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So I've been planning on building my own container home for a while. I'm now setting up to actually do this. I am designing it using SolidWorks and should be a lengthy design process.

So, as I research and learn more about this, i'm wondering if anyone here has done this.

also, I haven't been able to find an actual forum to join and gain information from. as well as share my design and build. this forum has been incredibly helpful, i could only hope that their is a forum based around container home building giving its rising popularity. Anyone know one?

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Plans: Single Rotor turbo sub 1000lb machine!

Do a good search: here is one link that contains others ( http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/articl ... ainers.htm ) that I found with a cursory search.

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Warren
Isuzu Pickup/SR20DE, +401 COLD frame
Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=11601

Never done one but container homes are awesome. I saw one that had two sides of the house made from four containers (two wide by two high) and they ran some steel trusses across the towers. The downstairs containers were a kitchen, bar, bathroom, and dining room IIRC and there was a cat walk going from one side to the other for the bedrooms upstairs. The middle was a wide open space. Made me wonder if with a little creativity you couldn't turn the middle into a massive workshop area and have living quarters on the sides or something.

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-Andrew
Build Log
Youtube

These container built homes look awesome!! so futuristic and ECO at the same time!!

This has been an area of active and practical development for perhaps 15 years. Do a detailed Internet search and you will find much information detailing everything from 1-container cabins to small communities built of container homes.

What part of the world are you in? If you're serious, you'll want to find out about local building codes and housing regulations in your area. You'll have to abide by building codes if you want a legal one. If you're going off-grid in the backwoods, that might be another matter.

Good luck,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

This is just my personal opinion and I've never built, lived in or been involved with a container-home but I wouldn't even consider modifying a container into a home unless you're obsessed with the quirkiness of it or you have no other choice.

It may seem attractive to plunk down an 8' x 8' x 40' box for a few thousand dollars but that's where the savings would stop and the frustration would begin. Every aspect of finishing the inside of that box (those boxes) to make them habitable and comfortable is going to be expensive and a pain in the ass. Insulation, interior walls (assuming you don't want corrugated spray foamed walls that look like the inside of a cave), windows and door installation, electrical, plumbing and HVAC are all going to be a challenge and more expensive than finishing a traditional stick-built structure. In addition, without a lot of extra cost and effort your house is going to look like a small freight yard and where will you ever find a buyer if you want to move?

I base my opinion on having erected a 20' x 30' corrugated steel garage at my cottage two summers ago. It is one of the Future Steel/Pioneer Steel panel buildings. While it was time consuming to erect I was initially pleased with the final result until I went to insulate, wire it and add in some vets and windows I blew all of the "savings" of buying a steel shell. Traditional insulation won't work unless you frame the walls which means building a structure inside your structure doubling your cost and reducing floor space so spray foam is required at almost 10x the cost of fiberglas batts on sale at Lowes. No studs to run wiring (or plumbing in the container house) through so it all had to be piped more than tripling the cost. Every time I cut an opening into the shell I have to acknowledge that I'm weakening the structure and there is no easy way to reinforce openings like you can on a stick build. I'm happy to have the garage in place now but if I had to do it again or start over I would do a traditional build as it would turn out to be the same cost and much easier to finish the interior.

Again, just my opinion YMMV.

Bill

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Bill H
Winnipeg, MB, Canada

I agree with BHR.

The only way I would consider this type of building would be way off-grid and in a temperate climate and or dug in at least partially.
Not sure how long they will last buried or partially buried

Also only as temporary housing while I built a permanent residence or for seasonal use.

and finally only if the containers were free or dang close.

The only real advantage I see is you could pre-build them in a convenient location or easily relocate a built unit.

I'd rather build with logs.... I'd like to buy a woodmeiser or a timberking

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I don't know who I am, when I am somebody else.

City of North Charleston subsidized a couple of these for hurricane-resistance testing. Aaaaaaand... we haven't had a major hurricane since they were built. Anyway, they're pretty normal looking from the outside. Supposedly heavily bolted to a poured concrete footing, they're supposed to resist a Cat 5 'cane. My own stick-n-bricks house has been standing since 1962, and only lost it's roof during Hugo from what I understand (I wasn't living here, then). Anyway, if a storm takes it, the insurance will replace it. 'Nuff said.

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Who knew so much time involved in building a car is spent simply staring at the pile of parts you've accumulated?

As long as you are looking at alternative house builds you may as well look at Tire Wall, Straw Bale, Compacted Earth and Ferro-cement too.
There is also a foam block system that is very flexible and quick, but not cheap.
Each has it's advantages.
Personally I always wanted a home mostly dug into a hillside, or cut from a solid rock outcrop, but never got to do it.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

That straw bale method is a wonder. It's thermally efficient, almost insect-proof, and nearly fire-proof as well (except for roof trusses and roofing material, and those could be made fire-resistant). The closest thing in thermal efficiency would be a soddie!

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Who knew so much time involved in building a car is spent simply staring at the pile of parts you've accumulated?

WOW!!! With results like that, I'm surprised the city hasn't made their construction mandatory! Imagine... build a couple of container homes, and the hurricanes stay away. Who'da thunk it possible?

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Mike - Read my story at http://twinlakesseven.blogspot.com/