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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.

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Chapters from this episode

Building Affordable Homes from Shipping Containers Now Playing

Building Affordable Homes from Shipping Containers

Finished Interior for a Container-Built Home Now Playing

Finished Interior for a Container-Built Home

Finished Exterior of a Container-Built Home Now Playing

Finished Exterior of a Container-Built Home

The Future of Building with Steel Shipping Containers Now Playing

The Future of Building with Steel Shipping Containers

Reviewing the Kitchen Appliances Now Playing

Reviewing the Kitchen Appliances

Installing Non-slip Exterior Tiles and Impact-Resistant Windows Now Playing

Installing Non-slip Exterior Tiles and Impact-Resistant Windows

Clip Transcript For:

Finished Interior for a Container-Built Home

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" And finishing touches and of course everything happens at once said that at the at the end of the project doesn't -- is rated -- so you've got all the appliances being delivered and installed and -- let's talk first a little bit about the whole space because it's an open plan you know very modern design in terms of having the kitchen and the dining and the living all be one flowing. Stay Natalie weigh -- have any kind of can -- everything is right in -- you know FEMA concedes these forces in the visiting room here. Dining room would come in his own found room and in the kitchen. And what's interesting is that we have one. Container if you will on this side and another one on that side in between. The space is filled in with conventional medicine friend Raymond and you have from the highest users. -- contract as a very good contract is it goes all the way down the central hall that -- you feel like the space -- isn't much bigger and bigger volume on him. And off the central hall you've got four bedrooms which is a lot for a small house you've got a master bedroom with its own dedicated bathroom. And then you've got three more bedrooms a spacious bathroom down at the end. What about the interior trim for these windows again you've got steel. Surfaces behind the is there sheetrock here."

" Yes right yes yes yes we put that -- on these on -- metal. For us troops and in is the wood four wood trim for via wood frame for -- windows -- and we use that to put the these would trim around so you have to -- are further molding that -- And down and down at the base for it and down an -- we don't have any would guess that we use construction adhesive to two installed base."

" We'll send the baseboard itself is made of wood into -- and the walls are are well there densarmor plus from GP and I got a little sample is one of the key things when you're working. In a very dense I mean -- humid place like Florida. Is to avoid mildew in interiors and this material list this gypsum drywall product. Instead of having a paper -- organic surface on it it's got a fiberglass mats and the fiberglass just doesn't provide any kind of foodstuffs for. You know molds and builders and you've gone over it with. Beautiful finishes what's the ceiling we've put."

" The the knockdown texture on the ceiling and and it with and semigloss paint yes. Prime the walls are more of -- those those more of this and we've. Barring feels nice with the -- feel Texas how appropriate for far less."

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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.

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.