# shipping container construction



## chris klee (Feb 5, 2008)

this would be pretty cool for like a cabin in the woods.

the company i used to work for had a piece of land to keep all their equipment at and they used old shipping containers to store all the small gear and keep all the old files in. the office was all modular trailers. not a single perminate building on the land.


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## Jonno (Jan 2, 2012)

joasis said:


> I have done several field office conversions using containers, and the good ones are way, way better then the cheap boxes. That said, there are limits and expenses that have to be addressed....like insulation...lots of it if they are exposed to sunlight. Like lead paint...which is not illegal in China. Like the chemicals they treat the floors with......no kidding. And when you rip the boxes apart to install a different floor, then you have a shell that doesn't lend itself to many applications. other then what it was designed for.
> 
> Now...that said, I remember seeing a program about a guy in Texas that buried 4 of them underground and then roofed the center with concrete.....and if I had to use one for a home, I would bury it, no doubt. I have one in front of my new house, and it is going to be buried soon, with only the door exposed o the east. I will be dead and buried long before the metal rusts out from soil contact, and the floor is apitong...treated for bugs and wold.....so I bet it would last 40 years underground.


Containers are not designed to withstand lateral pressure, they take all of their weight in the corners hence being able to be stacked many stories high (vertically). The weight of the soil will most definitely destroy the container well, well before 40 years. I have seen containers buried but they were surrounded by blocks filled with concrete to take the weight of the soil.


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