Shipping container homes, good resources?

There have been some others, but this one was especially well-targeted. Also, who knew that the topic of container homes was so irresistible to canoes?

Margie

Saw a container swimming pool once. Cool.

nderwater wrote: Is that our very first on-topic zombie canoe?

What's funny is that all of these recent canoes are digging up some pretty old threads. I see the thread and think "wow- something new this late?" and it turns out to be a spammer of sometype.

Now I'm starting to expect canoes when old threads pop up.

I've actually been using them a bit recently. I built a maintenance shop, several mini warehouses, and an electrical service entrance building recently out of containers.

SVreX wrote: I've actually been using them a bit recently. I built a maintenance shop, several mini warehouses, and an electrical service entrance building recently out of containers.

Where have you been getting the containers? What's cost like to get one shipped assuming you got them from a ways away?

thanks!

Jacques

I've been buying them from a supplier in Valdosta, GA. I have no idea what the shipping would be to go a long distance- they are pretty close to me.

There have to be suppliers of these all over the country. They should be sitting in virtually ever shipping depot and port.

The trick in the shipping is not the trucking, it's the unloading. You've got to be able to unload at the site- it's not the trucking company's problem. If you have to rent a large forklift, it will likely double the cost.

We've been getting them shipped on a rollback. Solves the problem.

PubBurgers:

Call Dayton Freight.

Did someone live in an old boiler in a Steinbeck novel? It was Cannery Row or Sweet Thursday if my memory serves me well.

SVreX wrote: PubBurgers: Call Dayton Freight.

Awesome, thanks for the info.

BTW- even though I've been using them recently, I still stand by some of the comments I made earlier in this thread.

Shipping containers are problematic for building houses from, from an engineering, building code, and cost perspective.

They are not an inexpensive solution (even if they are free).

pilotbraden wrote: Did someone live in an old boiler in a Steinbeck novel? It was Cannery Row or Sweet Thursday if my memory serves me well.

Cannery row. In the movie Debra Winger lived in it.

The City of Charleston did a pilot program a few years ago using shipping containers to build houses, IIRC they built three. They figured they'd get rid of a lot of abandoned containers and build some inexpensive housing at the same time. Like SVreX says, it turned out not to be cost effective at all.

Yeah we did more research and realized it wasn't a good path for us.

In Sept of last year we bought what I'll call a lightly remodeled house built back in the early 70s, quiet neighborhood with a big yard (almost 1/3 acre) for just under $100k.

It's turned out to be a good place for us that falls well within what WE consider a reasonable payment on a house vs what the bank would have liked us to purchase, we were approved for nearly three times the money as we actually spent.

z31maniac wrote: Yeah we did more research and realized it wasn't a good path for us. In Sept of last year we bought what I'll call a lightly remodeled house built back in the early 70s, quiet neighborhood with a big yard (almost 1/3 acre) for just under $100k. It's turned out to be a good place for us that falls well within what WE consider a reasonable payment on a house vs what the bank would have liked us to purchase, we were approved for nearly three times the money as we actually spent.

So that's still going on? The same thing happened to me back in the 1990's.

Xceler8x wrote: 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.

I was looking at these the other day. There's a hunk of land with a former professional mechanics garage (read 1500 s/f, fully plumbed/insulated/aired etc) that has absolutely the sketchiest house on earth on it. I was gonna let the city train firefighters to burn the pig down, keep the garage, and drop a mod-home on it in pieces. Or get one o' them steel houses.

Jensenman: yeah we were kinda surprised with all the talk about how difficult it had been to get fininacing and such (granted this was 12 months ago)for us to then get approved for $250k+ was mind boggling to me.

That we spent $100k still ended up being about $25k more than we wanted to spend. But I pretty much drew a line in the sand over a decent sized 2 car garage if I was signing up for that kinda debt.

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/

okay, absolutely nothing to do with container homes, but this is somewhat green, if a little pricey. you could build it yourself however. 65 sq ft?

my dream home would be the one in the Lord of the Rings - Bilbo's? way cool.

Firstly I wanted to introduce myself, I am perhaps the biggest fan of Shipping Container Construction in the World.

I am also a general contractor with several years of working in ISBU based construction and today I teach people to build with ISBU's

I have made a free 30 minute video explaining the challenges of insulating a container home.

The video is here.

Shipping Container Homes Insulation Video

I appreciate that this is my first posting on the board and so I ask for the forums indulgence in placing an outbound link as a newbie however the content created is hyper focused and I feel adds great value to this thread.

If the video does nothing but serve to add information to the discussion providing more information for readers and giving them the chance to weigh both sides of the discussion before making any decision I would be very happy with that.

Thank you for your consideration.

Victor

In reply to containerhome:

Very, very close to being a canoe. Lucky for you, that the ad is in line with the subject- but bringing a thread back to life for the second time...

I'll let the owners think about it...

I vote keep it.

As a building professional with 35 years experience, it is one of the more relevant discussions I've ever seen.

HOWEVER, he dances around the EXACT issue of why containers are a sketchy solution at best in the U.S.

There is only 1 sentence in that video that is directly relevant to construction in the U.S. He refers to areas with "strong permitting requirements" which set standardized R value requirements. THAT would be us.

And it is the single biggest obstacle to this form of construction in the U.S.

But, I still say let him stay. That is by far the best quality canoe that has ever surfaced, and it is very likely I will become a paid subscriber even though, yes, it IS a canoe.

It's staying for now. There's more information than sales pitch, and the subject is very near my heart. He also gets bonus points for appreciating that his first post isn't necessarily the best introduction.

I have a friend who wanted to build a house out of a metal building. I guess more like IN a metal building... Anyway, he was looking at an 80x100 monster of a building and basically dividing it down the center and having a 4,000 sq. ft. shop and 4,000 sq. ft. home. I made up a floor plan for him that was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I'll put it on here when I get home. Just to give you a little inspiration.

Thought I'd add this to the knowledge/opinion base of this thread!

http://www.archdaily.com/160892/the-pros-and-cons-of-cargo-container-architecture/

and

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/08/wikihouse-open-source-home-building.html