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The Latest From the Container House Project

- Exterior Insulation Options
  17th Jul 2019DIYThere are so many exterior insulation options that it can be quite difficult to decide which one is the best for your own unique circumstances. We’ve given a lot of thought to what insulation we are going to use on the exterior of our shipping container house. In the process, we’ve had a good think about the pros and cons of each product. Some of the most common exterior insulation options available in South Africa, that you may wish to use on your own project are as follows: Aerolite; also known as “Think Pink”Isotherm; an awesome recycled productIsoboard; a very impressive and useful product with a few usesFoil insulation; such as SisalationAlububble; you may be surprised to learn you’ve probably seen a product similar to Alububble. Are you ready for your own insulation project? Aerolite / Think Pink Aerolite, or Think Pink, needs no introduction to South Africans. Everyone knows about this product and many people have it installed in their ceiling cavities. Aerolite is a glass wool product and one of the oldest insulation products on the market (if not the oldest product). Pros: Easy to obtain. Most people have worked with it before so know what to expect. It is very effective at not only keeping temperatures regulated but also for sound dampening. One of the biggest selling points of Aerolite is that it is non-combustible. Cons: This glass wool product can make you itch if you don’t take the necessary precautions when installing it. If you want to use Think Pink for your exterior insulation option, battens would need to be installed on the outside of the house so that the product would have something to rest on and your covering boards have something firm to attach to. Isotherm Isotherm is similar to Aerolite, but is made from recycled PET bottles. It’s a good eco-friendly option as it uses something that would otherwise fill up our landfills. Pros: Generally a little cheaper than Aerolite. Also a good sound dampening product. Won’t make you itch! Cons: This product soaks up water like a sponge, so care would need to be taken to ensure that cavity is water tight. The weight of the water would pull down the Isotherm, thereby creating gaps in the insulation; something you don’t want! As with the Aerolite, battens would need to be installed for the outer panels. Fitting Isotherm in a roof cavity. Photo credit to Isotherm Isoboard We had the opportunity to see the Isoboard products up close at an expo a while ago. In a perfect world, this would be Kevin’s insulation choice. It is however, quite expensive. Pros: This product is sold in boards, making it easy to cut and install. It doesn’t soak up water. It is mold resistant and lightweight. For internal applications it also comes moulded for ceiling boards. Cons: Not the cheapest product out there. (We can’t think of any other cons. Kevin likes this product very much!) Foil Insulation It is strange to think that something that looks like a giant roll of tin foil can work as an effective insulation. In South Africa, there are a few brands of this product available, such as Sisalation and Envirotuff 202FR (FR stands for “fire retardant”). These products are foil, plastic and mesh sandwiches, developed as a cost effective insulation option. The reflective surface radiates heat away from the house. Pros: Easy to install. Tape it to the side of the container and fit your cladding over it. It works as a rudimentary moisture and thermal barrier. Cons: Does not work as a sound barrier. Not as effective as a thermal insulator as some other products, but does assist in regulating your internal temperatures. Tears easily so some care must be taken when fitting. One roll of Envirotuff 202FR can cover approximately 45 square metres. Photo credit to P&P Plastics Alububble Have you seen those car sun screens people use in summer – the ones that look like they are made from tin foil bubblewrap? Well, that’s essentially what Alububble is. The air pockets between the foil helps regulate the temperature a little more effectively than the foil insulation sandwich. Pros: More effective than foil insulation. Easy to install. Doesn’t tear as easily as foil insulation. Cons: More expensive. Still not the most effective product out there. Of course, there are other options out there such as melthoid or spray-on insulation, but the above are the options we gave the most consideration for our project. Our Choice in Exterior Insulation Options Kevin informed me that in a perfect world, we would be using the Isoboard because it is easy to install, sound dampening, insulating and works as a moisture barrier. His second choice would be to use a combination of the Isotherm with a foil insulation. This would achieve the same result as the Isoboard, but with more work. Between these two options, the price would be similar. So, obviously, the best choice would be Isoboard. However, Isoboard is above our budget, so we are going with a foil insulation, the Envirotuff 202FR to be exact, for the exterior, which will help with temperature regulation and work as a moisture barrier. The fibre cement boards that we are cladding the house with, will protect the foil insulation from sun and wind. The foil insulation turn will protect the metal containers from condensation and rain water that might be soaked up by the fibre cement boards. As for sound dampening, we will cover that aspect when we do the interior cladding. But that’s a post for another day! Don’t forget to leave a comment on your experiences with insulation. We would love to hear from you....
- The K-Span Roof Installation
  10th Jul 2019Main Structure and RoofThe day that the K-Span roofing machine arrived on site was a day of great excitement for everyone involved. This marked the start of our K-Span roof installation; a prototype and the first of its type in South Africa. We were all looking forward to seeing the planning that had taken place come to fruition and to see our technical drawings come to life. We were expecting glitches, of course. You can’t expect a first-of-its-type kind of project to run perfectly smoothly. The glitches, however, were a little bigger than hoped for. Manufacturing the Roof Arcs The K-Span machine itself is amazing! It’s quite big – about the size of a small truck – yet small enough to take to site. It has a built-in generator in order to run the machinery. A two tonne roll of steel sits on a spindle on one side and feeds into one side of the machine. The machine then bends the sides down while it pulls it through. When it is at the correct length, it cuts it. The U-shaped steel channel is then fed back into the machine where the machine crimps it to the desired radius. Within a few minutes, a complete roof arc emerges, ready for installation. The Horizon Roofing and Black Block Industries teams made a couple of shorter test pieces to check that they had the radius one hundred percent correct. When they were satisfied that everything was set up correctly, they were ready for action. 1) The steel roll being fed into the machine and 2) A close up of the arcs, ready to install Before long, we had a yard full of roof arcs awaiting installation. As I mentioned before, this roofing system is a first for South Africa. A much smaller test project had been completed, but our roof is the first real project – very exciting! But, it does mean that our project was also a learning curve for everyone involved. Black Block Industries has experience in the construction industry, and with standard roof installations, but this roof installation project was new for them too. There’s nothing quite like a new challenge to keep you on your toes! Lifting the Roof Arcs The most difficult part of the installation was lifting each arc into place. The original plan was to pull the arcs up using human muscle and ropes. However, it was soon apparent that the length of the arcs was making them too unruly for this option. The strength with this type of roof happens when the arcs are seamed together. Because the arcs are so long, un-seamed they are a bit floppy. The two teams seamed together two arcs and tried again. It was better, but still not stable enough to easily install. There was no choice but to hire a crane. The un-seamed arcs are not heavy, but are not very well behaved! The Crane A crane was soon arranged. Believe it or not, we only needed a baby crane. This “small” crane could sit in the middle of the yard and reach from one side of the plot, where the arcs were sitting, seamed in twos, and stretch over to the far end of the house. The worker bees attached a clamp to a pair of arcs, after which the crane lifted it up. It then carried the arcs carefully over the power lines, over our neighbour’s yard, and into position over the container house. I stood by the gate, out of the way of the crane, and watched the arcs whooshing over my head. It was such an amazing opportunity for me to be able to watch the work at such close quarters. 1) The crane is on site to complete the K-Span roof installation, and 2) the view of the crane from the top of the containers The crane then held the arcs in place while they were seamed to the previous sets. Once the seaming was complete, the clamps were released and the crane returned to its original position to collect the next set. Before long, all the arcs were in place and we had a roof! The Biggest Glitch of The K-Span Roof Installation Unfortunately though, the installation team didn’t realize until too late, that the weight of the arcs was slowly pulling the roof down, with the addition of each arc. The arcs were then bolted into place on the supporting structure incorrectly. Therefore the west side is currently lower than the east side. We all feel that the dip in the roof doesn’t showcase the full potential of the grandeur of the roof design. So, we are going to fix it. Getting the arcs into place was much easier with the crane What’s Next? Black Block Industries unfortunately also voiced concerns regarding the structural stability of the design as they were not expecting it to dip the way it did. Most roof installations of this type have a more pronounced radius. However, we had limitations in regard to the height of the building as per the regulations as set out by Swartland Municipality. Therefore, for this installation, the machine and roof arcs were pushed to their limits. John Moll, our structural engineer (GM Civil Engineers) did let us know that the arc radius is enough for the roof to hold itself up. However, as an insurance policy, he has asked us to put in another beam. We would like everyone who has worked on this project to sleep easily at night, so we will be doing this when we correct the dip in the roof. I also believe that the structural engineer is more concerned about the integrity of the roof in forty years time if it is neglected, than he is about it right now. Holding the arcs in place with the crane while the seaming is completed In Conclusion Our roof will no longer be a fully beamless roof system, which is a little disappointing. However, Kevin, working with John Moll, has figured out a way to work around this and will be putting in a lattice type beam. It will be as strong as an I-beam but a lot lighter. This design will also let us keep the airy feel to the central area of our house. It might also be a good thing because the beam will allow us to keep a close watch on the roof as the years pass. Any changes in how the arcs sit on the beam, might forewarn of us any repairs that need to be made, before they become a big and expensive issue. All-in-all, the K-Span roof installation has proved to be an invaluable source of experience and knowledge for all of us. I am keen to see another K-Span roof installation carried out by Horizon Roofing and Black Block Industries. I am sure that there will be some awesome projects in their future! If you want to read more about the K-Span roofing system, click here. Finally in place!...