Finished Shipping Container House

The use of wood, bricks, and cement as house construction materials is quite expensive these days. Adding to the costs of constructing a home are labor, architectural design, land and building permits. Delays in construction caused by unanticipated factors can add more to the problems of building a home. The application of shipping containers as container houses was discovered as an alternative to the traditional way of building a house. Shipping containers (also called intermodal containers) are strong, 20 to 40 feet long steel boxes used for transporting large cargoes across lands and seas. Size, strength, and durability in withstanding the toughest of transport and weather conditions made housing experts and environmentalists notice the containers’ potential as a substitute to established methods of building homes. Thousands have been left on empty lots as soon as their 10 to 15-year limit of use is up, offering the promise of cheaper homes to a lot of people. Interest is rising on shipping containers’ use as a shelter alternative and several of the reasons why it is given a much more serious attention lately include:
One 40-foot container is made up of 3,500 kilograms of steel, making the container resistant to different conditions of the land and weather. It can withstand floods, fires, and hurricanes if the container home is properly built. Observers believe that the shipping containers are above specifications. Meaning that the steel used is more than enough than what is required for a form of shelter.
Any design the customer wishes can be applied. Building inspection is done on the factory site, making applications for construction permits easier and more convenient. The house is practically finished when it is delivered and installed on its permanent site. This feature is particularly important for people living in remote areas where accessibility to materials and labor is scarce and costly. The container can be modified in urban or industrial areas and delivered to the outskirts of the city and installed with less money, workers, and materials involved.
The containers’ standard size and weight provide convenience in designing and building a home. The containers are built to interlock into place and can be conveniently stacked on top of each other like toy blocks. Time of construction is shorter than the conventional way of building a traditional house due to fewer workers and the number of construction materials used.
Shipping containers as a means of delivery were designed to make its transport on trucks, ships or trains fast and convenient. The size and shape of the containers were meant to fit exactly at the back of trucks, on train cars, and at cargo spaces of ships. Its design to make delivery fast and efficient is built-in. Standard, pre-fabricated or modified, the container homes can be delivered anywhere and within a short time.
The stacking and connecting ability when being used as cargo transport are the same features that offer the potential to expand a container house. From a one floor to a three-floor dwelling or opting to increase floor area, the options are unlimited as long as vertical or horizontal space is available. Multiple stacks of containers can be converted into apartments or townhouses by using special bolts to safely anchor the structure.
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