Shipping Container Home

Tree Hugger has an interesting post about using shipping containers as a basis for a home.

It’s a great article with pictures and everything.

If you are interested, here’s the dimensions (interior/exterior) of standard shipping containers.

Looking on eBay you can get a container (without shipping) for around $2,000. That gives you a basic “under roof” area of about 320 sq ft for about $6.25 a sq ft.

Some problems I need to research:

• Insulation – in most climates (maybe all climates) these puppies are going to be way uncomfortable.
• Construction – How do you cut these puppies? Plasma cutter?
• Stress Dynamics – When you cut in a window or a doorway, how does that affect the structural integrity of the box? (This is especially crucial for stacking.)
• Location – While the boxes are cheap, they need to be transported to site as well as be off-loaded and stacked by a crane. That means you will want to build close to a large city (possibly a port city) where the crates have very little travel and a crane can be used without a large transportation cost.

Good article with pictures.

More pics on Google Image Search.

I may take some time today to think up some designs.

A great article on this here.

Notes on structural integrity.

(I couldn’t get it to load, so I used the Google Cache.)

What this article says is that 20′ shipping containers are actually have a steel frame that does not depend on any of the top, bottom or sides to maintain integrity. I haven’t found it yet, but I’ll bet money the 40′ have a frame where they have a support at 20′.

UPDATE:

This article has some interesting points about construction.

20′ containers can be transported on a “tilt truck” (usually used to transport cars) and slid into place. Also it mentions some companies sell wheels you can attach to the container to make it possible to move with almost any vehicle.

It also survived a cyclone with only minor damage.

---

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• A Bunch of Shipping Container Home Links
• Cheap Housing Appalachia: Indigenous Materials
• Tiny House Floor Plan – 909 sq ft @ $23/sq ft finished
• Recycled homes, one box at a time