Shipping container tiny house, is it worth it?

So I was left a 40' shipping container and am having difficulty selling it for what I want. If I can't get what I want, I would rather just keep it. And am weighing my options as to what to do with it. I know that it's trendy to use it for housing, but it doesn't really seem like a good option. It's not insulated or easily modified. Am I missing something?

I've used several smaller ones that were modified into construction office trailers and they worked well. You'll have to cut doors, windows, insulate, and finish the inside, but they can take a beating from the weather. They seem awfully dark and depressing as is, but don't let that fool you. There's not a lot of useful head room and I've never had one with any plumbing in it. They are easy to move and you don't have to worry about building in the elements since they're already enclosed, but they lack charm. I wouldn't live in one full-time, but I could see using one for a hunting cabin or something similar.

I first thought of shipping containers as -the- way to go for me. I found a book called Off-Grid and Underground by Steve Rees, and it opened my eyes to the construction possibilities. He used two TEUs (20-footers), but the principles are widely applicable should you want to consider a partially-underground building. I've included a snapshot of the cover of the book (my personal copy) below so if you want to keep an eye out for it you know what to look for. The book was published in 2014, and I'm curious as to the state of things where he is, now that the construction is approaching 10 years old. His blog hasn't been updated since 2016, and I'm not sure where to look next.

Here's a write-up by Rees himself in Mother Earth News from a while ago:
https://www.motherearthnews.com/sustainable-living/green-homes/off-grid-and-underground-zbwz1504zsor/

Personally I'm leaning towards a more wofati-style structure in my future, but steel boxes can take a beating! Seems like a natural fit for the back 40 or, like Rees has, partially-underground structures.

Maybe? An entrance could be made in a new wooden wall just inside the doors, no real modification there. Window and door openings can be cut with an angle grinder or a sawzall, drill and screw framing to the rough opening to attach a window to. Roofing, insulation. and sheathing can be added to the outside, the inside can be insulated/paneled but you lose space...

Do you "need" a tiny house? and all that entails? light, heat, finishing touches? Maybe another use like a seasonal "summer kitchen" or storage/barn won't require as much work (skip insulation, extra sheathing, etc...) Solar array mount? Livestock shelter?

Some of the main benefits I see containers having is W&WT (wind and water-tight), portable (in some sense of the word), ready-made, self-supporting (to some extent), uniform size and stackable (if dealing with multiples), secure (to some extent).
Other "benefits" are situational, like cost. You already have one, so "free". Location, appearance, tax liability.

Stacy, have you checked out YouTube for tiny container homes?  There are tons of really great ones, it's impressive.  There's at least one company in Australia that sells them completed for somewhere in the neighborhood of $160 ,000 Australian, which doesn't seem cheap for a tiny house!

I've wanted to do an underground wine cellar with a small one, and it seems actually possible.

If you already know that what was contained in it isn't toxic, then it could be a real asset.

This issue with metal buildings is that the heat up fast and cool down fast which is normally not what humans want. It has no thermal mass to help moderate temperature swings. Metal has no "breathability" so that needs to be added or humidity and mold can quickly build up.
That says, there are a number of them in my area - some portable and some not - and you already own it, so it would be nice to consider what it would be useful for.

It is the FRAME that is strong and stackable, not the metal walls, so current thinking is not in favour of burying them. The normal approach for insulation is to spray a foam on the inside and then add walls which makes a narrow building more narrow. I'm not aware of any natural insulation that will cope with the lack of breathability of the metal skin.

Metal rusts, so you want to keep that in mind while designing. There is one that's used as a business in Victoria that put pond-liner type material on the roof, built a lip around it, and grows sedums. By installing a solid roof supported at the edge beams, you might even be able to put more dirt up there as a deer-proof garden?

As for tiny homes, I've read a lot about various versions and if you're never going to move this off your property, working with 8' wide outside really limits functional use of space. I'd far prefer the same square footage in more of a slightly elongated rectangle than what you have. But most building codes make you jump through hoops if it isn't "portable" which a shipping container is.

A lot depends on your needs - if you've got long material to store or process - 40 ft is awesome. We have a truck trailer that Hubby bought from a friend that's 35' long that's storing/drying long pieces of lumber a friend milled. I debated trying to make part of it a work-shop, but it's just too narrow for most of the things I'd want to build. An insulated 2-car garage with in-floor heating would work so much better, that I can't see putting the work into the trailer it would need.

Stacy,

You might enjoy this thread and the details about building a tiny house from a container:

https://permies.com/t/161748/house-build-total-newb

Thanks everyone.

Stephen - that book sounds great.

I don't need a tiny house but we do plan on making more living spaces on the property. If I can sell the container we are going to buy a fifth wheel that has also been left on the property. The bonus of a fifth wheel is that we could use it if we have to evacuate again.

Ideally we want to build many detached bedrooms and a shared outdoor kitchen.

I have looked at a lot of different shipping container housing, most of it is really pricey and I don't really understand the point other than to be trendy kind of like making clothes out of duct tape.

Too bad it's not great for burying otherwise it could be used for a root cellar.

Stacy, all of the above information is correct.
They are easy to work with, as Kenneth said windows are easy to install.
I have seen reasonable homes built and sold for $AU80,000 here.
the reason they are trendy is because they are great value if you want something that size.
You get a frames, a floor foundation safe attachments system and security for the price of a floor and foundations.

I always insulate the outside by running horizontal beams spaced to suit the insulation panels and then clad the outside with colourbond steel roofing.
In North America its possible to purchase insulation that matches the container wall panel shape.
Windows are fitting by cutting the panel out and fixing a steel ring around the hole and then fitting the window units in place.

Roofs are done much the same way with a overhang to improve rainfall collection and shading.

They are a wonderfull method of building something, and the plainer you keep them the easier they are to work with.
A rear door off a bathroom allows good qir circulation and a fireproof skylight works wonders.

In my experience, many people build so much luxury and top of the line equipment into a house that sometimes they cannot afford to finish it.
And have to sell up at a loss.
I lead a simpler life, build simple with straight forward fittings and waste my cash on racing sidecars and fishing etc.
Containers insulated on the outside can have plaster sheeting installed with  power cables running on the outside  and coming through where needed.

If you design things carefully things such as power and water can be installed readily from the outside prior to the final cladding being fitted.
Sometimes cables can be run down the space between the waves in the panels and the plaster sheet.
Have water on the outside walls and floor drains close to the outside walls.

Our school was given one, and installed it behind the north side of the kitchen as a pest-proof food storage room. It has just been through its first winter fully buried. I'm not sure if it has had any problems with humidity or ventilation. The door to the kitchen is in the middle of the long side, and the original openings on one of the short ends is open to the outdoors for carrying in supplies.

I'm a tiny house enthusiast and I agree with you that it is like making clothes with duct tape, yes, but, why? With the number of extras that are needed to make a metal box fit for human habitation,  you could have just as well built out of something else? Their advantage is their structural integrity, but once you cut into it for a door or a window, you'd thrown away that advantage. If I had a shipping container on my land, I'd use it as a shed. It's secure at keeping people and animals out, also partially burying it in a slope sounds like a great idea.  A vermin-proof root cellar. A place to secure your tools? You mentioned evacuation, I assume due to fire? So an inground shipping container storage shed sounds like it could work to keep a lot of things out of the way of the flames?

The short answer is yes.  The bigger question is skill, time, and expense.   There are possibly millions of container home examples,  it seems so easy and logical.  But, I fear most folks would not end up happy with a home-built one due to lack of skill to make the "vision" come through.

As previously mentioned, they make wicked pest-proof storage.

That is a lot of "deer-proof fencing" if placed appropriately.

Toolshed or garden supplies storage; small tractor,  ATV storage.

Mushroom grow op.

Livestock shelter (with modification), not heated so fewer insulation issues.  Feed storage or hay/straw storage.

Tornado 🌪 zone?  Buried it could be a storm shelter or root cellar.

Guest accommodation: insulate add a few windows, some solar lights; a simplified tiny house with no plumbing and minimal power.

Pond or water 💧 catchment by burying,  remove the top, add pond liner.

They have so many more uses....

Melissa

Their advantage is their structural integrity, but once you cut into it for a door or a window, you'd thrown away that advantage.

If you add the steel ring around the opening as explained earlier, the structural integrity is restored.
As for underground, thats IS A NO NO.
Even at very low levels the walls will collapse in unless steel is added correctly to prevent the walls moving in.
I have seen the walls pushed in as much as 3 ft from each side when the floor is 3M below ground level.

Unfortunately this shipping container was used for drying plants so it has a hole cut in the back for a mini-split and a hole in the floor for extension cords. I could probably get these sealed but it isn't currently rodent proof. I'm currently leaning to the idea of using it for storage at our terraced garden. The garden is not particularly close to the houses or other growing areas. I doubt that we are going to want to haul tools and hoses back and forth from the carport to the garden. But I will have to see if a hauler can get it up there.

I think my main issue with using it as a tiny house is the insulation issue. Our summers are very hot. While I could insulate it, I think that I will be happier with straw bale detached bedrooms in the more forested area of the property.

Thanks everyone for the input, it's been an enjoyable read.

For a 40' that you most likely won't turn into a "tiny home", I'd go the other route and "open it up" to be a multi-use garden center structure; partition the heck out of that 40'. Something like:

- get it moved to the right spot on the property
- cut various openings, and save the massive sheet of corten steel for a roof right outside that opening; columns hold it up
 - the ends get cut, and the sheets form roofs
 - various spacings in the 40' length:
   8' end/porch, dog-run, storage, dog-run, 8' end/porch or
   8' bedroom, dog-run, 8' storage, dog-run, 8' bedroom) or ...
 - with openings across from each other, use outdoor pavers to have a dog run right thru the structure ... a 24' paved area to do things on
- on interiors between openings (this thing is 40' long), have interior 2x4 walls with doors for "storage" rooms (whatever use you can think of)
- roof is also usable ... external stairs leading up to the roof, and now there's a ... 40' line-dance floor (or something). some rails, lights ...
- solar panels, some inverter gear below, and power for the whole thing
- water tank, portable toilet ... instant plumbing
- each storage room could be a bedroom, and open onto the dog run ...

I could go on and on ...

John C Daley wrote:Melissa

Their advantage is their structural integrity, but once you cut into it for a door or a window, you'd thrown away that advantage.

If you add the steel ring around the opening as explained earlier, the structural integrity is restored.
As for underground, thats IS A NO NO.
Even at very low levels the walls will collapse in unless steel is added correctly to prevent the walls moving in.
I have seen the walls pushed in as much as 3 ft from each side when the floor is 3M below ground level.

Sorry so not being more clear, I was thinking like the picture above--set into a slope, not buried in the ground. Were I live every building should be used to capture rainwater, so a roof above, (as in the picture on the cover of the book)  directed into a tank downhill of the building is what I would imagine.
It would be great if it were easy to restor structural integrity, but the ring around the opening would also have to be connected to the corners of the container which is where their structure lies.

For us, yes. We were struggling to pay our rent and bills. We decided to sell our house and bought a prefab home. Our expenses went from 4 digits to below $300/month! : )

Aren't the floors typically treated lumber? I called around about them a few years ago with this concern and I got some non-answers and probably answers. (Sketchy). I wouldn't want that in my living space, food storage or livestock housing.

The flooring appears to be some sort of heavy duty plywood. I haven't heard of treated plywood off-gassing any more than regular plywood.

I don't worry so much about off gassing with treated lumber but contact, ingestion, wearing it down to dust and inhaling it, breaking down into soil, end-of life issues...everything, really.  We couldn't consider putting our ewes, lambs or dairy goats in one without knowing so we avoid it on our farm. Surely somebody out there knows definitively what the floors are but I wouldn't trust that it is benign based on looks. That's me being a stickler.

The money you spend on all the upgrades ie window, doors and floors it would be cheaper to build a tiny stick home yourself. I have been around modified container and when you start cutting holes in them they start to lose there structural integrity.

M Waisman wrote:I don't worry so much about off gassing with treated lumber but contact, ingestion, wearing it down to dust and inhaling it, breaking down into soil, end-of life issues...everything, really.  

That is certainly your call to make. I don't know if installing a natural wood floor over top would help your concerns. These are recycled buildings, and I think absolute purity is going to be hard to achieve. My perspective is that the potential risks are not a deal-breaker; others may disagree.

In my opinion it only makes sense to use container as it is - as a storage or temporary living place.
Spending money and time on something that is designed to transport cargo over the oceans and it's plain ugly and unfit for healthy living environment is a waste of life. Of course if someone is determined to do it, because of some unconditional love for containers - let it be.

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

M Waisman wrote:I don't worry so much about off gassing with treated lumber but contact, ingestion, wearing it down to dust and inhaling it, breaking down into soil, end-of life issues...everything, really.  

That is certainly your call to make. I don't know if installing a natural wood floor over top would help your concerns. These are recycled buildings, and I think absolute purity is going to be hard to achieve. My perspective is that the potential risks are not a deal-breaker; others may disagree.

While absolute purity and avoiding treated lumber are completely different things, I've not found avoiding treating lumber hard but I do find it very important. Regardless, the crux is that these are not designed as living quarters for people or animals and materials used are unknown. After researching using them, I've decided it's a hard no.  I think they are a trend and not worthy of investment.

A few years ago a neighbor put one in front of his house and it was such an eyesore, not quite matching his homestead and being out of level, etc. Luckily it appeared they just used it to store scaffolding and other materials during an extensive exterior remodel  and then it disappeard. That's a good use for shipping containers IMO.

M Waisman wrote:Regardless, the crux is that these are not designed as living quarters for people or animals and materials used are unknown. After researching using them, I've decided it's a hard no.  I think they are a trend and not worthy of investment.

I respect your choice. Others may have a different view, and I hope you can respect their choices.

Shipping containers are effective as storage and shop buildings, despite being unaesthetic. As a house, I think it would be a pretty boxy space, but it could be workable. Better than being outdoors.

A thought regarding the flooring: in my climate, if a home was built inside a shipping container, an insulated subfloor with a vapour barrier would be necessary. Handled properly, this would seal off the original floor quite effectively.

Of course I respect others' choices. Disagreeing isn't hard at all. I am interested in addressing the OP's hesitance and concern for using shipping containers to live in and contributing considerations.

It would be useful to us all if anyone knows what those floors are...

M Waisman wrote:It would be useful to us all if anyone knows what those floors are...

My Husband got three different damaged transport trailers from a friend. All three have different floor material.

I don't know if there's as much variation in shipping containers, but I would not want to assume that just because I determined for sure what one floor was made of, that the others would be the same?

Many shipping containers are made overseas, I think in many different countries. Floors are likely based on what builders can acquire locally.

So far as tiny houses in general, unless portability is essential, I find that the 8 ft width is very limiting. If you are likely to need to move your tiny house a lot, it's worth building one that's portable. However, if it's a shipping container, odds are you have to get a special company in to pick it up. If you're using pros anyway, they may be able to move a 10ft wide tiny house just as easily - yes, more paperwork and hoops to jump through, but I see it all the time.

I am stunned at the different comments about use of Shipping containers.
As Douglas tried to say 'each to their own thought.'
I have seen them used in many ways, sometimes because they are best, sometimes because of the cost C.W. traditional building.
I find the 8ft width quite satisfactory for my needs.
I found them low cost and easy to live in, with a wood heater built safely.

If that was all you had, I am confident you would make it work.
I notice insulation panels which fit perfectly are available in North America.

When checking out a shipping container, one piece of good advice I've heard is "follow your nose." You don't know what's been shipped in there. It's a well sealed building that concentrates odours. If there are hints of a spill of something smelly like diesel, or something else that's weirdly chemical, you're better to look elsewhere.

Check out this website for the best shipping container homes. Looks like prices can range from $31.5k to $600k+ depending on the size and features.