How to Design Your Own Shipping Container Home
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Benefits of Using ISBUs for Home Building
There are a number of benefits in using ISBUs – inter-model steel building units – for home building or residential projects. Otherwise known as shipping container houses, these sturdy, steel structures are a captivating idea.
Shipping containers are made from special steel in order to be strong enough to withstand rough conditions at seas and long exposure to outside elements while being able to protect the goods stored inside. They are made to a standard set of measurements in order to be stackable the world over. There are two sizes – 20 feet long or 40 feet long. Each shipping container has a width of 8 feet and a height of 8 feet 6 inches.
Because of their uniform size, large number, and the fact that they were built to last, it became important to consider alternative uses for containers that began to stack up in back lots and shipping docks. Years ago, the military explored their potential for portable operation centers. It wasn’t too long, however, before their low cost and ready availability attracted the attention of architects and builders with a unique need – safe, fast, inexpensive construction for office space, apartments, and homes.
The benefits of using ISBUs for home building are hard to ignore:
- Environmentally friendly approach to building as you make use of existing materials rather than require additional trees to be cut down for building lumber.
- Less expensive than wood construction – particularly if you use used shipping containers.
- Faster build times as containers are pre-fabricated.
- Easily expandable – often compared to building with Legos because the containers can be stacked on top of each other or side by side. One or more walls of a container can be removed to increase a home’s interior space.
- Fire resistant
- Mold resistant
- Resistant to insect damage
- Ability to stand up to strong winds and heavy storms
The thought of living in a shipping container home evokes images of cold, tight quarters in ugly, metal boxes but the finished product is usually anything but ugly. Add other elements such as stone and glass and complete the outside with special paints or coverings and you easily end up with sleek, sophisticated, styling and crisp lines.
The benefits of using ISBUs for home building continue to be explored. Not only can shipping containers be used to build houses but they can be used to complete additions to your existing home. Always wanted a guest house out back, an outside office, or a pool house to store all your swim gear? Use your imagination to outfit a shipping container on your property and you could save a lot of time and money.
Photo: © Photohome UK
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