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  • April 22, 2009 6:38 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    I knew one/some of you would have looked into this before.

    The girlfriend and I are considering buying a small piece of land and building a house on it. Catches are we can't afford nor do we want to build a traditional house, we're both closet greenies.

    The idea of a shipping container house is very appealing after some of the desings I've seen. My only real concern is insulating the thing. Oklahoma can see anywhere from 110° in the summer to 15° in the winter, so I can imagine in July/August the house turning into a giant oven.

    Any thoughts? Good places to look around for more info?

  • Jensenman

    April 22, 2009 6:43 a.m. Jensenman MegaDork

    The local housing authority built 2 houses from shipping containers a few years ago, I don't know if there's a Web site for it. The upshot was that when all was said and done there was no real savings because they were trying to make them look like regular houses.

    It seems there is a group getting ready to try it again. http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/aug/04/home_from_sea49595/

  • alfadriver

    April 22, 2009 6:45 a.m. alfadriver Reader

    I've seen some things about those kinds of homes, too- thought it was really, really cool.

    As long as you are careful, you can insualte anything. Proper venting + well placed insulation is key.

    For OK, you need to make sure you hold that thing down well....

    Besides, google... and today is earth day- so it should find a bunch.

    Eric

  • fastEddie

    April 22, 2009 6:49 a.m. fastEddie Dork

    MAKEzine has quite a few articles - http://www.google.com/cse?cx=008032414425079535247%3Akplxrakvu20&q=shipping+co...

    Examples - http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/09/shipping_containers_could.html

    http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/08/used_shipping_containers_as_ho.html

  • April 22, 2009 7:34 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    Jensenman wrote:

    The local housing authority built 2 houses from shipping containers a few years ago, I don't know if there's a Web site for it. The upshot was that when all was said and done there was no real savings because they were trying to make them look like regular houses.

    It seems there is a group getting ready to try it again. http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/aug/04/home_from_sea49595/

    I understand that! We'd paint the outside and do windows and such, but putting a facade on does seem to miss the point. And I do wonder at what point you would reach diminishing returns with trying to insulate, etc.

    I really like the ICF block construction, but I believe around here new home construction is in the $100-120 sq/ft range, so building a decent sized house quickly becomes much more than we want to spend. We don't wish to be "house poor" like the majority of Americans.

    It would definitely need to be tied down well, and/or have an underground shelter!

  • Jensenman

    April 22, 2009 7:40 a.m. Jensenman MegaDork

    I have wondered more than once if something like Kool Seal would cut down on solar heat gain in a shipping container. I've been in them during the summer and they get STINKIN' hot inside. Kool Seal is used on mobile home roofs to reflect sunlight and seal the roof seams. http://www.koolseal.com/ Alternatively, some of the mobile home owners around here have put a 'pole building' over a mobile home, in effect putting a roof about 12" above the MH. That way there is no solar heat gain to the MH itself. It's not like a 'roof over' which attaches directly to the existing roof.

  • 4cylndrfury

    April 22, 2009 7:50 a.m. 4cylndrfury HalfDork

    Bails of hay as insulation FTW...There is a guy here in Ohio near me who built his house basically out of bails of hay..or straw...whichever is cheaper (I dunno which). Anyway, he said you pour your foundation, stack the bails in a brick pattern, and ram 10' pcs of rebar down through the hay and into the 'crete while its still wet. Stucco to taste afterward to reinforce the outside, and inside, theres studs tied to the rebar to skin the interior. He said his energy bills are half of what they were in his previous and smaller house, and apparently this design is tornado and hurricane PROOF since the walls are essentially 2' thick, which saves him a bunch in homeowners insurance. Plus, in Ok I bet hay...or straw or whatever is pretty cheap.

    Instructions: Set container(s) on ground. Dig and pour foundation around them. Stack bails all around. wrap with concrete stucco. Bake at 110 and then chill to 15, and enjoy.

    Just an idea

  • Xceler8x

    April 22, 2009 8:08 a.m. Xceler8x Dork

    A hay bail house has to be built with the wall thickness in mind. If you build a house with the typical outside dimensions it will be tiny inside due to the extra wall thickness.

    The insulating properties of that sort of construction is well known.

    Z31maniac - you may want to consider a modular home. Not all of them come on wheels nowadays.

    They have quite a few benefits. I'm not sure if lower cost is one but essentially you have guys come out and install a house on your land.

  • April 22, 2009 8:29 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    Already looked into it some and it is appealing, but from what I've seen once you add in everything else, they are only 5-20% cheaper than stick built. So still 80-95 per sq/ft, we aren't looking for outrageous size or anything, but it does need to be built with resale in mind.

    So a 1600-1800 sq/ft 3bed/2 bath/3 car garage house is what I had in mind, maybe a small "office" type room as well.

  • Dr. Hess

    April 22, 2009 8:46 a.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork

    I dunno what prices are today, but my MiL bought a "pre fab" type house. I hate to call it a trailer house, because the quality is so much better, but it was delivered on wheels. It's about 2000 sq ft and was 55 large new delivered and set up in 2001. Site setup was about twenty, and that's for starting with the side of a mountain and finishing with a foundation and septic system, east of you where we don't believe in that "dirt" stuff and only have what you call "rocks."

    I was general contractor, on the job. The trailer sellers said they would set it up/tie down/foundation for $1500. I asked to see the plans. There was $1500 worth of concrete in the plan's foundation. Something didn't sound right to me, so I had the foundation done separately (hired dozer man, concrete crew, etc.) The plans called for basically a true house slab foundation without the top 3". So, I made it to the plans. They came out and delivered/set up the trailer and said they had never seen one done like that before.

    I think total cost on the job was half what a stick construction job would have been, and it is a very nice setup. Very well insulated too, not like the older trailers. You're welcome to come look at it for ideas if you want.

  • David S. Wallens

    April 22, 2009 8:49 a.m. David S. Wallens Editorial Director

    I once saw plans to build a biodiesel gas station out of shipping containers. Looked neat.

  • April 22, 2009 8:57 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    Hess, that is something else we considered especially after seeing a 45 acre chunk of land for sale for $30,000. Pay off land and trailer then build a home.

    Where in NW Arkansas are you? I suspect once the E30 is done I'll take it to that area to visit the roads I used ride on a near weekly basis when I had my R6.

    I haven't been on 123 in over two years now.

  • Dr. Hess

    April 22, 2009 9:10 a.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork

    I'm just outside of Fayetteville.

    I sailed with a guy that worked for a marine engineering firm once. They designed/built a prototype container "home" for troop transports. The idea was that you could stack these things up in/on a ship, load them up with troopies and send them where you wanted. I don't know if they ever went into production.

    They sell used containers for about 2-3 large here.

    Something else to consider is to build a metal A arch building like my shop:

    It's 30 x 46. I have about ten large in it, including the slab, cutting the mountain out, electricity and work benches, built in 2000. They make insulation kits or you can do your own. And if you make the ends yourself, you can save a lot, maybe a thousand or better.

    I also make my slabs to Texas Highway Department specs, not the way they make them here. As one slab contractor told me when I asked him if what he described wouldn't crack, "Well, all slabs crack." Uh-huh.

  • JFX001

    April 22, 2009 9:20 a.m. JFX001 Dork

    My Parents went to a modular home lot 20 years ago and got the blueprint of one of the homes. They took it to a builder and told them exactly what they wanted based off of those plans.

    Very nice 3 bedroom/2 bath house, with a 2 car oversized garage and a 300 sq ft studio with bathroom attached.

    Unfortunately, Tennessee has put plans in effect to widen the cool winding 2 lane (Hwy 127) and make it a 4 lane....so the house is either going to be moved....or demolished.

    My version on the same property would be a reclaimed barn with ICF, geothermal heat/cooling, solar panels and a 5 car garage.

  • Keith

    April 22, 2009 9:59 a.m. Keith UberDork

    I've always loved the idea of a shipping container home. I'm not sure my wife would agree so I'll probably never get the chance to do something with it.

    I don't think the insulating properties would be a big deal, you'd have to deal with that on any home. A good solution might be to partially or fully bury the containers and let mama earth take care of the insulating for you. Use light tubes to get some illumination.

    If you started with a refrigerated container, you'd already have AC :) And insulation. Personally, I'd be tempted to put the insulation on the outside as the footprint inside is already a bit narrow.

  • Dr. Hess

    April 22, 2009 10:08 a.m. Dr. Hess PowerDork

    Try getting a 440 line for the reefer unit.

  • rebelgtp

    April 22, 2009 10:15 a.m. rebelgtp Dork

    One of the coolest ones I saw was they put together the shipping containers in a couple levels and in whatever lay out they wanted. After they had that all done then covered the whole thing in dirt and made basically an artificial hill and the containers created tunnels in it. They put in light tubes and skylights to let in some natural light.

  • btp76

    April 22, 2009 10:16 a.m. btp76 New Reader

    I talked to a guy here in TX several years ago who bought an old house and had it moved to his location. I don't remember the details, but it was cheap and there were places in TX that had several houses to choose from.

  • Per Schroeder

    April 22, 2009 11:12 a.m. Per Schroeder Technical Editor/Advertising Director

    Our house is ICF, but we could probably build an Earthship out of tires from all of GRM's testing Maybe that's what I'll build my second garage out of.

  • April 22, 2009 11:19 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    Keith wrote:

    I've always loved the idea of a shipping container home. I'm not sure my wife would agree so I'll probably never get the chance to do something with it.

    I don't think the insulating properties would be a big deal, you'd have to deal with that on any home. A good solution might be to partially or fully bury the containers and let mama earth take care of the insulating for you. Use light tubes to get some illumination.

    If you started with a refrigerated container, you'd already have AC :) And insulation. Personally, I'd be tempted to put the insulation on the outside as the footprint inside is already a bit narrow.

    Thankfully my girlfriend shares my closet greenie tendencies.

    My plan was definitely multiple shipping containers, not one or two, but more like 8-10, with some double stacked and some just two containers high to open up the "boxiness" of it. With that many, 2x4s or 2x6s on the inside wouldn't be take up too much space with insulation and such.

    Keith, when you say put insualtion on the outside, what were thinking? Just like foam/fiberboard with some type of stucco or something like that?

    I guess even with the inside insulated, you still have steel on the outside just soaking up the hot OK summer sunshine. I'm definitely going to continue to look into this, I think one could build a very eco-friendly, yet cool/modern house out of the shipping containers.

    Dr. Hess, when I get done with the E30 or when the girlfriend decides she is ready to go back to Eureka Springs for the weekend, I'll drop you an email and see if you will be around.

  • Keith

    April 22, 2009 11:26 a.m. Keith UberDork

    I hadn't really thought about exactly how the exterior insulation would work. Foam with stucco seems reasonable. I was mostly concerned with interior space. They're only 7'8" wide. Add in some 2x4s on the inside plus some drywall, and you're basically living in a series of corridors that are 7' wide. Obviously you can cut holes in the sides (watch that structural integrity!) but I think it's still going to be a limiting factor.

    I'm really liking the buried idea. if you can find some land with a hill, you can build right into it.

  • April 22, 2009 11:39 a.m. z31maniac Dork

    I was definitely thinking welding/bolting containers together, then cutting holes or gutting most everything but the outside walls. Then reinforcing the metal walls so they don't vibrate with heavy wind/handle having sides/pieces removed, etc etc.

    Guess I need to learn how to weld!

    If I can actually go through with something like this, I would insulate the outside and the inside of the house for max energy savings. All the other good stuff, heat pumps/solar/etc, would be out of reach anytime in the near future.

  • JFX001

    April 22, 2009 11:48 a.m. JFX001 Dork

    http://www.containerhomes-info.com/

    Take some time and browse the links from the "Resources" tab on the left. The ISBU one is the one recommended by this particular website, but you could spend days looking at all of the links provided by the websites listed.

  • MadScientistMatt

    April 22, 2009 11:51 a.m. MadScientistMatt HalfDork

    I like the buried container idea too. My sister in law's family lives in Vermont in a house that's mostly underground, three stories tall. In the wintertime they can heat the whole house with a single wood burning stove.

  • neon4891

    April 22, 2009 11:56 a.m. neon4891 SuperDork

    hmm, lots of containers interconected and burried under an artificail hill... I like that idea. BTW, what are the dimensions of the containers?

    edit* 20' or 40' long, 8' wide, 8'6" or 9'6" tall. So 320 Sq foot per 40' container

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