Shipping Container Homes
 

Anyone have firsthand experience of building or designing a home using these as I would like to know more.

Dont have experience living in one. But they kick ass for storage, could make a cool house im sure.

They have been getting their fair share of free press these days, I'll say that much.

Seems like it'd be a bear to insulate.

A friend tackled that idea 8 or 9 years ago. Since then, there have been whole colonies established and I think there are several companies with retrofit doors, windows, etc. Considering how many containers come to the US and how few leave with anything in them, maybe we should all be looking into containers for cheap housing in the future.

Problem is that the salvage value has driven the price up. We'll never see sub $1000 containers again. Since the 20 footers are useless, they might still be an option.

There's this group up in Toronto that is doing this. Their results are excellent....though I wonder if their particular products are any cheaper than a similar house of conventional construction. Good idea, in the end-

N

In my wife's hometown, Tianjin,China there is a group of restaurants made from shipping containers. Its really pretty cool, the containers are stacked in an Escheresque fashion and have been made very comfortable.

When you are inside the restaurant you have no ideas it is a shipping container, from the outside it looks like a stack of containers 4 high..Sorry no pics

I researched this a couple years back, heres a couple nice executions:
architecture and hygiene - index

Some cool examples here:

5 Cool Shipping Container Buildings | Spot Cool Stuff: Design

I thought I saw an article in the current issue of Sunset magazine about a shipping container home. The article should still be on news stands.

Found a video of the place in Tianjin .... unbelievable...

They don't show the part I was in... not sure if it was built before or after this video..

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/o7onIK-DjQ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Yes, I have a business associate who has built several "models" as he is in negotiations with a powers that be (for years) to bring these to the low-income/disabled/planned housing masses.

The "models" are full scale, just like a housing developments model homes showcasing funcionality and design options. The price point is very attractive not only for the investor/developer but also the homeowner.

The biz model not only utilizes these containers but re-purposed items that provide inexpensive hvac, cook top, septic and plumbing needs. Brilliant really.

I can't go into much more detail, but if this is of interest to you PM me and we can discuss an introduction etc further.

Btw
(Just looking around any major city and notice all the unused city/county owned R/E that could be utilized for these units (not for free of course) even a feel good for city officials......not for free of course) :/

When I was living in Pakistan, they had built the "Guddu Hilton", which was dozens of double stacked shipping containers converted to living space. Each container was 2 dorm rooms with a shared bathroom, and an air conditioner. By the time I arrived, no one was living in them, as I was a resident engineer, not a startup/construction guy. This was 1989.

In 2006-2008, the company in Romania doing some of the packaging work also built portable office/living space for construction projects. They were designed to be moved like shipping containers. I ordered one for our guys, fully setup as an office and lockable storage, for under $10K. It was an 8x20.

Here is Video Part 1 of a container "home" - made of 31 containers!

<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aG13knBVVqY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

They are in high demand (containers that is) here is Tejas. Containers are used all that time down here as workshops. My Grandfather-in-law has tws he uses as a workshop in Iowa.

I think if you used them as a subterrian structure it would be very cool.