Working inside a shipping container?

[ZmOz]

I have a very small 2 car garage, and inside I have to fit two cars, a wood shop, a metal shop, and enough boxes to fill most attics. As you can imagine, it's a little hard to work in there.

I plan on rebuilding a couple of V8s soon, and I need somewhere better to work. I'm thinking about buying a 8x40 steel shipping container to park beside my house. (the neighbors will love that!) Would that be roomy enough inside to build some big engines? I've never actually been in a shipping container, but I know some people turn them into mobile offices. Has anyone ever built a shop in one? Something like 10x20 would be a better size, but of course they don't make those...

 

[KRS]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

I had one for over a year. Check the floor, get a good one. The floor is plywood and needs to be in good shape.

Be sure the inside is painted, with no/little visible rust.... as you probably already know rust uses oxygen from the atmosphere in the oxidation process..... any metal enclosed space can suffocate you if it's rusty and without airflow.

I say GO FOR IT!!!

Whatcha gonna pay for one in your neck of the woods? They are $4,200 here, guaranteed rodent proof.

 

[Boomyal]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Great idea Zm. I use two of them for work related storage. I even have my forklift in one of them. I've had them for over 3 years now and couldn't live without them. I paid 1000$ each for them and 125$ each to move them to their location.

If you are handy you can remove the doors and put in rollups.

One thing is a must. You need to increase circulation in them. Mine sweat like a hog in the winter. I need to put a couple of turbine vents on each one and increase the bottom wall vent size.

Go for it. They are cavernous inside. Make sure they are white. Even in the heat of summer the white ones stay tolerable inside.

 

[Link]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Also paint white on the outside.
Our house has a flat roof and when I painted it white the temp inside dropped by ten degrees.

Why could you not frame in the front and use a garage type door.

I would also think a medium window AC unit would be great.

Now I want one!

 

[aspeck]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

You can get them in 8X20 size also. You can cut holes in them to install and A/C unit, cut in windows, etc. These are the buildings and shops of choice in Ghana! They fix them pretty elaborately and they do the job. We have two 40 footers parked about 25 feet apart and have a roof between them. Makes a nice garage/storage area/workspace.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

I looked at doing this when I started planning my shed....


$ for Space, I built a shed for not a lot more that a good shape container.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Noel?? Why the old name?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

With a Set of Torches,... or a Demo Saw,..... It's pretty Easy to cut in Doors,+ Windows,......

Around here,.. Some of the Jobsites have a Lunch Room in 1 end,+ Shelfed Storage in the Other,.....
Nice Digs, with Heat,+ Lights......

If you take the time to build a Stable,+ Well Drained Pad for it to set on,....
It'll take Years, before the Floors rot out......

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Whatcha gonna pay for one in your neck of the woods? They are $4,200 here, guaranteed rodent proof.

I've been looking at a few in craigslist for around $1500...I'll let "kitty" handle the rats.d

If I opened up both ends would a dark colored one be too hot in the summer? I don't want to have to paint 3 sides that are 8x40...

 

[KRS]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

It never gets hot in Orygun

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Hey, make money, import aliens on weekends with it! It should pay for itself!

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

It never gets hot in Orygun

The forcast for tomarrow is 95, followed by 99, 101, and 100.

 

[Link]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

Whatcha gonna pay for one in your neck of the woods? They are $4,200 here, guaranteed rodent proof.

I've been looking at a few in craigslist for around $1500...I'll let "kitty" handle the rats.d

If I opened up both ends would a dark colored one be too hot in the summer? I don't want to have to paint 3 sides that are 8x40...

On the outside any cheap metal paint will work to reflect heat.
Your not trying to seal anything.

A throw away Harbor Freight $15.00 spray gun would do the job in about a hour.

 

[Terry Olson]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

You guys are ingenious - I followed a similar thread on a hotrodding board about a year ago. I can't imagine what the neighbors would do about it here, but then again I don't live where men are truly free. At the same time I have to admit I'm a bit relieved that my neighbor can't buy a shipping container and use it this way too so it cuts both ways eh?

For not very much more than $4200.oo you could just build a shop couldn't you? Something that adds value to your property and would be better suited to your needs? Maybe I'm way off on the cost, but a pole barn or one of the other steel building options has got to be competetive with that. I bet the few dollars more involved in these other options covers the expense of a concrete floor so it might be a fair comparison with a much better finished result wouldn't it?

Not to rain on your parade and all...

A real motorhead would just do it in the living room wouldn't they?

 

[Bob in Calif.]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

I bought an 8' X 20' one last year. It ran me $1990.00, with tax (8.25%) and delivery included. I think this was a good investment, as I checked on a 10' X 15' storage unit, to store stuff from my other house I'm remodeling, to sell.

The storage company I checked with, in the city my other house is in, wanted $365.00 a month for rent. Buy buying the shipping container and not renting a storage unit, the storage container was paid for in less than 6 month's of the storage facility's fee, and I am very pleased with it.

After I sell my other house and get rid of most of the other house's content's, I plan on getting a a second shipping container and make a work shop out of it and keep the original one for my wife and I to share. This way I can tear down my present work shop and build an RV garage, with a floor hoist, In it's place.

I'm sure my wife will be elated with this plan.

...Bob in Calif...

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

For not very much more than $4200.oo you could just build a shop couldn't you? Something that adds value to your property and would be better suited to your needs? Maybe I'm way off on the cost, but a pole barn or one of the other steel building options has got to be competetive with that. I bet the few dollars more involved in these other options covers the expense of a concrete floor so it might be a fair comparison with a much better finished result wouldn't it?

The big problem around here would be permits. Not only are they obscenely overpriced, but it would probably not even be legal to build where I want it. I would be putting the container in the 15' peice of dirt between my house and my fence, I don't think that's wide enough to build anything legally.

On the other hand, now I'm thinking about going a little more extreme with this project. There are a few acres of beautiful riverfront farm land for rent about 8 miles from here. I could easily park two containers there and put a roof in between. Maybe I could even build my own boat dock. Plus I've always wanted an excuse to buy a tractor...d

 

[Terry Olson]

Re: Working inside a shipping container?

I like the idea of covering the area between both containers, kind of like a machine shed or carport. You'd triple you storage space at not much more expense than two containers, although it wouldn't be secure.

I bet I'm way off on the $4200.oo estimate for an actual building. Maybe it is a good option.