Comments on: Are Shipping Container Homes & Offices hitting the big time?

By: George Runkle

George Runkle — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:58:53 +0000

I’d like to see a picture of it – I don’t think I’d be comfortable swimming in an 8′ wide x 40′ long lap pool that is 8′ deep. I’d find the depth a bit disconcerting. What I’d like to know is:
- Did they take into account the loads on the sides? A pool full of water will counterbalance the soil, but I don’t that’s quite kosher with Code, since the pool could go empty for a long period of time.
- What about corrosion? Chlorinated water is horribly corrosive, and so is soil. I wonder how long this would last before rusting away, even with a good coating.

None the less, I’d like to see it. Personally, I will probably continue to refuse to design buried containers, but still I’m curious.

George

By: SHS

SHS — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:55:09 +0000

Wow. Would love to see it. Did you find it on the internet?

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:58:11 +0000

I have seen one shipping container application where the container was buried. It was a… wait for it… lap pool. You know, for swimming. I have no details on how they treated the sides that are exposed to soil, but I thought that was a pretty ingenious idea. I’m actually wondering if they didn’t cut it down a bit. Who needs an 8′ deep lap pool?

Cheers!

By: SHS

SHS — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:12:59 +0000

Sounds great Tom! We are not experts but you’ll find them via the links in the post. We’d love to see your sketch! Send it to editor (at) smallhousestyle.com and we’ll update the post!

By: tom gordon

tom gordon — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 07:36:29 +0000

Hi my back of an envelope plan for a container home requires 2x 40ft containers parallell with each other and 5 x 40ft containers on top of them bridging the gap between the lower 2 containers so that the total footprint would be 40×40 ft do you think the 2 ground containers with no cutouts could comfortably support the upper 5,cheers

By: George Runkle

George Runkle — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 05:45:17 +0000

In burying a container, it will not take the soil pressures at the sides – the pressure is too great. You will have pressures on the order of 320 LBS/SF on the walls at the base of the container, which it is not designed to handle. Concrete is better for such a use.

I suspected it wouldn’t work, but I actually did an analysis, and it’s on my website : http://www.runkleconsulting.com/Shipping%20Container%20Houses/ShippingContainerHouseEngineering.htm

Scroll to the bottom of the page.

By: SHS

SHS — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 04:10:02 +0000

I’m imagining they are structural issues. Anyone care to chime in?

By: Rikki A

Rikki A — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 01:41:18 +0000

What are the reasons for not being able bury a shipping container other than rust?

By: George Runkle

George Runkle — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:54:35 +0000

My company does structural engineering with shipping containers, and I believe they can give a substantial cost savings for housing and buildings under proper circumstances:
- Respect the structure of the container, don’t cut side rails, top rails, or corner posts.
- Keep all the loads going down the corners.
- Keep the design simple, adventurous designs will look good but ruin the structural efficiency of the containers and raise the costs unbelievably.
- Repetitive is good, try build larger buildings in modules of the same type.

Finally, in an answer to the question I keep getting by e-mail – you can not bury shipping containers for underground structures.