two on view this. At different links. And then we've been walking in the void in between them that's correct and what do these lines represent these lines represent. Steel joists for the floor system. And there will be good -- would be well -- between -- highest be used him and and they'll be similar to this. There will be roughly sixteen. Gates steel. It's seven and three quarters."

" With and how are they spaced. Are they on sixteen -- sixty nuisance OK so essentially you've got a total steel structure and on top of that but -- plywood that's correct five -- wildwood okay let me see we can find though the actual layout for the house. Here we go okay. All right take us through I mean I guess this is the front entry or here."

" Yeah and we -- the front entry. This -- noise. And where we're standing here now is in the kitchen area which is here in this corner this point here. There's a garage -- that's right single car garage next to it and that is not made out of a container that's made out of concrete block and a slab that's correct OK. And the home basically has eight a living room dining area. That covers this entire area here yet so is that a great room correct and then we have a hallway that goes down the middle of the home all the way to the back all the way to the back. And only come this side we. We have two bedrooms with the bath in between hands on the other slab we have two bedrooms. We have -- back here the semester master bath we'll just for the master bedroom OK and a big walk in closet walk in closet utility room. Which gives a home of their nice layout."

" All right so it's gonna have. Really a traditional kind of floor plan a nice Florida family house what about the outside of the house. Would blend in with the neighborhood yes this particular home will look just like a typical Florida Stucco home. In fact we've built this home a year and a half ago about a block away easily look at doing cooler than itself is larger terrific thanks tree."

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Finished Interior for a Container-Built Home

The finishing touches are being added to the interior of the home in St Petersburg. The appliances are being delivered and installed. The home features an open plan with a modern design. The kitchen, dining, and living rooms are all one open space. This provides a free-flowing atmosphere where everyone can see each other. The space is made up of two containers and the space between the two containers has conventional framing, which creates a bigger space with a higher ceiling for the living area. Off the central hall are four bedrooms, including a master bedroom with its own dedicated bathroom. There are three additional bedrooms and a spacious bathroom at the end of the hall. Drywall was placed on the metal furring strips and then a wood frame was put in place for the windows. Construction adhesive was used to secure the wood baseboards. The interior walls are faced with DensArmor Plus fiberglass wallboard from Georgia Pacific. When building in a humid environment like Florida, it's very important to use material that is resistant to mildew and mold. DensArmor uses a fiberglass mat instead of an organic face. The fiberglass does not provide a surface for mold to grow. The ceiling has a knockdown texture painted with semigloss paint. The interior walls have a satin finish with an orange-peel texture.

Tour of an Affordable Home

Bob and developer John Druley walk through a home under construction by Qualker Homes in Falmouth, Massachusetts. This standard design is used for both the market-priced and affordable homes. The overall dimensions of the house are 26 feet by 36 feet. A center-door entry leads to 13-by-18-foot living room on one side and a 16-by-13-foot master bedroom on the other. The back of the house has a 13-by-18-foot kitchen with a back door and a window onto the backyard, a half-bath and laundry, and an entry to the master bedroom with full bath, tub-shower combination, double-bowl sink, and linen closet. The upstairs has two bedrooms with operable skylights and a full bath. This three-bedroom, two-and-one-half bath Cape will be lotteried as an affordable home to eligible families who make between $29,000 and $65,000 per year, and who qualify for a traditional mortgage. The home is stick-built with traditional 2X4 framing, oriented strand board (OSB) exterior sheathing, low-e glass, tilt-in vinyl windows, and gas heat. Bob and Druley point out that an affordable home must be affordable to operate and heat as well as being affordable to purchase.

Building Reinforced Concrete Storm-Ready Homes in Florida

Bob is joined on the site of the Punta Gorda, Florida, storm-ready home by Jim Crain of Precise Forms. Precise Forms partners with Mercedes Builders to create high-quality, reinforced concrete homes throughout Florida. Precise Forms began in 1967 by supplying cast-in-place forms for subterranean foundations and basements. In 2000 they began to set forms for full wall, cast-in-place houses for Mercedes Homes. Once the forms are set, Bob walks through the layout with Jesse Gonzalez of Mercedes Homes. Gonzalez points to window placements that are encapsulated behind the aluminum forms as they walk past view windows in the family area, past the three bedrooms, bath, laundry, and two-car garage of this four-bedroom home with master suite. Mark Newton of Solid Wall Systems joins Bob as the pour begins. He explains that they are using a 2,000 pound psi, small aggregate concrete mix for the entire pour. We watch as the concrete is pumped into the forms, which are braced at the top by two-by-fours that hold the tops of the forms square to prevent movement as the forms receive the static pressure of the concrete. Newton explains that they will vibrate around all door and window openings before allowing the concrete to set. This will help eliminate voids, honeycombing, or any blowout due to bad adhesion or conformity of the concrete.

Redesigning the House on CAD

Bob meets architect Bill Bauhs in his office to take a look at the changes that are going to be made. Bill tells us that the house has been measured and the information entered into the computer to make a CAD footprint of the building. He shows us the off-center bearing wall that runs through the building with rooms on either side. This is typical of buildings of this era, but it is important to open up the wall and create larger spaces to bring the house up to modern standards. By eliminating one bedroom, Bill creates a large living and dining space. He also consolidates two bedrooms into a galley kitchen and breakfast area and makes the original kitchen and porch into a master suite. Next Bob and Bill take a look at the plans on paper. They point out the changes that have been made and transferred to the paper drawings. The new breakfast area features a window seat and the new master suite has a dressing area and enlarged bathroom. The basement is opened up to allow future bedrooms and a family room and the mechanicals are grouped along one wall. The upstairs rental unit is reconfigured the same way as the first floor giving it a more open and updated look.