SHIPPING CONTAINER HOUSES

Shipping Container Building Design

Our first experience with shipping container buildings was in Karshi-Khanabad Air Base in Uzbekistan, where Mr. Runkle designed these structures for military use. The shipping containers were easy to obtain, and the structures could be built quickly. The US Military uses them extensively throughout Central Asia.

We can provide the complete design services (Architectural, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) necessary for your project in most states either by ourselves or in conjunction with partner firms that we work with. Our primary market is Georgia, Alabama, and California at this time, but depending on your project and location we can provide design services in other states.

In the Atlanta area we can assist you in finding a qualified builder to construct the project, and we can effectively guide the project through the permit process. We have good relations with the local building officials which helps us in getting the building permits correct the first time.

There have been a lot of questions about the cost of a container house. The budget cost here in Atlanta is about $85/SF, which is at the low end of costs for residential construction (very low end). However, the design fees are higher, and the permitting process has to be rigorous. For example, in home design, the International Residential Code allows Prescriptive Design, which is the use of standard practices rather than doing complete analysis of the structure. With a steel container house, the structure must be analyzed structurally to comply with requirements of the Code, which requires more time.

Our belief is that shipping containers represent a very green building material, since we are recycling. Also, using these containers it is possible to build very inexpensive housing, especially on larger scale projects.

Structurally, shipping containers are an unbelievably strong building material. They are very suitable for housing along the coast where high winds and flying debris can be expected during tropical storms and hurricanes. They also are very good for long and narrow lots because it is easy to build in the cross bracing needed for the wind and seismic loads.

For photos on a shipping container house we worked on in Atlanta, click here.

Right now we're working on putting together as much information as we can on these houses. There are a lot of websites out there devoted to these houses, but they are short on true technical detail. We're working on a page to provide as much specific technical information as we can find.

Oddly enough, there isn't the amount of information available that you would expect. The best source I've found so far is from Paul Sawyers. He's put together the most comprehensive documents that I could find. He has some self-published information that you can buy either on CD or in print.

To answer some of the questions that have come in to us about the construction:

The roof is EPDM (Rubber Membrane)

For insulation, the exterior walls are furred out with steel studs and blown in insulation is in between the studs

The HVAC units are on the second floor, the duct work is exposed.

For windows and doors, store front type units are used.

For stairs, we used metal scissor type units, they are in the rear.

We had to put cross bracing in the rear of the house to stiffen it.

There have been some questions that have come in here about the foundations, this is the detail we've used to attach the containers to a concrete subwall:

If you want more information, fill out the form below and we'll get back to you: