How To Wallboard On A Shipping Container Home

The design and the construction of Internal walls in a shipping container home.

The installation of the wallboard in a shipping container home begins with the type of wallboard material.

Here in Costa Rica we use “fibrolite”, this is a wallboard with a combination of sand and cement and a thin layer of fiberglass sheeting that is mixed into the paper like coating. This type of wallboard is very strong and very water resistance, so it will not get damaged from water like drywall.

Drywall on the other hand is very fragile and cracks easily while being installed.
Prior to the actual installation of the fibrolite you must first create the internal framework, either in wood or metal. We use metal strips that we weld into the shipping container wall. This frame out is important in order to limit the amount of holes you drill into the actual shipping container.
Visit our page on “How to install the frame out of a shipping container home”
The installation of the wallboard in a shipping container home is just like a standard cement and timber home. This job usually requires two people and can take a very long time. The installation of the wallboard is very important and sensitive to maintaining straight lines and small gaps. Naturally, you cannot be perfect with the lines and gaps so you must work slow.
After the installation of the wallboard we then begin to install the interior trim work for the container home. This will cover all the gaps and all the uneven lines. First we seal the gaps with sheet rock plaster and tape, then we paint the internal walls and finally we install the trim work.