Shipping container home benefits

Shipping container benefits

the previous article discussed the disadvantages largely shipping containers and any potential risks they may involve in construction.  The specially highlighted that of previous use and investigation that use to eliminate the possibility of toxic chemicals.

There is a great site called shipping container housing guide which has a lot of information on container living.  This is an extremely good resource website on shipping container housing and guide to instructing developing such homes.

It was suggested on the site that there may be 17 to 20 million ISO containers around the world at any given time.  Of this 1 million containers may be sitting consuming space within an industrial area.

Shipping containers can be referred to different names names I have seen include can generally as:

ISO container:  the ISO component of the name refers to international standards organisation.  There are other terms including cargo container, ship container, sea container, shipping crate, steel container, storage container, Conex box.

Building terms they use include ISBU (Intermodal Steel Building Unit), ISBU module and Greencube.  I will update more on these terms in another article.

In the past decade shipping container construction and development has taken huge moves forward in their design and development processes.  Sprung up from the industry have been a lot of creative development companies and individual architects who have seen a niche carve out with purpose what was once a container laying around industrial yard. There has been also a motivation to free up space and reduce the impact on the environment and turn what was an unsightly pile of shipping containers into aesthetically pleasing accommodation buildings.

The concept of living in shipping containers and developing properties shipping containers as global learning UK, Australia, South America, Canada, Poland, New Zealand et cetera.

This type of product has widespread appeal including the environmentally conscious but also those that want to clean up any unused containers cluttering the world.

The cost of investment is quite economical at between $1000 and $3000.

This friend of containers are such being made of steel they are more durable than typical construction of wood frame.

Time to completion is drastically reduced because the main structure is already close some projects that have been completed as little as three days.

Because of the rectangular shape of the container, it allows for easy design plans.

Construction is straightforward and containers can be laid side-by-side or stacked on top of each other.

Internal finish can be done anywhere, it container can then be trucked to any location or final set up.

There was much lower maintenance when the ship container.

Shipping containers are resistant to this such as termites, and a better fire rating them traditional wood homes and less susceptible to mold.

The last and final benefit of building a home with a shipping container is that it’s modular and that it is possible to add new containers as sections of the home at a later stage.

In terms of cost benefits from building with shipping containers these can vary depending on your fittings and fit outs that you require inside the shipping container.  For the most part though building with a shipping container can be significantly cheaper than building a traditional style timber all brick and tile home.  You have to remember also the cost of installing the utilities such as water reticulation and electricity to the home, as well as council permits and planning consents and requirements as well as consultants required to keep within council regulations and guidelines for building.  All of these factors which all adds up to the end cost.

There are many other benefits for using shipping containers as people can use them for creating barn houses.  The containers themselves are capable of withstanding a lot of different weather conditions.  The solid structure can be maintained because of its steel frame and protect the contents inside.  You can store anything in these containers from animals, tools and equipment and more.

Other uses for shipping containers include beach houses.  These can be used for part-time accommodation rather than someone looking to live permanently and 365 days a year.  An option might be to rent a block of land near a beach and put a shipping container on it that can be converted into an affordable beach home given that a lot of homes situated on or within Stone throw of a beach in Australia can be very expensive and unaffordable for most people.  The other factor of having a shipping container home located as a beach house will be that it can withstand the elements of cyclones.  Shipping containers can be altered to include large windows and sliding doors and have an open plan feel.

Some businesses have taken to using shipping containers like pop-up container shops.  There is one business in Footscray in Melbourne that is constructed out of shipping containers.  It is possible to design a great little business with a shipping container that can be servicing food or retail or service related business.  There have been other designs overseas where shipping containers have been built as cafes such as Italy.  In some countries shipping containers have been used for the purposes of school rooms.  Shipping containers of also being used for emergency shelters after disasters and in disaster relief as temporary buildings.

As mentioned in our previous article shipping containers have even been used to make swimming pools and there are companies that are in Queensland for example designing swimming pools from shipping containers.  These containers can be aboveground and transported quickly and easily to another property and/or joined together to create a long swimming pool design.

Some people have even customised a shipping container as a playroom for their children.  The container can be customised into an entertaining area for children to play or as a area for home theatre, crafts and other hobbies.

In Israel there is a bridge that connects with a park that is made of shipping containers.  In countries like the UK in London itself there is a development that is made of used containers.  This development features by stacked high containers and include studio units, loft style accommodation and traditional apartments.  The units themselves have been architecturally designed and reflect the local area accommodation needs.  The development is called container city and there are other projects in London city made completely of shipping containers such as necropolis Waterloo, Portishead Quays, Islington boxing club etc.

shipping is also a usable using as Studios artists, audible spaces where exhibitions can be held, car storage unit such as long-term car storage solutions being offered in Brisbane by people.  The containers have also been used for recording studios, laboratories, bathroom and shower facilities for outdoor events, building of hotel accommodation, workshops, temporary accommodation at mining sites and construction facilities, military usage for housing people, makeshift shelters during disasters, low cost accommodation in some housing projects in areas that a susceptible to calamities,  sticking on the back of the truck And Using As a Food Truck for Example or camper van accommodation.  Some people have even used the containers for growing plants hydroponically.

This is an example of the military using shipping containers.  The photographs below were found in my research for this article on armymomstrong.com