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Shipping container sheds. Anyone done this?


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Joanna and I are about to buy a block of land. Two boundaries have easements. The land has been leveled so that now it is nearly 1.8 higher than the easement. The edges have a one metre retaining wall and roughly 45 degree slope to the level. We are going thinking of making a shipping container shed that cuts into that slope to make a fairly inconspicuous but large shed/workshop.

 

Has anyone here played around with containers to make offices or sheds etc?

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I get mail from these guys every month after nearly buying a shipping container off them. Turned out I got a better deal elsewhere but I didn't buy off them but I keep there posts coming because they have some excellent ideas for shipping containers....

 

https://portshippingcontainers.com.au/modified-containers-modified-shipping-containers.html

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They are fantastic , BUT, make sure there is plenty of ventilation and have a roof or secondary skin on it to help suppress condensation.

buy minimum of two and build a gable roof over and between them, this would be AWESOME!

I had one as my workshop in East Africa and I swear I could have lived in it.

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Containers are pretty versatile, I have a mate who used 2, 40 foot containers on his sloping block about 8 mtrs apart, he then had a wall built behind, a slab poured over the top and the end enclosed with a 5 mtr roller door.

His house is higher and now has a huge entertaining deck with a decent Garage workshop underneath, he said if was to do it all over again, he would use 4 containers and double the height with the 2 upper containers as spare rooms for guests.

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I just read today There are so many shipping container Sheds and Shipping container home offices in our area, and so the council just Put a new law in our area which comes into effect this 1st of October here on the sunshine coast they require a paid permit if sited for more than 30 days, and they are discussing closing some loopholes in regards to building permits if being used for houses and permanent structures and so on, Apparently other councils are considering it in QLD also.

Bastards.

 

But on the topic, they make good sheds with plenty of ventilation as others have said,

As for looks They need tobe done right, Ive been to streets where almost the entire street has one just dropped out the front or down the side of each house and it makes the entire street look like a shipping yard.

They suit rural more than urban But saying that Some people do a really good job with making them blend in, sadly most people dont do a good job and just have one plonked out the front, so makes the street ugly.

 

I helped a Hippie out a few months ago build a granny flat out of one, I was in the Wrong place at the wrong time and stupidly said I would help him out, with some welding and steel work modifications, Like adding a Side door, a window and a regular sized door for the front after the main container doors were welded shut.

He put allot of work into it and allot of thought, and it was rather good. He had Insulation and plenty of Ventilation, with solar and all that. It Was comfortable and modern, and suited his Rural hippie farm he had going on,

 

Ventilation is Key, as I will say it was shit to work in, they are hot as buggery before the insulation and ventilation goes in, I did not enjoy helping him do it. made worse when I started welding, but even with out the welder it was horrible, the extra door on the side at rear made the biggest difference allowing wind to go through.

Because even insulated lack of airflow makes them stuffy even if cool inside.

 

Edit, I would suggest if your using it for office or anything with electricity even as a shed, have rear door access, You wouldnt want tobe in one if there was a fire at one end.

Edited by jason1
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Thanks for the thoughts guys! Makes me worried to hear about closing loopholes. The general plan is that the container will be about 1.8 metres below ground level in the back yard. There will a glass sliding door on the side.There will be a deck on top and steps so it certainly won’t present as a huge looming bogan shed in the front yard!
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Thanks for the thoughts guys! Makes me worried to hear about closing loopholes. The general plan is that the container will be about 1.8 metres below ground level in the back yard. There will a glass sliding door on the side.There will be a deck on top and steps so it certainly won’t present as a huge looming bogan shed in the front yard!

 

sounds like a plan, good idea having the Sliding doors on the side. I would however seek professional advice if you are putting underground, it would be worth you getting an engineer to oversee the proposed changes to Make sure its structure isnt changed to the point it isnt capable of withstanding dirt and so on. So cutting holes I would Imagine while sensible could alter the integrity of the structure of a container

with what your considering under taking It would be wise to have some engineer look at it I would think.

and if there are changes in the future to regulations at least you can show its capable of doing what its doing.

 

Its a pretty cool idea you have

 

Edit, One thing many people arent aware of, they are often painted with a lead base paint, they can be very toxic, So wear masks when sanding or cutting into the metal of one.

the paint on them can be very bad as its designed to withstand ocean conditions so they have to use certain paints to cope with that.

and its also worth washing the insides extremely well, as Who knows what material has been carted in one.

So just make sure you use masks and i dont mean dust mask either, use a painters mask at least, and dont breath that shit in, It does smell very bad when welding these things so wear a respirator when welding.

Also best not to let kids lick the walls lol

Edited by jason1
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Thanks for the thoughts guys! Makes me worried to hear about closing loopholes. The general plan is that the container will be about 1.8 metres below ground level in the back yard. There will a glass sliding door on the side.There will be a deck on top and steps so it certainly won’t present as a huge looming bogan shed in the front yard!
I use them as workshops and storage on building sites.

 

If you are getting one to work in, I would recommend getting a refrigerated container. (Without the condensor).

 

They are insulated and stainless steel lined. So much more comfortable to work in. I think last time I looked a 20ft fridgie was 4k compared to 1.2k for a standard. Definately worth the extra coin for the comfort, and a nice clean finish inside.

 

 

 

Sent from my SM-G950F using Aussie Arcade mobile app

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To provide ventilation put a woodfire flue kit in the roof or any metal tube for that mater best fitted in a corner most away from the opening you have so you create a draw of air through the container.

 

Mount a 6-8" PC fan to the roof under the flue and hook a small solar panel up to the fan. Now when the sun is out the fan will spin and extracting the air up the flue.

 

I saw this done by a guy that cuts his own lumber and has turned a shipping container into his wood dryer.

 

Seeing as you want to put dirt on top of the container you could have the flue sticking out of the dirt and just put a "chinamans hat" on the flue to keep the water out..

 

Chinaman's hat.....

 

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A non powered alternative would be one of these.....

 

0031347_700.jpg

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Jason1 we had initially thought to use the container as part of the retaining wall but there were concerns about rusting. But a big her concern to me is the constant pressure on the side would push it out of square and jam the end doors closed. So now there will be a traditional retaining wall at about 1.8 metres high. The container will sit next to that. From the garden side it will appear about 1.2 metres high and will have a deck on the roof and a long row of steps. From that side it will look like landscaping rather than a shed. There will be a ramp down to the containers level. The side of the container, with its sliding door will be about 1.5- 2 metres from the fence. When I get home I’ll draw some kinda diagram. A pictures worth a thousand words!
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  • 1 month later...
Autosteve was reading your post again and o think I will do the pc fan idea :-) it can vent underneath the deck so won’t even be seen. I’ll mount it to a small pipe a couple of inches tall and slather the joints with sikaflex

 

Nothing wrong with PC fans. I use the 8" type as a fan forced system on the woodfire heaters. Much less power than the 240volt fan forced they came with and can run when only on batteries.

 

No fan is good but fan forced anything is better I think and you really want to stop the heat building up in your shipping container.

 

You may need more than airflow to keep it cool in summer though. Maybe a soaker hose on the roof to help take the heat out of the steel?.

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Paint it white. I have just turned one into a games room and I painted a little bit of the roof to do a comparison. I measured on the inside with an infrared thermometer on a sunny day and it went from 33 degrees on the white painted part to 51 degrees on the unpainted part.
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There will be a deck on the roof when it’s in position so that will

Keep the roof quite cool. That could be a few months away though and we’ve stored a whole bunch o shit in there so maybe I will paint the roof white :-)

 

Just shade cloth does wonders if that is more convenient. 50% or 75% shadecloth is 50% or 75% less sun actually hitting the steel.

 

I use the shadecloth idea on the mancave roof here and it works well but on real hot days, a splash of water on the steel is hard to beat.

 

Good your talking about your project before you start. That way you can design in what suits your application best.

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We actually have this pretty much nutted out. Unlike the house :D

 

Also, because I remember what I was like as a kid, for now I wanted the glass doors to not look so deliciously smashable :D So I siliconed some black core flute to the frames and painted it something like the colour of the container. And then I got all Rolf Harris (not in the touchy feely way mind) and added some stripes. Even if it now doesn't REALLY look the side of an unmodified container, nor does it look like a glass door :lol

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow, some knob jockey reported the container to the council!

 

We found out who and the ridiculous thing is our block is at the end of a cul de sac and they aren’t. So they don’t even pass it! As well the container is fully on the block and sitting roughly where a house would be. No matter, the letter from

The council was informal and they take ages to do anything. All it means is we stop ummimg and ahhing about the landscaping and get cracking. We are getting Cropper Bros to do the retaining wall.

 

When that’s done I might send them s letter thanking them for their interest and that they have helped us decide to build a theee story house. Out of shipping containers:D

Edited by danny_galaga
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The complaint was that there was no planning approval for the container. We were incorrectly told we didn’t need it but in any case if we had it, it would look exactly the same so what business is it of the

Complainant? Anyway when we get the landscaper in to do the retaining wall, we’ll ask them to start work as soon as legal and make lots of noise doing it :D

 

At least they are not our immediate neighbours so we can

Just pretend they don’t exist if they are that nosey...

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  • 2 weeks later...

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