
Choose value over price by inspecting shipping containers for quality, not the cheapest option. Check interior, exterior, floor, and corners, and test measurements for squareness to avoid rust and dents.
Select your containers personally, mark and number them, and verify corner to corner measurements to prevent misfits on site. Arrange proper transport and on site setup with the right equipment.
Plan every cut before modifying a shipping container, reinforce with supporting beams, and keep corners strong; avoid weakening side walls.
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Don't buy the lower height containers; shipping containers come in two heights. Choose the high container for extra headspace, insulation, and ceiling clearance, since width remains similar.
Cut precise openings for windows and doors and weld in 75x40 to 75x50 mm frames, leaving space for insulation inside or outside, and avoid leaks by proper welds.
Plan electrical and plumbing upfront to meet code, map water, and route utilities in conduits. Elevate containers on pillars for below-ground access and easy future changes.
Learn how to balance engineering needs for shipping container homes, using I-beams and proper foundations, while avoiding overengineering and ensuring future upgrades, insulation, waterproofing, and door window layout.
Know the residential code for your build area before using a shipping container home, as codes vary and may restrict appearance. Review documentation and consider external cladding to meet code.
Know your delivery costs before planning your home, and estimate total by adding delivery to the container price; learn how using two containers and spacing between them can optimize layout.
Identify the container's key strength components—beams, corner posts, roof and floor structure—and explain how proper reinforcement and foundation depth ensure a robust, waterproof build.
Explore how the four corners confer strength to a shipping container, with cross-corner measurements showing the corners as the strongest part, while damage often appears on the sides.
Learn how to maximize interior space and cut costs by using two shipping containers instead of four, creating an open-plan living area with drywall partitions.
Weigh interior and exterior insulation to determine which approach is more cost effective for your shipping container home, and plan your insulation to balance thermal performance with the visible finish.
Assess when a truss roof benefits a container unit, creating top storage above two containers and enabling rainwater catchment while weighing roof-cost considerations.
Know what is important for 2 or 3 story container buildings before you build level 1, including future expansion, I-beams, and foundation planning.
Explore interior finishes for a DIY shipping container home, balancing expensive versus inexpensive options, and learn about insulation, walls, flooring, cladding, paint, tile, and lighting through conduit.
Explore external finishes for a shipping container home, including insulation, aluminum frames, window cladding, ground clearance, accessibility ramps, roof planting, water drainage, and cheapest container delivery considerations.
Explore a 40 by 40 ft shipping container home with a five-bedroom layout. Learn how spacing between containers creates sections, bathrooms, and built-in cupboards for efficient living.
Up to Date as at: January 2020.
Shipping Container Homes in 2020, why or why not?
Do's and Don'ts When Building a Shipping Container Home.
Learn the things to avoid and the things you must do when building your own shipping container home. You will save a lot of sleepless nights, time and money by just planning your building process better.
You can save more than $500 on your building project by applying the information covered in this course.
Why should you look into this course?
Over the last 10 years, an idea evolved to use stockpiled shipping containers as modular units for building office space as well as domestic homes. Because these empty hefty steel boxes are piling up in ports around the world and posing a storage problem. Since 2005 several architects and builders are taking advantage of this surplus to recycle the containers.
Looking at a container has 2 metric tons of steel which will take 8000 kwh of energy to melt down and make new beams. The process of modifying that entire 2 metric tons of steel into a higher and better use domestic home only takes 400 kwh of electrical energy (or 5%). This takes a bit more muscle and planning but we feel is that next step up for better Re-cycling.
Each long container measures 2.4 m wide by 12 m long by 2.5 m tall. Depending on the quality of a used shipping container, it could set you back anything from $2,000 - $10,000 per container.
According to structural engineers, these units are stronger than conventional house framing because of their resistance to "lateral loads" -- those seen in hurricanes and earthquakes -- and because steel is basically welded to steel. The roof is strong enough to support the extra weight of a green roof - which has vegetation growing on it - if the owner should want it.
As for their energy efficiency, they claim that when the appropriate coatings are installed, the envelope reflects about 95 percent of outside radiation, resists the loss of interior heat, provides an excellent air infiltration barrier and does not allow water to migrate in.
When applying a standard exterior siding to a house, the finished house is virtually indistinguishable from conventional housing.