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How do you guys feel about shipping container homes?
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Absolutely love them. Going to be spending the next couple years scouting the country for land to eventually build one on or put a tiny home on.
OP
OP
they are very cool but nobody builds anything but super traditional homes out here in new england so you'd be very hard pressed to find one, or better have deep pockets to build one
holy god damn
Damn right. If I'm gonna grind for mine I'm gonna be comfortable as possible. Ain't apologizing for it.
Guess doing what's best for the common man only applies to other people...
Where have I heard that before...
I've had friends turn those big aluminum or whatever sheds from Home Depot into homes. Incredibly cheap and they've held up.
User Warned: Unnecessary hostility
You sound like a fucking idiot.
But if it's turned into a home then where do I go to get my double dry hopped brut IPA and artisanal kale burger?
nothing stopping you from having these life's finest pleasures in your home
You sound like you have low emotional impulse control. Do you yell at the TV when you see something you vehemently disagree with as well?
I've thought about trying to do a cabin out of shipping containers. But to be able to do it on the cheap, I have to research all of the materials: windows, doors, insulation, drywall, flooring, electrical wiring, plumbing, metalworking. I know I can get the containers cheap, its just all of the additional stuff turning into livable space that is going to make it expensive.
Yeah this only seems practical from a raw materials standpoint and if you like rectangles. Not really my style.
They're a fad that quickly become about as expensive as building a conventional home since they are basically hollow tin cans with nothing in the way of insulation and don't meet building code on pretty much anything else. Also IMO the aesthetic only works if you're going for an industrial look. The structural integrity falls apart once you start cutting into them too.
Are you serious, can you post an example of an average 3 bedroom home in the UK and price? If I was living by myself I wouldn't mind a small space at all
On topic I'm about to post one of the coolest shipping homes I've seen:
beautiful
Around this size:
https://i./i/pix/2013/08/21/article-2398714-1B647A2D000005DC-943_634x468.jpg
Couldn't tell you the price as it depends where you live but well over £100k in even the cheapest areas.
A better use for all these containers would be as anchors for coral reefs to form, after they've been prepped for being dropped into the ocean. I assume some kind of treatment needs to be done to avoid the acrylics and plastics in the paint seeping into the water or something.
There was a guy on Grand Designs a few years back who made a fantastic home out of three containers. Obviously you need to be a pretty good architect to make it work and it will still cost you.
Are they detatched? They look like townhomes, big fan of those.
I like watching TV shows about them and other people who like living in them. But they seem largely like a fad, but a cool fad nonetheless.
There one going up near me that seems cool. Interested to see when it's done.
What you think about a shipping container food hall? https://detroit.eater.com/2018/7/13/17569244/detroit-shipping-company-food-hall-opening-photos-menus
What you think about a shipping container food hall? https://detroit.eater.com/2018/7/13/17569244/detroit-shipping-company-food-hall-opening-photos-menus
Interesting from a design standpoint.
I'd rather just work towards reducing the global population instead.
Edit: lmao that wasn't meant to come off as genocidal
I'd rather just work towards reducing the global population instead.
Edit: lmao that wasn't meant to come off as genocidal
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These boxy things are going to look so dated in the near future. I've also read that prepping them makes the savings nearly non-existent if not more expensive than original construction.
It's actually quite sophisticated at the start, but when you follow it for a couple of years on a couple of sites, you see it evolve into the Docpan of real estate and extravagence.
Wow, the minimalist thread didn't seem the place for me, but we're living with 600 sq ft each, no personal gym, no home theater, no sex dungeon. Just a bath and a half and three bedrooms to share between the two of us. I didn't realize this was Hell!
The shipping containers are pretty cool, but I get nervous enough about the house surviving a storm. I'd be a constant mess of a human, freaking out about every wind. And they kind of encourage a lot of glass, to keep from feeling claustrophobic. I walk around in my underwear too much for that life.
The shipping containers are pretty cool, but I get nervous enough about the house surviving a storm. I'd be a constant mess of a human, freaking out about every wind. And they kind of encourage a lot of glass, to keep from feeling claustrophobic. I walk around in my underwear too much for that life.
You will have to pry my cinema room from my cold dead hands.
Right? I can't imagine how much unused or misused space I would have with 1000 sqft just for myself.
I really like prefabs. Especially in this minimal, box aesthetic. Although flat roofs are bad for snow but I do like how they look.
Shipping containers specifically, apparently are pretty difficult to retrofit properly, due to issues with running pipes/electrical, and of course putting yourself in a partially RF shielded box.
also this will never not be funny to me, Trump tower guy who lives in CANADA, says:
a) we have a LOT OF ROOM
b) the resources required to create and run that luxury tower are exponential
Shipping containers specifically, apparently are pretty difficult to retrofit properly, due to issues with running pipes/electrical, and of course putting yourself in a partially RF shielded box.
also this will never not be funny to me, Trump tower guy who lives in CANADA, says:
a) we have a LOT OF ROOM
b) the resources required to create and run that luxury tower are exponential
Too many windows(quit spying on me pervs) but other than that seems like as decent a place to live as any
You're right that they might look dated, especially the cheaper builds, but foam insulation and internal framing are cheaper because the boxes are already structural and the exterior surfaces are already "done" and pretty resistant to elements relative to just about any other piece of metal you can think of. The pproblem with them becoming trendy and cool is that it misses the point of making affordable recycled housing for poor people. And drives up the costs for those folks.
The Costs come in placement/foundation, alterations that require complex cuts and lifts, or alterations that significantly weaken the superstructure
You can buy all-in-one solutions, but they can be, like this ebay solution, great looking, but don't make sense per square foot relative to normal construction and may have issues with local zoning - but those costs would have either been true anyway, or can be avoided through design choices at the architectural or layout stage.
https://www.ebay.com/i/113046624678?
The "raw material" of a shipping crate varies wildly depending on location - you might pay pennies on the dollar in the Marshall Islands, ironically, or a giant premium to get a bunch hauled up a mountain somewhere. The phenomenon started at or near underdeveloped locales with heavy shipping industry, for obvious reasons. The other spectacularly easy thing about a shipping container, is hauling. If you plan it right, you can literally order a shipping crate full of construction materials that's also 50% of your structure, with another empty one later that afternoon. One great thing about shipping containers is that they are at least externally, all compatible with normal trucking and shipping.
For example, say you were building on on Hawaii and moving from the mainland to do it, you could contract a build in CA, hire a company to pre build for you, fill one shipping container with your household goods, one with either construction materials and even pre assembled internal framing (which may be much cheaper in Bakersfield than Honolulu) components and one with your two cars in it. All three get dropped off in one afternoon and left at the site, with a bill of lading and a receipt for the purchase of the containers themselves.
Weather and climate are a big deal too - in the tropics, you can use less of everything for insulation - but you may need more expensive wood, drainage, AC etc. At least you know that your roof isn't going to collapse when it snows tho. And construction, assemby and shipping in Mexico are going to be cheaper, but then so is building a rock solid concrete house from scratch.
There's probably some really satisfying logistics puzzles to sort out that can save you a ton of money and freight.
But.. that's a good reminder that there are other kit options available - from "real" houses that come flat packed, to Yurts, to breezeblock kits and so on. The Containers are amazing if you hit the sweet spot on:
1. Design
2. Container price/availability
3. Local zoning/permitting
4. Cost of construction and finishing materials locally or remotely depending how you go about it.
As someone who lives in a city studio apartment with a grand total of 450 sq ft to myself and my dog for almost $1k a month, the people in here who are acting like 1000 sq feet for one person is tiny makes me roll my eyes. Must be nice to have lives that allow you to live in giant homes.
If I lived somewhere where there was space for container homes, I'd look into them, but they're not really an option here. I do like their look tho.
If I lived somewhere where there was space for container homes, I'd look into them, but they're not really an option here. I do like their look tho.
Remember that shipping containers are designed for this:
So while cutting panels for windows and doors can create styructural weakening, it's also extremely straightforward to reinforceeither elsewhere or in the design and placement of an opening. You're starting off with just about the most element, hurricane and damage proof thing you can think of, especially relative to stick and board contruction. Most of the really slick houses tend to use the container's own door frame as a big opening, which has no negative effect on the overall structural integrity if done right. I've even seen them turned on their sides with the doors forming a ramp and/or awning.
But best of all - Shipping Containers have a super powerful built in burglar deterrent and security feature:
I would live in something like that, but every time I try searching online for tiny homes to move into, I either find some expensive designer tiny homes park, or some shitty guest house type deal in somebody else's back yard. I can never seem to find a cheap tiny homes park.
I like the idea, but only if it's significantly cheaper than buying a "normal" home. I get the feeling that by the time you pay some specialized firm to turn one of these into a livable space that's probably not the case.