Shipping container apartment being erected in Washington this week

[Little Star]

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Starting Monday, the first of 18 dented outcasts are set to be stacked in a dug-out District basement, turning a deteriorating student group house into an experiment in creating eye-catching housing fast and on the cheap.

Among the questions raised by the effort: Can hundreds of thousands of discarded sea containers, long talked up by designers, really help create more affordable housing, or is it mostly a gimmick? And just how do you bring humanity to the confines of an 8-by-40-foot box?

If the economics work and people actually enjoy living in lovingly repurposed steel husks, the architects on the project have bigger dreams, including floating hundreds of sea container apartments on a barge in the Potomac and creating a homeless village on the river to serve Georgetown.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trafficandcommuting/shipping-container-apartment-being-erected-in-washington-this-week/2014/07/20/50adbd04-0e01-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html?hpid=z4

It's a good idea! Vancouver is already doing it. I could easily live in a home like this.

http://www.designboom.com/architecture/vancouvers-low-income-housing-made-of-recycled-shipping-containers/

[CBGLuthier]

1. I love and am fascinated by all the alternative housing ideas.

Have watched hours of online videos on everything from tiny homes to cob, to slip straw, to shipping containers. People are creating quality homes for themselves, and others, without making the god damned banks richer.

[hedgehog]

2. I'm not sure why one would build a permanent structure starting with a shipping container,

but I've seen them used as temporary offices on construction sites. As such, I find them much more comfortable and sturdy than the typical construction trailer. Construction trailers always feel flimsy, and the plastic "wood paneling" does nothing to improve that. (Nor does the fact the entire office rocks whenever someone walks in.)

The shipping container was solid. The interior was sparse but clean - better a real painted metal wall than artificial wood paneling. It felt roomier than a trailer even though the widths must be about the same. Several containers were linked seamlessly to make several fair sized rooms.

Caveat: I used this office during mild summer weather. I don't know how warm it would have been in winter.

[Little Star]

5. I would think that people insulate them well.

[jmowreader]

12. Exactly, and there are several ways

The most popular seems to be spray foam.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

15. There are tiny glass bubbles you can add to paint that works.

We have two containers incorporated in our home. One as a retaining wall, and storage area, one on top for bedroom space. The bottom one isn't a problem, but the top one has moisture condense on the roof inside when it's cold out and humid. Someone gave us the glass bubbles, but we haven't mixed it with paint and painted the ceiling.

[jmowreader]

16. They're only a partial solution

If you want serious insulation, you need actual bulk insulation in addition to or instead of the paint additive.

Add some 2x4s as furring strips, spray foam between them (Tiger Foam is a good brand) and cover it with 1/2" drywall screwed to the 2x4s. It will be great.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/benefits-of-insulating-paint/

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

14. I believe that some of them are already extremely well insulated

those that were made to carry perishable items.

[brooklynite]

3. NYC's been developing this concept for emergency housing

[Little Star]

4. Nice! What a good idea for emergency housing.

[TeeYiYi]

6. M.C. Escher is calling...

...He wants his apartment design back.



TYY

[lpbk2713]

7. I'd be willing to live in one.

The only concern I would have is carcinogens or other
biohazards having been shipped or stored in them.

[hedgehog]

8. I'm wondering why the containers are taken out of service -

is there something structurally wrong with them?

[jmowreader]

10. There are just too many

In China, you can have a new container made and delivered for about $2000. It costs $5000 to ship one no matter what's in it. And thanks to our trade imbalances, more containers come into the country than go out of it. Since it's cheaper to buy new containers than to send empties back to China, that's what they do. Hence, you can buy good containers cheap.

If you decide to buy a container, get a "shipping" container rather than a "storage" container. They look the same, but containers have to be certified as watertight to be used in shipping and "storage" containers are ones that were decertified.

There are four common sizes of containers. All are 8 feet wide. All dimensions are external.

20 Standard Cube: 20 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches high
20 High Cube: 20 feet long, 9 feet 6 inches high
40 Standard Cube: 40 feet long, 8 feet 6 inches high
40 High Cube: 40 feet long, 9 feet 6 inches high

I would recommend High Cube containers for housing; Standard Cube will leave you feeling a bit cramped.

[hedgehog]

13. Thank you for that information - I never would have thought of those containers as disposable items.

It's rather ironic in a way - I wonder what an empty container would be worth if shipped to China as scrap iron.

Learn something on DU every day!

[RebelOne]

9. I already live in a mobile home that is 15 feet wide by 40 feet long.

I could live in one of those containers quite easily. My only advantage is that I have a large attached garage that I use for storage.

[jmowreader]

11. Many people put two together