Ocean Containers

[v8garage]

Do any of you use ocean containers for parts storage etc?

 

[MXtras]

Personally I don't have the need but they are tremendously popular here in southern Virginia. The standard containers in decent shape sell for around $900, so it makes them attractive for a lot of folks.

I know of a handful of people that have two or three of these on their property (country or business, not urban). One of my buddies used these as his sheetmetal shop for the 8 months his shop was being built. He now uses them for storage.

Scott

 

[David Ferguson]

I bought a 20' container outfitted with vents in the lower corners, and a turbine roof vent. We put it on our property when it was entirely undeveloped. We stored tools, and a tractor in there. Worked great!

When we built our steel shop building, we had it moved (the erectors grade-all had no problem picking up a several thousand pound container) next to the building, and I now use it for material and fiberglass bodywork/mold storage.

It's pretty cost-effective to have the company supplying the container to paint & outfit the way to want it (vents and a security lock for us). Adds a bit to the cost, but when it arrives, it's ready to go.

We found several sources online, and just picked the one with the best deal for the total package.

 

[JB740i]

Considered one for my house under construction. My in laws have one on their farm. Say it's full of my wifes stuff that they're gonna come drop on my door step when we get the house built.

Bummer.

 

[Kevin54]

Seen a special on the tube awhile back where in the South they were buying them up, stacking, cutting holes and building houses out of them. By the time they were done, they were high end house and solid as a rock. You could not even tell they were shipping containers. The show went on to explain that it was cheaper to sell them than to ship them back overseas. Doesn't make sense to me though. Scrap steel brings a premium, but sell a steel shipping container because it is too expensive to ship back.

 

[PAToyota]

One of the houses at the Solar Decathlon in DC last fall used shipping containers - actually a pretty neat setup inside.

 

[kbs2244]

Something about theses things makes people start thinking.
More ideas then you wanted to know existed.

http://firmitas.org/
http://www.shipping-container-housing.com/
http://www.containerhouse.com/
http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm
http://weburbanist.com/2008/05/26/ca...s-and-offices/
http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/02/08/...iner-house-by-
leger-wanaselja-architecture/
http://www.architectureandhygiene.com/main.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...er-house-ross-
stevens.php
http://www.bobvila.com/BVTV/Bob_Vila...0201-05-1.html

You will see them behind most WalMarts.
They must be a good deal.
WalMart has money to spend when it makes sense.
But they don’t spend it if it doesn’t make sense.

 

[ZRX61]

There seems to be: the *one use* **** ones from China etc & the ISO ones. The walls etc aren't structural so cutting holes in the walls, roof & floor doesn't weaken them.

Scrap steel brings a premium, but sell a steel shipping container because it is too expensive to ship back

They'd ship them back if they were crushed flat... not worth shipping 2500cuft of air to China inside one...

 

[MXtras]

I think our air is cleaner than theirs! Don't give them any ideas.....

 

[boiler7904]

There is an intermodal rail / truck facility about 10 miles from where I work. They have stacks of these containers and more arriving daily. With the trade imbalance we have, more containers are coming into the country than going out. These things will be plentiful for years to come.

 

[boiler7904]

I think our air is cleaner than theirs! Don't give them any ideas.....

First they steal our jobs and make crappy knock offs of our products, now they can steal our air. What's next? Water?! At that point, nothing would be off limits.

 

[Mr. Welsh]

We use them at work for storage sometimes. I wouldn't plan on using one long-term, but they're great for temporary storage.

 

[jay50]

I would like to get one to bury out back for a bunker when the **** hits the fan...LOL

 

[HOTFR8]

I have one here and will put another in soon. No need for Council approval as they are deemed to not be permanent.

just an idea - I wish I had seen this before but it is easy to have two containers and set them up with a carport type roof between the two containers.

 

[beardking]

I have one here and will put another in soon. No need for Council approval as they are deemed to not be permanent.

just an idea - I wish I had seen this before but it is easy to have two containers and set them up with a carport type roof between the two containers.

This is kind of along the lines of what I've got in my head for a "cabin in the woods" setup. One of the containers would be the kitchen/living room area and the other would be the sleeping quarters with a deck in between. The main thing I haven't worked out yet is how to make the carport roof and the deck capable of being hidden away for when I'm not at the "cabin". Luckily, the money flow for this is a LONG way away, so maybe by the time I have the money, I'll have figured out the logistics of everything.

 

[jimvannoy]

I wonder how much of "our" steel they have to use to build the shipping containers to ship the junk over here? You wold think they would want them back since they buy up all our scrap steel. Seems like someone should be "crushing" them.

 

[kvom]

Seems it costs ~$7K to ship an empty container, so it's cheaper to sell them.

 

[JOYO]

Use them on a Ranch to store feed for the animals. Works well and keeps it dry and safe.
Some of the ideas for these containers is really cool posted above. Really makes you think.....

 

[cruzzer]

Anybody ever see any garages built using these? There is a place 25 minutes from me that ships these all over the east coast. They will sandblast the interiors and primer using low oder paint for living in. The big container,, 40' with a 9'6" height was like 4K delivered The smaller 20' and 30' were under 2500 I believe.. Three side by side with the interior walls removed would make a 24'x30' bunker.. Build a slant roof ontop and make a deck/patio overhead..

 

[Junkman]

I toyed with the idea of getting 4 30' containers, and having one placed on top of the other to make them "doubles". Then have the same thing done but about 30' apart. Then I would purchase roof trusses and mount them over the top of the boxes to create a roof. Pour a floor and then build a wall in the rear and a wall in the front with an overhead door to close everything in. Install a man door into each of the bottom containers from the inside space, and cut a stair way to the top containers. The upper containers will be for storage, and the lower containers would be for car and tool storage. Between them would be my workshop and lift. I figure that it would cost under 20K and I would have all the storage and garage space that I could ever use.. If I placed them properly, I could even get access to the upper containers at ground level. Just have to find an appropriate hill on the property that would lend itself to this idea. Wife says that I am getting too old, so I don't need this type of space.

 

[kbs2244]

The only traditional looking buildings I have seen made from them where “garage, shop, barns” that looked like the old double slope roof barns you would see in TN and KY.
The ones with the steep pitch in the center and the shallow pitch off to each side.
They spaced 2 containers apart with a 4 foot knee wall at the inside edges.
They put steep pitch trusses across that, and then rafters from the eves of the truss rafters out to the outside edges of the containers.
The end result looked like the one the neighbor had that was 100 years old.
But you had lockable containers as well as a nice breezeway to work in.

BTW, I have heard they are built to 2 different specifications. Some are “one time use throways.” Others are but to an ISO standard for continuous re-use.
The used ones around here very in price based on if they are “weather tight” or not.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

I don't think as many of them get left empty over here as you might suspect. I just saw where the biggest export of the US is ........ scrap paper/cardboard. Turns out we ship one and a half MILLION containers full of scrap paper and cardboard to China each year......

Charles

 

[Junkman]

I don't think as many of them get left empty over here as you might suspect. I just saw where the biggest export of the US is ........ scrap paper/cardboard. Turns out we ship one and a half MILLION containers full of scrap paper and cardboard to China each year......

Charles

And every month, I have to pay to have the cardboard container emptied!!!

 

[HOTFR8]

I wonder how much of "our" steel they have to use to build the shipping containers to ship the junk over here? You wold think they would want them back since they buy up all our scrap steel. Seems like someone should be "crushing" them.

The Chinese are so short of steel they are taking the containers back empty crushing and melting them for steel. Almost impossible to get a container here now due to that fact. I had an email today showing a massive ship going from the US back to China full of empty containers.

 

[Vinko]

Scrap steel brings a premium, but sell a steel shipping container because it is too expensive to ship back.

What sort of rates are any of you guys getting on scrap? I'm getting 10c/lb, unsorted. 5c for 15v30 turnings.

 

[Vinko]

First they steal our jobs and make crappy knock offs of our products,

Well, the flip side of the argument is that Americans want to buy a lot of **** cheap. So when we go to our Walmart and fill up baskets full of stuff, or buy cheap goods that a few generations back we wouldn't have (or we would've had to have saved up for), we can thank ourselves, in part, for the problem.

 

[Vinko]

The Chinese are so short of steel they are taking the containers back empty crushing and melting them for steel. Almost impossible to get a container here now due to that fact.

That's what I thought too, and that's what appeared recently in the NY and LA Times articles on containers. But, I work right next to the port of LA, a stone's throw away, and having asked around, I've found that there are quite a few over here that are just piling up. So there out there and available, for cheap still.

I had an email today showing a massive ship going from the US back to China full of empty containers.

 

[kf4zht]

Would one of these be wide enough inside to make a paint booth out of? Like take the back half and install a compressor, air dryer, mixing table, maybe a heater and ventalation. In the door half wall it off, maybe install some fans in the floor. My only concern would be if there was enough room inside to walk next to a truck and paint it comfortably.

 

[VDubJoe]

They are for sale everywhere down here around Tampa and most of south Florida.
Joe

 

[Kevin54]

I had an email today showing a massive ship going from the US back to China full of empty containers.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->

The bastards ARE taking our air.

 

[Bevis]

They are for sale everywhere down here around Tampa and most of south Florida.
Joe

I've seen a bunch for sale in Ft. Myers several weeks ago.

 

[bluesman2a]

I found a GREAT project a guy did for a bunker/garage/parking area using containers. It's a long thread, but a lot of neat details:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=17&t=510228

 

[fourfeathers]

We haul parts to a place that exports Deere parts, Power company trucks, etc, and they use these containers to ship overseas. So, I know they do get re-used. Some of them, anyway.

 

[bluesman2a]

We haul parts to a place that exports Deere parts, Power company trucks, etc, and they use these containers to ship overseas. So, I know they do get re-used. Some of them, anyway.

Did they fill up BOTH of those containers this year? All the way?
Sorry... I think of all the junk on the shelves of Harbor Fright vs. what other people are willing to buy from us, and it's disheartening...

 

[boiler7904]

I had an email today showing a massive ship going from the US back to China full of empty containers.

The bastards ARE taking our air.

It's the only way they know to get somewhat reasonably clean air in time for the Olympics in a couple of weeks.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

It's the only way they know to get somewhat reasonably clean air in time for the Olympics in a couple of weeks.

Let's send them some "killer" bee's.

 

[scofo]

Don't forget the Fire Ants

 

[jcs_in_ky]

The prices on containers seem to go up and down depending on the time of year. I've noticed that they seem to go up a little around November and I think it's because a lot of them are sold for use as extra storage at stores like Walmart for inventory for Christmas. I talked to a couple of places here in KY that buy containers and rent them out. They said towards the end of last year they needed a bunch of them to fill rental requests and had a hard time finding them so they were paying more.
I've got a couple of containers I need to sell one of these days. We bought three containers in California to use to move the things from our home and shop to Kentucky. They sure worked nice for moving. I had them there and spent a couple of months packing them so every square inch in there was packed tight and as a result nothing broke. We figured the cost of buying them and paying for them to be trucked here came to about 45% of what a moving company like Mayflower would have charged us. Plus when we got here we spent about 5 months working on our home and another year before my shop was done so they were great for storage. Of course it didn't matter what I wanted it was always buried in the back of the container!

 

[Mike of the North]

I was interested in seeing what thy run, I got this e-mail back.


We are having a special on 40’s at this time. $1400 + tax/delivery (approx $450). 20’s are $1400 + tax/delivery (approx $450) As for permits, I would call these “steel storage/cargo container”


Regards,

Cheryl Gibson

President / Sales Mgr



Myerson Containers and Logistics

(woman owned small business)

5098 Foothills Blvd., Suite 3-381

Roseville, CA 95747

www.myersoncl.com

866/396-8632 (office)

916/212-7757 (cell)

916/474-4083 (fax)



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[danski0224]

The town I live in has a ban on them.

Can't be on the property for more than 3 days.