14 DAY TRIAL // While most of the people who retire plan exotic vacations, a family who lives near Calgary has a much more ambitious plan. If the Kenyan people are able to build fantastic earth-friendly houses out of recycled plastic bottles, the Glennons will most likely be able to follow the trend and build the house of their dreams out of 30 steel shipping containers.
At this point in time, the construction might look somehow like an ordinary pile of shipping containers of various colors, but by the end of the process it will occupy a surface of 5,000-square-foot and the family will rely on all the comfort they can get in their own our four bedrooms, five bathrooms and two enclosed decks.
The entire project, once completed, will also include a games and media room, a garage and workshop which will exploit their creativity further more.
Despite the rather peculiar decision of building a sustainable home out of this kind of materials, the family members say that their house will have a quite common appearance, since they will use stucco to cover the exterior walls, manufactured out of Sea-Can shipping containers. The couple had to pay $3000 (2190 euros) for each container they decided to bring from Calgary.
The family is interested in gaining their independence in terms of energy usage, so they decided to install energy efficient windows. Also, their innovative household will rely on a wind generator, a 4.8-kilowatt solar panel system and also a solar hot water heater, which will guarantee them that they lifestyle has no major negative impact upon the environment.
Despite the fact that the Glennons didn't want to reveal the exact costs implied by the construction process, they indicated that they will have to pay approximately $125 (91.3 euros) per square foot.
At this point in time, the family is focused on insulating the interior wooden walls, as well as the exterior ones. They are very optimistic while talking about their plans and hope to finish all the work required for the exterior by the end of next spring.
Their most ambitious goal is yet far from being achieved. The Glennons want to transform their future home into a bed and breakfast facility, and their initiative might turn out to be profitable and popular, since people keep on coming to see the innovative eco-house with their own eyes.