Big summer project.. banghouse ... wait, that doesn't sound right, but its still apt

[Thumpin455]

I've been in the containers for 3 years now. Plans are to build this with the containers. I did the layout in a post apocalyptic video game called Fallout 4, so I could get the feel of the layout and floor plan. Not exactly to scale, but there is lots of room in there for me. I got the idea from one built in China with 40' containers, thats the last three pics of what they did over there. Since mine are 20', my house will be a bit smaller. Works for me because my kids are grown. Insulating the outside will be the big thing, but the biggest project is tearing down the crappy old cabin that was here when I bought the place.

I'll update as I go, but for now I am thrashing on the 72 Cutlass so I can store all the stuff in the shop that is currently in the falling down cabin. Seems easier and cheaper than building a small shed (which I still might do). This is the direction I'm headed now. Getting equipment is part of the hassle this year, since last year was so wet nobody could do anything, and everything is rented until a month from now. I am getting too old to be doing this, so if it doesn't happen soon, it probably won't.

[RockJustRock]

I find a LOT of "alternative" housing info searching terms like "Tiny Houses" and "Full Time RVing". I know you're not doing either but the concepts apply. I think we all will get BangHouses sooner or later. It's why I launched The Shed Thread. They're building permanent housing from containers out here, Orange County in particular. But of course a different Climate Profile. In Long Beach they've built a strip mall from containers. Of course in true California fashion by the time things actually get done the cost difference from starting with containers over lumber becomes negligible. I proposed a stacking rather than docking manufactured house in High School. Got laughed at, but Cathedral Ceilings weren't even a thing yet so...

Lots of action on this search, but not DIY:

https://www.google.com/search?source....0.MNhEYeC0q_c

Better:

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=eeQEW7TtLIW2sAXLv5rgBg&q=diy+shipping+container+homes&oq=DIY+shipping+container&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i67k1l4j0l6.2855.15060.0.19331.23.22.0.0.0.0.180.3630.0j22.22.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.22.3627.0..35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20i264k1j0i131i67k1.0.BoFkwktNrjo

[DanStokes]

I suppose a lot of towns have these but Wilmington is getting container homes built as we speak. If they were further along I'd get pics but right now they just look like containers.

Dan

[Dan Barlow]

These things sound great for places that have a lot of earthquakes.

[Thumpin455]

I have lots of snow. It gets colder in here when the snow has all melted, less insulation and the floors have cold air under them. The big thing is condensation, it rains inside when its in the 30-40 range because the metal is cool and contains warm humid air, so its like the opposite of a beer can in summer.The solution is to insulate the outside. It can be a fascia, since the container is the support structure, which means you can make it look however you want.

This would work better in a mild climate that doesn't get as hot or cold. Spray insulation works well, but the cost is more than I want to spend. The cost of doing that is as much as my entire cost of putting the thing up. That means I will get creative about the outside, make it look like its definitely not a container house, and keep it quite warm inside. The plan is to use my compost water heater for radiant heat in the floors. I have baseboard heaters for the shop to do the same thing out there.

The green one in the pic is the cabin that was here, its a wreck and not worth saving. I'll salvage what I can from it, but most of it is junk. I used the cabinets from its kitchen in my shop. The other pic is where I have been living since 2015. It works, but there are issues. One is that bringing a girl out here results in her never coming back.. lol. Driving 13 miles one way to take a shower is another problem.

[RockJustRock]

Off the top of my head have you considered a layer of pallets or using pallet wood? It is cheap and pressure treated. Enclose the pallets with something like canvas or PVC because your structural needs are already fulfilled. The RV Living people have interesting things to say about tenting up their RVs, too. Water and sewer are high on my list. If you drill (expensive) chances are the water might not be pure enough. I've lived with bottled water as my only beverage. Felt so much better I want something purer to shower with now too. Looks like there is new tech for filtration as I was looking at spot free systems in case I ever get a car worth washing. Less rent and better car washing, the BangShift version of being a prepper.

Sooner or later you will face the reality that everything stanks sooner or later. Ventilation will be needed, climate controlled. That's why I keep looking at hot and dry places. I had Evap. in Az. and love, love, LOVED it. I'd sit like a pooch in front of the swamp cooler with my tongue hanging out drooling but 30 or more degrees cooler than everyone else.

But yeah, think about pallets. Where there are too many containers there MUST be too many pallets, right?

[RockJustRock]

Potter's Lane in Anaheim. Like I said so Californiaized, might as well have used 2x4s. Tree huggers pleased tho. BTW I see new buildings going 5 and 6 stories high out here with no steel, just framing. Scares me. GREAT TV and WiFi reception I guess, but wait for the wind, quakes and fires in those cracker boxes.
https://www.ocregister.com/2017/04/0...less-veterans/

No girders, all 2x4. Onlookers claimed it was swaying and leaning as it went up. Underground parking, less than one space for every 3 bedrooms.

[STINEY]

BangHouse, lol. That's great and so wrong all at once. Glad to hear the plan has reached this stage.....can't wait to follow along on the progression.

Todd, on local pole-buildings there is a product like a wide roll of vinyl that is sort of bubble-wrappish like. Think of Super Industrial bubble wrap with a nice smooth white vinyl-like surface. Anyways, this goes down over the purlins and before the steel sheet roofing, and its sole purpose is to stop the indoor rainstorms from condensation like you describe. I grew up with one without the insulation and that shed would drown you on certain days of the year, so I completely sympathize. You ain't no dummy and I am sure you know the options to cure this, the trick is to making the cure affordable ain't it?

Good to see your plans, looks awesomely cool and industrial.

[RockJustRock]

I'd differ on purpose made bubble wrap, but ordinary packing stuff, bubble OR foam has possibilities. Wonder how the cost/effectiveness breaks down. Somebody scientific like Squirrel would be able to figure it out, but he won't care, he's in Tucson in front of HIS swamp cooler, NOT! He building toys.

[RockJustRock]

Bingo! Pallets near Marquette. Free or almost free.

https://up.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=pallets&sort=rel

[Thumpin455]

RJR If you look closely at the pic of the winter shack, I used pallets to build the walls for the front door and window. I can get almost as many as I want easily, since I have several companies that will give them to me for hauling them off. Its all hard wood and works ok if they aren't so torn up they break when you pull them apart. I've been using pallets for all kinds of stuff for years.

I have tried the foil backed bubble wrap in 4' wide rolls, it works pretty good, but I will need more than that, it gets quite cold up here. Foam 4x8x2 sheets along with the pink stuff using the bubble wrap as a barrier will probably be the way I go. The foam is cheap, works pretty good, and its what I used for the last three years, have a stack of them in the old cabin waiting to get used. I also have the 50'x20' roll of rubber roofing that has been mostly keeping the water out of the house, so I can employ that as well.

Water isn't a problem, well getting it isn't. The drain and septic are the problem. need to have somewhere for the water to go and not make an ice patch in my yard.. I have a massive lake, largest in the world about a mile away. I have a well, I won't drink from it without a filter, but it gives me 3 to 4 gallons then slows to less than a gallon a minute, typical of wells here since I live above a sandstone shelf. The other place I lived was the same way. The difference is the shelf is only 2' down here, so that adds to the level of difficulty. My shop foundation is sitting on that rock in one corner. That is why the plumbing will be on one wall, because the ground freezes all the way down to the rock, which means any buried pipe needs to be heated all winter. The power goes out all the damn time up here, which is why I have a 7k generator, and all of this plays into the why and how I am doing the house thing. so I need solutions that most people don't.

The frost heave is big here, the center of my shop rises about an inch every winter. So another project is getting and keeping water from under it by giving the water an easier route past the shop. If I don't the concrete will be junk in ten years or less. That is another reason for the container house, if I put down a slab it will move around and none of my doors will close, so I am doing strips of concrete that will probably be sitting on the rock. I figure make them 3 or 4 ft wide and all the same height. Add anchors and some foam and treated lumber between the metal and concrete and the foundation shouldn't cause problems.

Then I also have the issue I am dealing with today, and next weekend. Rain. It is what caused me to not get anything done last year, it was always a puddle. I've had a few weeks of dry after the snow melted, and now I will be getting lots of rain for the entire weekend. Last year it felt like this was Seattle, always freaking raining.

If I can ever get the house done, the plan is to use rain water, build a filter so I can use that water for the dogs, dishes, shower, toilet, etc. I use rain water for my dogs already. I melt snow in winter for them I have been getting 5 gallon jugs for a water cooler from the local grocer, costs me $1.85 to fill them. My cooler makes hot and chilled water, so I have been using that for drinking water, coffee, and cooking.

The solutions are already figured out for the most part. The big ting now is weather.

[STINEY]

An interesting tidbit that lots of the guys on here may not realize......the frost Thumpin is dealing with is such a strong concern that there are actual "Frost Dates" which is a window of time on the calendar that heavy trucks are forbidden to be on the roads, due to the extra damage done while the roads are in "upheaval" mode.

[RockJustRock]

I remember heat heaves in N.Y. when it got over 100. Not only sweating your butt off but crawling over the broken pavement in a traffic jam.

Good to know about if I ever buy a slab.

One way out there question.... Is it possible to set up a burial plot on private property so it can NEVER be disturbed? I'd kinda like that....

[Thumpin455]

Yep, the trucks are limited all winter. This isn't your typical area. Think Alaska, but not far from Green Bay. Remote enough that everything is expensive and you can get away from it all, but not so far away you need to go through another country to get there.

I don't know about the burial plots. Not like I am going to be buried here... intentionally. maybe if something falls on me and nobody comes around for a few months...

I managed to get there first and pick something up to make my life a bit easier. Its a 1978 International 4130 skid steer loader. Yay me! Just worked over the driveway a bit when I took it of the trailer, and got used to running it. Its not big enough to do everything I need to do, but it will work for all the little stuff where a larger rented machine is overkill and more expensive. I paid more for this than most of my cars, $1000 more than the beater truck I used to pull it home. So it was right in the sweet spot for me to pick it up. Usually around here they want over $10k for worn out junk, and $30k for ancient backhoes with 250k hours on them that need everything replaced. So I did ok.

It needs some work, has an axle bearing out, some hydraulic leaks, it blows hot air on you from the engine (great in winter, sucks in summer), and the bucket is a tad rusted. A new set of tires would be the tits on this thing, I'll wait until they explode. Hopefully it makes it through the nightmare of work I gotta do this year before the tires give up. So I can either blow the snow or push it when that time comes. Since it has a built in heater.....

[DanStokes]

Cool! That will be a great thing to have during the construction project. And if you spiff it up a bit there's no doubt you can get more than your money out of it if you decide to sell it later.

Dan