Rural Cabin Designed From Shipping Containers

Hi, My name is Wade Costello and I am going to be a Sophomore at Boerne-Samuel V. Champion High School in Texas. I created this design in Fusion 360 remembering the difficulties in having affordable housing in rural and remote areas.

My family recently built a small cabin and I saw how expensive it is to build a relatively small cabin in remote areas. I also know of how hard it is to transport a livable house to a site. This cabin was designed for use with recycled shipping containers and parts taken from unusable shipping containers, such as the panels for the roof. Reusing shipping containers as the main parts of the cabin allows it to be affordable, easy to transport to the site, and comfortable to live full time in.

The small cabin would be constructed and delivered to the site. At the site a 26ft x 20ft foundation would be poured or a pier and beam foundation would be built. 2 20' long x 8' wide x 9'6” recycled shipping containers are needed as well as 4 shipping container corrugated side panels.

10,000 Gallon rainwater collection tank along with gutters,

2 Exterior doors,

AC unit,

For the framing common lumber is used such as:

• 2x3 boards for wall framing
• 2x4 boards for ceiling joists and rafters
• 1 2x6 board for the ridge board

Other lumber needed includes:

• 1/2in plywood for the interior walls
• 1x4 for the baseboards and trim for the doors

Windows needed:

• 1.5x5ft
• 2x 3x2ft
• 3x 6x5ft

The large sloped roof allows for a rainwater collection system to be added which is very important in these remote areas. The large roof also covers what would be a sitting area or carport to shelter whatever vehicle you need to. A sloped roof also allows for solar panels to be added (depending on the area (rural with utilities or remote) and work very efficiently.

I made ceiling joists across every other corrugation on the roof of the shipping container, which support the rafters. Every ceiling joist is connected to a rafter on either side, with collar ties holding every other rafter together and preventing them from separating from the ridge beam in heavy wind. The ridge beam connects all the rafters at the very top.

I also added corrugated metal sheets from the sides of containers to cover the roof, which can be salvaged from unusable shipping containers.

The interior framing is very important in that it supports the entire roof and is insulated allowing for an air conditioning and heating system. Being completely insulated, the cabin will feel more comfortable to live in and protect from the weather outside.

I added 2x3 boards across the ceiling joist on the sides of the container and added one to support every ceiling joist lengthwise. 1/2in plywood is added to the interior walls to cover whatever electrical and insulation is needed. This is built on the inside walls of the shipping container.

To be a comfortable space to live in, the cabin needed windows on each side and doors leading to the covered living area/ carport. These windows make the cabin feel more open and let more natural light in.

Holes for the doors and windows shown in supplies are cut and framing is built around them. I also added trim around the holes to hide any 2x3 boards that may be visible.

The strength of the interior framing is a critical part of my design, supporting the large roof and whatever load is on the roof such as snowfall and heavy winds. I 3d printed a simple model of the interior framing and tested to see if the framing could easily support the large roof and safely bear more weight than needed.

The thin 3d printed model was easily able to support over 5lbs alone, not including the shipping container which would be on the exterior. Even with the cutouts for the windows and doors the framing would hold up to whatever load is on the roof.

I enjoyed designing the cabin, testing the design, and learning what goes into building a recycled, affordable home.