With this world rapidly rushing towards progress, increasing user friendliness is believed to be a universal key for unlocking new doors of practicality. The rising trend of container homes is thought to be simple, cheap, yet quite ingenious, even prone attractiveness. All around the world, the containers in their new type of use as objects in which to live, seem to be blossoming slowly, yet determinately.
Choosing a container
First things first though, if you’ve opted for such a bold move, you need to pick the containers, by yourself. Furthermore, do not refrain from paying an expert to come along and help you check for any possible damage or fallacies.
Perhaps even preceding the step above, is getting familiar with housing rules of your state, country, or even city. There are various different housing laws, so you might even want to opt for a legal consultation, in order not to rush into things head first and crash and burn.
Find a contractor
On that note, finding a contractor can solve all of your problems. Acting as your guides, these professionals know their business and can prove to be a tremendous help in terms of advisory. Furthermore, if you’re not afraid to pay up a little more, you can be sure you’ll find one for everything, in contrast to finding a bunch of separate ones for modifying containers, exterior and interior, etc.
Building basics
Now we can move on to actually establishing your home. Starting with the bottom, the foundation is the most important part of your house-to-be. Starting with a 24’ x 40’ perimeter foundation wall, the procedure is as follows: the perimeter is filled with gravel, while the precast panels are dropped in using a crane, after which they are attached together. Including basic things like insulation and water proofing parts, it is advised that the panels be bought pre-made.
After this come the modifications. Under the advisory of an architect, your desired modifications are made using cutting, panel removing, and welding together a number of containers. The possibilities are endless! Remember the LEGOs? Think about how much fun you had making various shapes using nothing but bricks. Containers are quite similar. Simple, cuboid and similar (dare I say same?) in size, these babies let your imagination go wild! Tear down that wall and make a balcony, stack one on top of another and voila – a gallery, right there! Although this might seem easy in theory, the process requires a ton of legwork and expertise, so be prepared to hire a manual workforce.
Another positive side of container sheltersis that they were designed to carry as much as 60 ,000 pounds each! Furthermore, the obvious idea is that they be transported via cargo ships, so in order to save up space, so more of them can be fitted, they come with locks in the corners, that perfectly correspond to the next shipping container the first one leans against. How convenient, right? Add a little bit of welding, and you’re in the clear!
While it is possible that the longer sides of the container be cut and fitted with windows, perhaps a better (and safer) solution might be opting for huge windows on the smaller sides. Now, come on, who the hell doesn’t like big windows?
Interior design
To finish up, before moving on to furnishing, which has no difference to your regular house, install the basics of any home. While it is true that these containers were designed to last and resist wind, moisture and other forms of damage, it might be safer to make sure you provide framing, insulation, heating and cooling systems. Make sure you supply your home with electricity and plumbing and your lair is almost complete.
The only thing that remains now is that you make sure your new house goes through all the inspection processes like foundation, plumbing and electrical, architectural and fire. All of these can be done with your contractor and a building official.
And that’s it, you’ve just built your home. Along with the fact that you just got off cheap, the sheer feeling that you’ve made a big part of your life – that is your very own household, by yourself, should be enough for you to at least consider this option. Now stand back, and enjoy that feeling of accomplishment.
