Design Ideas – Page 2 – Live in a Container

Using a 20 foot shipping container can be the perfect start of a new home office. Let’s look at the 5 fundamental needs that all home offices have for maximum productivity. 5 fundamental needs in a home office are: Work space – desk, chair, table, desk accessoriesGood lighting – task, ambient, and general lightingRemoved from distraction – no disrupting disturbancesSafe and comfortable environment - air qualityAccess to computers – digitally connected to others With the new social distancing going on, we are looking at ways of being productive while not needing to be so close to our co-workers at a common office building. Others are tired of the long commute to work. So, using a computer program called SketchUp, I have been looking into some inexpensive design ideas that can solve these problems quickly using a 20 foot shipping container. The Work Space After adding gypsum board walls and ceiling, the overall interior dimension of a 20 foot shipping container is around 7’-6” wide x 19’-6” long. Using a high cube shipping container, we can still have a little more than 8’-0” between the finished floor and the finished ceiling. Let’s plan on the office space to be around 145 square feet inside. This give enough room for one person to comfortably work at a desk and have a nice conference area to meet with visitors. Since this is to be placed next to a home, we save on construction costs by not including a restroom or a kitchenette in this home office. To save more on costs, we will use the existing door opening of the container and not cut open the sides for any windows or doors. Natural light can be allowed into the office space through insulated glass sliding doors. When the home office is not in use, the container doors can be closed. But, more about that a little later. The main part of the work space will be the office desk and chair. It is where the user will spend most of their working day. So, it needs to be comfortable and functional. The design shows a wall unit that can hold reference materials and photos. The desk is built into the wall unit. But, you can also find other modular office furniture that can be work well in this office space too. There has been a big revolution of office space design prior to the pandemic of 2020. During this time, shared work spaces became very popular. This made working at home more attractive since people would share their assigned office work space when they were not in the office. The need of all the existing stock of office furniture became in less of a demand since many people were not coming into the office as much as they used to. Then, the pandemic has created even a bigger change in the way people find work spaces. People were forced to work from home during the “social distancing” demands from the governments in order to flatten the curve of infections. Because of these major shifts in the where people have found themselves working away from the office buildings, there is a big opportunity to find great deals at office furniture resellers. There, you can get fantastic discounts on office furniture for your new home office. I interviewed an office furniture reseller and will have a blog post of that interview so you can learn more about what opportunities there are for your home office. Other places to find great deals on office desks, chairs, and conference tables include ebay, letgo, craigslist, Wayfair, and Staples online. They will ship the furniture to you. Office accessories can make the home office more functional and personalized for the user. The design shown has a whole wall filled with a white board. It is great to have an entire wall that creative ideas, calendars, checklists, photos, and a lot more inspirational items can be posted with magnets, tape, or written with erasable colored markers. Another cost saving way to have a white wall is to paint it with a wall paint that can be marked upon and then easily wiped off. Benjamin Moore has a really good paint product called “Notable Dry Erase” that works great for this use. A 6 ft. high x 16 ft. wide swatch of the wall opposite from the desk/wall unit for only around $300. Buy it at most paint centers including at Walmart. Here is a link about the Benjamin Moore paint. https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/notable-dry-erase-paint?gclid=CjwKCAjw26H3BRB2EiwAy32zhZ4YMlop0EiaiJubIxwHeENc5kkaKRIrCLO95t73aujqVx9I5ACc5xoCW2IQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds The design also includes a small round glass top conference table with two guest chairs. The glass top will make the office space look larger than if the table top was opaque. The glass will help keep the space “light” and uncluttered with furniture. Just for fun, a full size mural of the New York City Skyline as if it is being seen from the office building you used to work in is placed at the back wall. This gives the office space an interesting focal point for the person walking into the space. So, you can be in your old office building without leaving your home. Good Lighting Get a good surface mounted LED light fixture to give general lighting throughout the office space. Now days, it is becoming easier to find light fixtures that have occupancy sensors built into them. There’s several ways that these sensors can be preset. If it is set to turn a light on when it senses a person walking into the office, then it will usually only turn on to about half its maximum illumination level. Instead, office spaces are usually designed to have the office user turn on the light at the wall switch as we have normally done for ever. Then, the lights will turn on at whatever preset intensity desired. When occupancy sensors notices movement in the office, it will not allow the lights to turn off during a set amount of time. Task lighting is so important. This is why the design includes a wall unit that surrounds the desk. Under the shelving, LED lights can be installed to light up the work surface of the desk that is built into the wall unit. If a wall unit is not used in your home office, then use a desk lamp. There are a lot of decorative options to choose. The conference table will need its own lighting. The design is showing an interesting pendant light over the round glass table. The placement of this pendant light will need to be coordinated with the location of the wall mounted TV near it and with the location of the conference table. No More Distractions Having a separate building for the home office will keep you from being tempted to attend to all those nagging house chores like laundry, cooking, washing the dishes (or your pet). It will be great to have a place to concentrate without being disturbed throughout the work day. Carpet is placed on the floor to absorb the sounds and give a more comfortable appearance. Safe and Comfy Keeping the original metal shipping container doors will allow the home office to remain secure when the home office is not in use. The walls will be filled with closed cell foam insulation. Using 2-1/2” metal studs at 16” on center will give more than enough space for the home office to enjoy an insulation R value of around 13 to 16. Check with your local codes to see if that is sufficient. If you need more insulation, then you might need to have deeper studs. The insulation in the walls, above the ceiling, below the floor and the double insulated glass at the sliding glass door will help you keep the heat from passing through the walls. It will help you save on the energy costs to condition your home office. This office space is small, so you will only need a 5000 BTU air conditioner. An inexpensive window unit through the wall would work just fine. All of this depends on the climate in the area your building your home office. For example, if you are in a dry arid area, you might need a different air conditioning system like an evaporative cooler. The design shows a split air system. But, frankly, split air systems start at around 9000 BTU’s and that is a bit more than is needed for this size of a home office. Working in a Digital World Having the proper computer system is so important. Very well priced computers are often resold after being used for a set number of years in the office buildings of large corporations. They can be purchased on Ebay. Just type in the type of computer you are looking for and Ebay will alert you when a computer similar to the one you are shopping for becomes available. This might require a little patience. But, it can be well worth it. A combination printer/scanner/fax can fit on the wall unit. That way, it is functional without being in the way. A wall mounted TV will give the office user a way to have background white noise or to view instructional videos during their work day. When I was cloistered at home during the work days of the pandemic, I would often turn on soft jazz from a YouTube channel that would be may work space’s background sounds. What Would This Cost? Get a slightly used 20 foot shipping container. Set it on four reinforced concrete piers. Bring electricity to the new home office building making sure there is enough spares in your electrical panel. Add the studs, insulation, lights, sliding doors, floor finishes, office furniture, and equipment to make the space fit your needs. All in all it is possible to spend around $10,000 (or less) and have this entire home office building built in 3 or 4 weeks. Be sure to have a professional help you with the electric and the structural design. Also, check with your local municipalities to comply with zoning laws, codes, and any permits that would be required to follow and obtain.