How to Make Foreign Trade Container Houses
The production of foreign trade container houses requires following steps such as design, modification, planning, enclosure, door and window installation, and specific welding to ensure a stable structure, reasonable functionality, and compliance with environmental protection requirements.
Design Fundamentals and Principles
It is essential to understand the characteristics of containers. Standard containers typically come in lengths of twenty feet and forty feet, with consistent widths and heights. Design principles include structural integrity, ensuring that cutting, opening, or stacking is calculated to maintain load-bearing capacity and stability; spatial efficiency, meeting functional needs through layout within limited space; and sustainability, utilizing recyclable qualities and considering energy efficiency and environmental protection during modification.
Structural Modification and Reinforcement
When creating openings for doors and windows, cut into the side or end walls of the container. After cutting, reinforce the surrounding area of the opening, typically using steel beam frames to distribute stress and prevent structural deformation. When combining multiple containers, connection methods include side-by-side, stacked, or staggered arrangements. Rigid connections are made using specialized corner fittings and high-strength bolts at the joints, sometimes with internal welding to form a unified structure. For multi-level stacking, the top structure of the lower container requires additional reinforcement to bear the load of the upper level.
Spatial Planning and Layout
Single-container designs adopt an open layout, integrating functional areas such as living, dining, and sleeping, and using furniture or lightweight partitions for flexible division. Multi-container combinations can assign different functions to different containers, such as living containers, sleeping containers, and bathroom containers, connected via internal passageways or external corridors. In terms of vertical space utilization, mezzanine floors are often added to increase usable area, with the lower mezzanine used for storage or fixed furniture installation. Layout design fully considers human scale and movement paths to ensure a compact yet uncramped space.
Enclosure Structure and Thermal Insulation
The steel walls of containers conduct heat quickly, necessitating the addition of thermal insulation layers inside or outside the container. Internal insulation is easier to install but reduces indoor space, while external insulation better blocks thermal bridges and protects the main structure. Common insulation materials include rock wool boards and polyurethane foam, ensuring fire resistance and environmental friendliness. Wall construction is typically multi-layered composite, with roofs often featuring pitched roofs or ventilation layers for drainage and heat insulation, and floors laid with moisture-proof mats and flooring substrates.
Door and Window Design and Natural Lighting
Door and window openings should be pre-planned and installed as a whole. Large glass windows or doors improve lighting and expand the view but require consideration of their thermal performance.
Specific Production Steps
Include welding the corrugated side panels of the container, which are pressed from thin steel sheets with a minimum market thickness of 0.6mm; welding the container base, with channel steel welded to the main crossbeams around the top and bottom; and welding the container columns, which should have a thickness of no less than 1mm and require professional equipment for pressing or purchase as ready-made products. The channel steel and columns form the skeleton and determine the sturdiness of the house.
