How to Use Shipping Containers As Homes

Shipping containers are a green and inexpensive way to make a new home.

Shipping containers are an increasingly popular resource for individuals who want to build inexpensive housing. As most containers have a useful shipping life of only 2 to 3 years, millions of castoff containers are readily available for an average purchase price of $1,500 to $2,000. These perfectly functional 8-by-40 foot steel building blocks are fabricated to withstand weather and decay well beyond their shelf life in the shipping industry. For the cost of a high-end kitchen remodel, you can transform a shipping container into an entire home.

Things You'll Need

• Building site
• Building plans
• Shipping container
• Building materials
• Interior & exterior finishes

Instructions

1. Plan your home. Decide how large you want your home and how many containers are necessary to build it. There are many ways to stack and orient various containers, so chose the quantity and layout that works best for your needs and budget.

2. Get your site ready. Select the site on which you would like to build your shipping container home and obtain needed permits. Prepare the area for construction with appropriate grading and connection to utilities. Build a foundation that will accommodate the style of container living that you plan to construct. Container homes must have a foundation to prevent uneven settling as well as corrosion of the container from contact with the ground.

3. 

   There are a variety of different types of shipping container.

   Find your container. Both the Internet and local classifieds are a resource for the purchase of shipping containers. Make sure to purchase the correct container for your project, because the dimensions can vary. Specify that the container be free of any damage or significant wear. Have the container shipped to your site.

4. Prepare your container. Have the container installed onto the foundation. Sand the container, prime any rusted spots, and apply exterior paint. Cut into the sides of the container and install your windows and doors. You can reuse the cutout from a doorway to create a new door. You may want to add on a sloped, stick-built roof.

5. Make your container a home. Frame in any room partitions you desire and then run in all of your utilities. The steel walls of container homes are very thermally conductive, so make sure to install adequate insulation. Build your floors, walls and ceiling and then complete all of the interior finishes. Have your home inspected and move in.

References

• Fab Prefab: Modernist Dwellings
• Green Home Building: Building with Shipping Containers