Threw together a little somthing this evening...

[ubercrap]

I'm a huge modern architecture fan as well as a fan of many aspects of industrial buildings and equipment, so I suppose its natural for me to have been kicking around the idea of a container-based house for awhile now. When I found fabprefab.com, I was reassured that I wasn't the only one with crazy ideas. Needless to say, my ideas have been met sometimes with outright ridicule, just because of the familiar semantics argument- "but it's a shipping container." I've been checking in from time to time on this forum here. I got bored and wanted to get out of the house, so I walked back to work and threw this crappy little rendering together. If I can get off of my ass a few other evenings, I'll be updating it to a more flashy, professional level, and maybe build the guts too. I know it isn't very impressive, but I am giving this serious thought, and this is about the scale and complexity I could manage in the next year of two if I decided to sell my present house and most of my possesions (largely for other reasons- of which there are several, possibly urgent) and dedicate my life and out-of-pocket cash to build something like this myself. First, I am going to find out what the zoning laws are here. They are pretty lax, I'm thinking, judging by what is around (general crapulence). I recall when I bought all this property, the realtor told me that if I wanted to build something on my empty lots, it just had to be on a permanent foundation, no trailer just parked there with skirting.

[fabadmin]

[lavardera]

What you have sketched is very doable, and I think very economical. You have 6 pier foundations - this is less than most backyard decks. If you have the land already, and can subdivide in the future then I can't see any reason why you can't start working on this while you live in your current house. When its in move in shape you can subdivide the lots if they are not already and sell of the small piece with the existing house.

There are some details to work out - your detail to anchor the container to the piers, your new openings, and the closure of your meeting joint at roof and walls.
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[dcross]

Couple of thoughts: We have found that 12' is about the max you can go without having a "bounce effect" when the unit has a full sidewall or significant portion removed. This is illustrated here http://fabprefab.com/ipw-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=176 So a few more piers, no big deal. Greg Lavardera wrote a nice article at "Livemodern" called "so called container houses" that helps highlight how you can discuss what it really is which is a steel building system. The minute you cut your apertures it is no longer a cargo container. A bit of semantics but I am pushing that difference daily.

I like how you Faced or trimmed the starboard side, simply clever.

David
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David

[modernlover]

I like it! More, please...
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Justin

[ubercrap]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice. I wasn't sure how much the 40' building units would flex just supported at the corners, looks like they'll need a couple of supports in the middle! As for the connection, it does seem like welding is the best idea if you never want to move it. I've found welding relatively thick steel is surprisingly easy if you have the right equipment. As for anchoring the the building units down, that is part of a whole other group of questions. If one was to undertake building such a structure oneself, it seems there are several issues. Obviously, if you just get the containers delivered by rollback, once you have them sitting there on the ground, then what? Dragging them around with a tractor or something might be feasible I suppose, but what about lifting them onto a foundation or piers? The problematic part about a crane is that there might be trees in the way. Plus, how much does it cost to have a crew w/truck come out for a day and move some of these things around? The other idea would be to position the containers, then jack them up somehow, support them, and build the piers under them. I'm not sure of the equipment necessary and the safety of this method. The holes for the piers would need be pre-excavated, of course. Of course, positioning them with a crane is probably the best method, but does anyone have any thoughts on the alternatives? Once in place anchoring the containers wouldn't be too difficult I wouldn't think. Welding the units to plates set in the foundation/pier concrete as suggested sounds quite good. Giant bolts into the corners might work too, and look very cool at the same time.

I'll try to get to work refining the rendering and design, and now that I have the basic unit built, I'll maybe do up some other of the more wacky ideas I've had.

P.S. I am trying to work on a plan to break up the lots somehow. The area is not a hot place to live, and two of the lots in the back are "locked" by other property without street access, as well as one partially lying within a flood plane. Practically, splitting the 4 lots into two seperate chunks is about the only way it could work. Whether that is a 2/2 or a 1/3 split, I don't know. Since it is all financed, that is another issue. It will be tricky if possible...

[lavardera]

I have thoughts about all the questions you raise, but it reaches the point of what I don't want to share in an open forum. I want to develop products based on answers to these questions and it does not make sense to pitch the specifics.

But general questions - I'd say the openings you show on the facade don't look that big and I'd bet it could be reinforced sufficiently, but one midspan pier may make take the flex out. More of a question though is how the interior is treated - if you are proposing to remove the common wall along the 40ft length then all the strength and ability to span from the corners is gone.
_________________
Gregory La Vardera
architect www.lamidesign.com
modern stock plans www.lamidesign.com/plans
modern workplace www.workalicious.org

[ubercrap]

Ah, I understand, definitely protect your intellectual property!

Anyway, what I was thinking of is leaving the container walls mostly intact on the part where the containers are butted against each other about halfway- so basically two 20ft. wide holes facing each other. I don't know if the remaining span would need a column of some sort. The still-divided half would basically be quarters, with one of them open to the large room serving as kind of a hallway to access the other three rooms with kind of a revolving cylinder door setup- w/ a laundry/utility/storage area in the space remaining in the "hallway". Diagram coming soon...

[ubercrap]

preliminary ideas for layout:

Whoops, coming soon...

[dcross]

Ub,
interested in your progress.
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David