Apr. 29, 2024
Shipping container houses are a tiny home option that has grown in popularity in the last few years. Today, people are looking for unique homes that offer a sense of comfort and convenience, and the shipping container house takes the trophy!
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From the outside, a shipping container home might not have a lot of appeal. Yet, the interior of a well-designed container home is mind-blowing. Shipping container homes have several benefits that you’d enjoy.
If you're planning to move into a one, here are some things you need to consider.
A shipping container home is a dwelling made out of a repurposed shipping container. These homes can be built quickly and cheaply and are often used as emergency or temporary housing. It can also be very eco-friendly since they use recycled materials.
The global compound annual growth rate of shipping containers for homes is projected to be 6.5% by 2025.
View the HousePeak Terrace Shipping Container House
Shipping container homes can be built very quickly. That’s because the containers themselves are already prefabricated, so all that needs to be done is to assemble them. There is no need for traditional construction methods, which can take months or even years.
Shipping container homes are very strong and durable. They are designed to withstand rough conditions at sea, so they are more than capable of standing up to the elements on land. This makes them ideal for use in areas that are prone to hurricanes, earthquakes, or other natural disasters.
Shipping container homes are made out of recycled materials and, as such, have a smaller environmental impact than traditional homes. They can be powered by renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or wind turbines. This means that they can help to reduce your carbon footprint.
Whether you need a permit to build a shipping container house depends on the zoning regulations in your area and the size of your home. In most cases, you will need some type of permit to build a shipping container home.
However, the process for obtaining a permit can vary depending on your location. In some cases, you may be able to apply for a special exception or variance that would allow you to build your home without having to obtain a traditional building permit.
It's important to check with your local zoning authorities to find out what the requirements are for building a home made out of a shipping container in your area. Once you've done that, you can start the process of applying for the necessary permits.
If you're planning on building a small shipping container home, you may get away with not needing a permit. However, if you're planning on building a larger home, you'll likely need one. The process of obtaining a permit varies depending on your location, but it typically involves submitting an application to the local zoning board or planning commission.
Once you've submitted your application, the board or commission will review it and make a decision. If they approve your application, they'll issue you a permit that will allow you to proceed with your project. If they deny your application, you'll have to go through the appeals process in order to try to get the permit approved.
If you can show that your home meets all the zoning regulations and doesn’t pose any type of health or safety hazard, you stand a good chance of getting your permit approved. Building a shipping container as a home can be a great way to save money on your housing costs.
However, you'll need to go through the proper channels in order to get a permit for your project. By doing your research and working with the right people, your dream home will become a reality.
Shipping container homes can be a great option for people who want to downsize, but there are some things you should consider before making the switch.
Shipping container homes cost is incomparable to the expense of building a typical house from scratch. It is somewhat pre-made since you already have the steel shell. You'll only need to cut out the doors and windows sections.
You will also have to think about the flooring, insulation, cabinetry, and other features you want for your tiny home. For the traditional home, you have to get the materials and start by constructing the foundation and then the walls and roof system.
It's a no-brainer that the traditional home will need more resources than a shipping container house. Besides, there are many shipping container homes for sale, and their price is way lower than a traditional house.
In general, small home costs vary greatly depending on your interior design choices, but why pay more when you can have an affordable yet comfortable tiny house?
Shipping containers are made from steel. The material can be recycled, which is a great way to protect the environment. For the modern home, you can’t do away with the house without affecting the environment. And that's not to mention the large amount of natural resources it takes to actually build it.
With a shipping container house, you don't need to cut down trees to create space. You can have your tiny home anywhere. As an environmentally-conscious person, choosing an area where you don't have to infringe on flora and fauna makes all the difference.
Besides, there are other ways to keep your tiny homes eco-friendly such as adding more plants, glass tile, eco-friendly insulation, and solar power. The carbon footprint in your shipping house is relatively small, as the living resources required are minimal.
Ideally, shipping containers are meant to transport valuable freight and shipment. Often, the weather that these shipping containers have to endure is quite perilous. Manufacturers have to make the vessels strong and resistant to all weather conditions.
When used to make homes, the durability of shipping containers is actually an ‘over-spec.’ You don’t have to worry about extreme weather conditions such as strong winds. The container was designed to conquer 100-mile-per-hour winds! Just be mindful of how much you cut into the sides, as that will chip away at its structural integrity.
Within the last year, more than 20 million people have been driven by climate-related disasters. With a shipping container home, you’re safe from tornados, hurricanes, and earthquakes. Your chances of having to vacate your home due to extreme weather conditions are rare.
Can you imagine moving your home near the beach in the summer? Or moving to different regions depending on the seasons? With a shipping container home, you don't have limitations on where you can live.
A shipping container house is a mobile home that will give you endless location capabilities. With a flat-bed truck, you can move your home to where you wish to live. You can even decide to tow your home on a trailer!
If you want a portable container home, it would be best to bolt it, as welding can make it somewhat permanent. Bolting is easier to detach from the foundation or ground and move to your new desired location. You can inquire more from home builders to have the best experience with your new tiny home.
Shipping containers give homeowners the ability to customize designs. You can decide to expand your home or add other extra parts such as bay windows and stairs. It would help to consider factors such as the functionality you want and the weather when designing your home.
You can have a multi-story home, bungalow-style, or a subterranean home, depending on your preferences. The available designs for a shipping container home are inexhaustible. However, consider working with a professional architect to ensure that you settle on the best design.
With the finishing touches, your personality is the main factor to consider. From the flooring to the decorations, you can choose popping features or go minimalism, depending on what you want. You can check out practical tips for decorating your tiny house interior to have an idea of how to work on your shipping container home.
Constructing a traditional home can take 4 to 6 months to complete. The tasks and finances involved can delay completion. On the other hand, container houses take a shorter time to build since they require few resources and are often less complicated.
If you want to move as soon as possible, a container home won’t disappoint. Within 4 to 10 weeks, your container house will be ready. You can’t trust such construction speed with traditional homes!
You can have a larger home by combining several containers. Removing the interior walls will increase the interior space without making you spend more time building the house. For traditional construction, more space will require additional building, which will mean more time and resources.
Some locations don't allow the erection of permanent structures. The beauty of shipping container homes is that you can construct them off-site and then move them to your plot of land. You're not limited to where the construction takes place since you can move the already finished house to your ideal location.
In case you're in an area where the workforce is unavailable, the off-site construction will be essential. Workers can construct and transport the finished home to your location. If you already have the container house plans, the construction process shouldn't stress you.
Off-site construction will help you save on resources. Ideally, you would have to incur transportation expenses for the materials and laborers. For a shipping container home, construction can take place closer to the materials needed and the workforce.
Most container homes are in remote settings. It is normal to have concerns about your safety. Often, rural and remote infrastructures are at a higher risk of break-ins.
Steel containers make the job of breaking in much harder for intruders. The material used is pretty durable, which deters a quick break-in. You can't compare the frequency of burglaries in a modern home to that of a container home as the latter is less attractive to intruders.
Shipping container homes are heavy. It would be quite absurd for someone to think they can steal the entire container without attracting a lot of noise and commotion. As such, a container house is a relatively safe structure regardless of your location.
When you look at shipping containers, they all look alike. They have nothing that seems attractive from the onset. What you do with your home is what makes it unique.
You can design your tiny house exterior as you move to the tiny home interior design. The basic-looking container will have an irresistible curb appeal in no time. The exterior and interior design should reflect your personal taste.
You can start with being creative with the window design. Choosing to go the container house way is already a bold move, so don't settle for boring windows! You can have arch windows, triangle windows, or clean, modern black-painted windows!
The front door shouldn't be an afterthought. It should have a level of sophistication while still maintaining a welcoming ambiance. The choice of light fixtures inside and outside your shipping container home will make a big difference.
Countries such as the U.S. have thousands of abandoned freight containers in ports and yards. Most of these containers remain unused for years. Sending these shipping containers to other regions for cargo-loading is uneconomical.
As a good citizen, you can be part of the solution by buying the containers. You’ll help in preserving the environment in the process. While at it, consider checking the containers thoroughly as some of them have been abandoned for years.
Are you interested in learning more about customized expandable container house? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!
The process of buying should be consistent with the rules and regulations in your state. Be vigilant not to end up falling for fake deals.
Shipping container homes can be a great option for individuals who want to build a quick and easy dwelling. However, it is essential to keep in mind that they do have some disadvantages. For one thing, they are not particularly large, so you may need to sacrifice some space in order to have one.
In addition, they can be difficult to insulate and ventilate properly, so you may want to consider other options if you live in an area with extreme weather conditions. Finally, shipping containers are not always the most eco-friendly option, so you may want to consider other sustainable building materials if you are interested in reducing your carbon footprint.
If you’re thinking of having a personalized and unique home, a shipping container home is your best bet. A container house is easy to construct and affordable. It should take you less than six weeks to move into your new home.
Living in a shipping container is thrilling. The ambiance is unique, and you'll love it. Once you're sure you want to live in a container home, start by working with the right professionals to get it right from the start.
Are you interested in a shipping container home? Tinyhouse.com deals with a range of tiny houses that might interest you. Contact us today and be part of the awesome tiny house community.
By Luke Hunter
Rise Writer
Jul 16, 2017
Container homes are exactly what they sound like; homes made from the steel shipping containers that you see carrying goods everywhere on trains, trucks, and ships. From these giant Lego blocks, people are building homes of all shapes and sizes.
Shipping containers are generally available in 10ft, 20ft, and 40ft. The smallest shipping container can provide about 100 square feet of floor space for a shipping container home. Eight larger containers together can make a two-story house at about 1400 square feet. Hundreds of container micro-apartments together can make a huge apartment building.
Shipping Container Home, Costa Rica. Photo Credit: Benjamin Garcia Saxe
Why are shipping containers being used to make homes, studios, cabins, and offices? Well, with about 14 million ‘out-of-service’ containers in the world, there are lots of them available. And playing with giant blocks has a definite appeal!
Besides trendiness, interest in container homes is also part of a wider interest in saving money with prefabricated and modular homes. Many potential homeowners are looking for lower construction and maintenance costs. There is also a perception that container homes are contributing to recycling.
Container Home. Photo Credit: Patrick Bradley Architects
Could a container home be a good choice for you? Here are some pros and cons to consider.
Many shipping container homes are available as prefabricated modular homes, making construction time shorter. Some companies advertise delivery within 10 weeks! Most of the building code inspections are done at the factory, which makes things simpler and quicker. Or if you are designing a custom home or building a do-it-yourself project, the container gives you a fun prebuilt structure to work with.
A worldwide system exists for moving containers around. Once they reach your site, they are relatively simple to set in place on a prepared foundation.
Most of the work is completed on a factory floor for a fixed price. Delivery to the site, site preparation, foundation, assembly and utility connections are the only variable costs. That said, container homes are not always less expensive. Estimates vary, and some put the savings at 5-10%, depending on what you’re comparing against.
The environmental appeal of a container home is the idea that you are re-using a leftover product of the shipping industry to make a home. This can be a good thing, but as we will see, it’s not always true or the best thing.
Some of the advantages, like short construction time and predictable pricing, are the same for all prefabricated and modular homes, not just those made with shipping containers. But container homes benefit uniquely from the worldwide infrastructure built to move shipping containers. Even container home skeptics admit they can be useful where local building expertise is lacking or for emergency shelters that can be moved easily. In these scenarios, the versatility of container transport is a huge advantage.
Catskills Container Home. Photo Credit: Porter Fox
Container homes are often marketed as being environmentally friendly because they are said to be made from used containers, thus conserving metal resources. There are lots of old shipping containers out there, no longer in circulation, and repurposing them into homes has a strong appeal. But is a container home really the best use of a container, from a sustainability perspective? Many would disagree.
Most factory-built container homes are built from ‘one-use’ containers that have only had a single trip. These containers tend to be in good shape, without dents or rust, so they are nice for building with, instead of containers that have gone ‘out-of-service’ and may be damaged from years of use. Taking a box with lots of shipping life out of service after a single use isn’t effective recycling. And there is way more steel in a container than you need to build a house - if recycled as steel, it could make enough steel studs for 14 framed houses the same size.
A shipping container is very strong at the corners, but the roof is not that strong, so typically you need to build another roof over it, especially where there will be snow. Also, the corrugated steel walls are essential to the strength of the structure. This means anywhere you cut out a large window, or door opening requires new reinforcement. And when they are stacked together to make larger homes, welded (expensive) reinforcement is needed wherever two containers join at a spot that is not a corner. Any later renovations require significant engineering and welding.
It’s often not possible to know what has been shipped in a used container – anything from harmless consumer goods to hazardous industrial materials – or what the container has been through. The paints and finishes used on containers are industrial and intended for shipping across the ocean, not residential homes, so that they could contain lead and toxic pesticides.
The size of shipping containers is quite limiting and can quickly be consumed by plumbing, HVAC, insulation, and other systems. A container was designed to fit on a train, which means it’s narrow, and ordinary furniture doesn’t fit right. A standard container is also only 8ft wide and 8 ft 6 in high, which doesn’t leave much headroom after insulation and wiring are installed.
The narrow shape of a shipping container doesn’t lend itself to insulating the exterior very well. To avoid using up interior space, a relatively thin layer of insulation with a high R-value per inch, such as polyurethane spray foam, is often used. Although spray foam is an effective and airtight insulator, the blowing agents used in many brands of spray foam are powerful greenhouse gases.
While shipping containers are reinforced at the corners, the existing roof may lack structural integrity. Those looking for container homes capable of support weight, such as weather, should consider if building a roof is right for them. A roof can also provide aesthetic and architectural flair that is common amongst homes in North America. While there are multiple styles of roofs that can be used for a shipping container home, flat roofs, pitched roofs, roof terraces, and living roofs are the most common.
Making a poor insulation decision can have a negative impact on climate change than other kinds of insulation. To construct a well-insulated wall, it would be better to build outward for more wall thickness and use a more environmentally sustainable type of insulation. But then what use is a heavy, corrugated steel exterior if it’s buried in insulation?
Buddina Beach Box. Photo Credit: OGE architects
As container homes continue to rise in popularity, so do requests for homeowners to build homes with them. Repurposed shipping containers are even popping up as markets, hotels, fairs, and mobile shops at local events. Even with the increasing popularity, your ability to build a home with shipping containers relies heavily on zoning regulations and building codes set forth by the local government. It's essential to do your research, understand zoning and building codes, and speak with the proper housing authorities if anything is unclear.
Suburban and rural areas tend to be more open to shipping container homes; however, some states are visibly more open to alternative living. Texas, California, Tennessee, Louisiana, Missouri, Oregon, and Alaska are among the more progressive states that have, to some level, opened their doors to shipping container homes. Texas already plays host to many container homes. Even though California is known for its red tape, it has been open to container homes and hybrid container homes. Louisana and Tennessee experience some of the most lenient and forward-thinking zoning regulations in the United States. As alternative living options continue to grow, it's only a matter of time before more states in the country begin to allow shipping container homes in designated areas.
So what will a shipping container home cost? Smaller, more basic container homes can range between $10,000 to $35,000. Large homes built with multiple shipping containers and amenities can range in price from $100,000 to $175,000. Shipping container homes, in some cases, can cost half as much per square foot than traditional stick building. However, it isn't easy to compare apples to apples, and there are many factors to consider.
So what can increase the cost? While land costs and climate requirements are significant considerations, it can also depend on many factors, including:
There is a report of a simple shipping container home self-built by an engineer in Canada for only $20,000. But a pre-manufactured container home has a price tag that looks more like a regular home.
Shipping container homes should last at least 25 years but will last much longer if they are well maintained or if you use siding to protect the exterior. Rust is the single most common issue that can reduce the lifespan of a shipping container home. It's important to inspect your shipping container home and look for rust spots. Any problematic areas should be treated and repaired to reduce the chance of rust spreading.
Since shipping container homes are made out of metal, there is the possibility that they may rust. Some shipping containers are initially manufactured with alloys, a process commonly referred to as weathering steel or corten steel, which helps to form a surface level of rust that mitigates further corrosion. The climate where the container is located factors into whether a shipping container home will rust as wet and dry climates affect shipping containers differently.
A well-maintained shipping container home can retain its resale value much like a traditional home. They're relatively easy to resell since they can be loaded onto a truck and shipped almost anywhere. Before purchasing, you may want to inquire as to whether the shipping container home was manufactured for your climate and, if not, inquire as to the modifications you may need to make so that it's appropriate for its intended location.
Image courtesy of Honomobo
Here is one example. Honomobo is a builder of pre-designed, factory-built container homes based in Edmonton, Canada. They create homes using one to eight containers with high-quality finishes. Their largest model, HO8, is a two-story home with just over 1400 square feet of floor area.
NOTES: All prices are approximate, based on available data. The land is not included in this comparison and is assumed to be the same for both. *Posted price from Honomobo. **Estimated $220 per square foot construction cost in Canada, not including land or foundation. ***Estimated $1.30 per km per container for shipping, considering Edmonton (Canada) to Winnipeg (Canada) (1300 km).
Image courtesy of Honomobo.
You might love to have a container home because you like the idea, the look, the chance to play with blocks in a DIY design, or the quick delivery time for a manufactured model. But don’t assume it will cost less or that it’s necessarily more environmentally sustainable.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute a product endorsement however Rise does reserve the right to recommend relevant products based on the articles content to provide a more comprehensive experience for the reader.
Last Modified: 2023-08-23T12:45:59+0000
Article by:
Luke Hunter
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