Shipping container homes are booming, and the trend keeps going up. It seems that everyone is interested in the “new” concept of building a home out of shipping containers. But is it really such a good idea after all?
Choosing to build a house from containers can be a good thing if you are into the esthetics it brings to the table, however, when it comes to the costs related to the building of such a house that will not be cheaper than the traditional building methods.
With that said, and out of the way, I would like to point out the less obvious reasons that make the container homes a fashion trend and not the building advancement or environmental salvation we all wish for.
The reasons why shipping containers are a bad idea for a new house build are a direct result of the containers themselves. Being limited in size, requiring lots of work before occupancy is possible, not the best insulation material, don’t really know what was shipped inside, and lately new regulations that highly limit the options.
To understand better each of these container homes’ downsides, which makes the shipping container homes less desirable than other prefab home solutions, this post will elaborate on each one individually.
Containers Are Limited In Size
When talking about a house build we do not usually think about the height of the ceiling or the width between the walls, but when it comes to container homes these limits are highly important. The limitation driven by the actual size of the container is highly noticeable compared to traditional and prefabricated homes.
There are two general sizes for containers the 20ft and 40ft which relate to the outer length of the container, yet their height and width stay the same in both versions.
With that said as our main interest is regarding the internal measurements, as we are comparing it to normal homes, the height inside the container is around 7ft 10in which is much shorter than the average height of a residential room which is 9ft 6 inches.
The length and width of the container have little to non impact on the final outcome as walls can be cut to make openings such as doors, windows, or just a full side opening. The height limitation, however, is much harder to control and gets even more problematic as adding insulation, pipes, and flooring gets this measurement to shrink even more.
So creating a house out of a container that is limited in its initial size is a challenging task, and could cost much more than other prefab options. Additionally, this brings us to our next point which is cutting and altering the structure of a container which makes it less stable (what was its most desirable trait to begin with).
The Structural Integrity Of Containers
Shipping containers are strong and sturdy and used in the maritime shipping industry to keep products and goods safe while having the ship as organized as possible. This is thanks to the uniformed structure all shipping containers share.
As stacking shipping containers on a ship seems good enough for a house build, building it without any doors, windows, or other openings is practically not feasible. That said, during the house build the containers will have to be altered by cutting openings that will transform it from a shipping container into a building section of a livable house.
However, once you start cutting the container it loses much of its strength and requires lots of work to get that structural integrity back. You will find out that many support beams and poles must be added for this structure to function as a house. This adds labor and materials to the house build which basically makes the shipping containers “prefab” homes not that different than the traditional home build.
Adding this fact makes container homes less attractive for most of us, which can lead many to choose a better and way more efficient house build – the prefab house. Moreover, and not less important for a house is the sustainability factor, and let’s face it, metal isn’t the best material to help us endure the climate outside while living in our homes.
Insulation In Container Homes
If you are still not convinced that a prefab home might be a better pick for your new house build then let’s explore how the shipping container house will be a nightmare to thermally insulate.
Metal is one of the most heat conductive materials we know of, this means that the outer layer of your shipping container home will pass the temperature it adsorbs either to the inside of your house during summertime or outside during winter. The bottom line, in this case, is that the electric bills will skyrocket if this issue is not handled correctly, meaning adding a good layer of thermal insulation material.
It does not mean that in a prefab home or other type of house there isn’t any thermal insulation, it just shows that in this case, thermal insulation needs to be of a higher quality to compensate for the high heat conductivity of the metal. This translates into higher costs for your insulation segment of the build.
With that said, there are some great materials that can insulate your house and give you great results, yet, apart from the higher costs thicker insulation takes more space of your already limited space which we talked about earlier. This leaves you with a smaller living area for each shipping container, including floor and ceiling space.
Overall, solving the insulation problem for container homes is possible but not without its sacrifices. And speaking about another type of sacrifice is the fact that when buying a shipping container you won’t know what was shipped inside, ever.
What This Shipping Container Was Used For?
Now that we have some sense as to what are the physical cons of the shipping containers, let’s talk about what they were used for and why it can be a real problem for a house build.
So, all shipping containers are used first and foremost to move raw materials, finished products, and any other type of goods out there in this industrial world. Thus, if the shipping container was in service it would probably have shipped many types of goods during its lifespan.
This may sound harmless, however, it does create a problem for us. For example, some of the materials shipped inside a shipping container are highly toxic, meaning if they have been shipped around in the container you are buying for the new house build it may contain residue of toxic materials.
Just like we are treating contaminated soil before building a new house, a container should go through a decontamination process before going to the job site. However, the problem with this is that we can not know what was inside the container apart from maybe its first shipment as companies are keeping most of this information to themselves.
Not knowing if the container was shipping toxic materials is really bad if you wish to live inside one of these. Treating all containers equally does not mean that it will clean all possible toxic residues, thus, cleaning doesn’t really assure us anything regarding the toxicity of a shipping container.
This brings us to our last point for today and as public health seems to be a hazard with toxic shipping containers involved in the building industry some places across the US have started legislating new laws regarding this type of house builds.
New Regulations For Shipping Container Homes
As shipping container homes have become a trendy type of fast house build (similar to prefab houses) idea more people are drawn to it and the local and state authorities are starting to regulate this market segment. In reaction to this idea, the local and state authorities have legislated several new laws that have been submitted for approval and in some locations already approved.
For example, California is banning the use of containers that have been in use for more than one shipment. This is in reaction to the possibility that some containers might have been used to ship toxic materials. As only in a small number of cases do we know what was in the container during its first shipment, it makes it highly not reasonable to use only containers that have been in use once as their price will be higher.
Using a shipping container that has been in use only once is not by any means a sustainable life cycle for containers. It is just a waste of materials that will put our fragile ecosystem under more pressure instead of helping relieve some.
Other countries have started to put more limits on what can be built using containers and more restrictions may be added in the coming months and years. The fact that shipping containers must be legislated to keep the public safe means that this is not the best of options for a fast, futuristic, and sophisticated house such as the real prefabricated homes.
Summary And Advice
I have covered here the main reasons why a shipping container is not suitable for a house build, and haven’t even talked about the fact that it is not really a prefab home. However, many people these days are looking for an alternative for the boring non-environmental nor sustainable building methods that have brought us all to look further.
If you are thinking about a new house built from shipping containers, I hope this will get you to look for other options.
In my opinion, the idea, in general, is nice and had the potential to take out of use shipping containers and convert them into homes, however, we wish only the best for ourselves, and as such many will not take containers that look a little less than perfect (again higher costs), all the while governments are interfering with new restrictions that make this idea even less worthy.
Additionally, there is a global shortage of shipping containers which means that the prices for them will only go up as the global economy keeps growing, which again makes it less desirable.
I would like to offer the idea of supporting the “new” concept of prefab homes, but the real factory manufactured prefabricated homes. This could be a modular house, a prefab panel house, a kit house, or even a pre-cut house, only make sure to pick a sustainable and eco-friendly manufacturer that builds a house that fits your needs and the geolocation conditions of your land.
If you would like to learn more about prefab homes I have lots of information here like building a prefab on a slope, modular homes sustainability, and even a less than 100K$ prefab house build. Please feel free to share if you find this interesting and leave a comment so I would know you visited.
Until next time
My Alternative House