Thank you SO MUCH Peter, Rich and Gene for your help!!!

I am in North Carolina and I do seem to remember a friend of mine years ago talking about the drops of water that got all over everything before he put up the insulation. Now I get it. That link to the stuff to insulate with is really helpful too......I will probably get some. I am thinking about good ventilation so I will be giving this whole thing some more 'percolation'.

Thank you SO MUCH Peter, Rich and Gene for your help!!!

I am in North Carolina and I do seem to remember a friend of mine years ago talking about the drops of water that got all over everything before he put up the insulation. Now I get it. That link to the stuff to insulate with is really helpful too......I will probably get some. I am thinking about good ventilation so I will be giving this whole thing some more 'percolation'.

I live down in MS and we have long, hot, humid summers. Lots of shops around here put garage doors on both ends and when its really hot during the summer, you can open both garage doors and get lots of cross breeze blowing through. Insulation is a great idea. Without it, you'll not only get moisture when heating in winter, you also get LOTS of heat coming through that metal siding during the hot months. At my old house, I had a 12x24 pole barn style shop out back. Plain old corrugated silver metal siding, no insulation and only one garage door in the front and small window in the back. I could not stay in that building during the day time during summer months.

Walker

The same bubble reflective stuff says it's good for reflecting summer heat back out too.

Gene Olson
Sculptor
Elk River, MN

Thanks Walker and Gene!

Pay attention Ries is so right. Brad

I believe you are in a hurricane area and should find out what the local codes allow. Stronger is better. It may help save some nice toys and artwork.

Wow........amazingly great feedback......I have lots to think about.

MIKF.
I would want more ceiling height than one of those provides. The problem is one of structure limiting the scale of what I can make, and a big one of ventilation. These will still need a concrete foundation. Their floors just won't stand the traffic. Flat roofs are also an issue in most of the country. Beyond that there is a reason they can be bought for pennies on the dollar. Suppose for a moment that you get one delivered to your site. How are you going to "pick it up" from the semi, and set it on your level foundation? Not to mention in most places in the country zoning Will let you put it up, then tell you to haul it away, not to mention that they begin fining you for taking too long. Frankly they are over priced at pennies on the dollar. Brad

Brad,

You make some very valid points, particularly about the headroom, but I can't agree that containers are overpriced at pennies on the dollar.

Down here in the Virgin Islands (almost the third world), you would be surprised at the number of businesses that use these containers for shop space, storage space and even offices. No, they don't run big welding or blacksmithing shops out of them, but they do operate locksmithing shops, furniture repair, jewelery making, and a host of other small businesses out of them. One popular method, given our year-round benign climate, is to put three of them in a "U" shape and roof over the open middle part with a pole barn type roof. The containers are then in the shade, protected from rain and the courtyard area is big enough for sizeable equipment. The containers themselves make very secure, weather and hurricane-proof office and storage areas.

With building materials priced as they are, this has been a satisfactory solution for a lot of starting businesses.

If I was in an area where local codes permitted using containers that way, I would probably do it. I don't know an other way you can get that kind of cubic footage of storage space that cheaply and still have it be secure. Liek you say though, most areas with zoning laws probably would have a problem with containers beign used as permanent buildings. The solution is to put them up on piers, as "temporary", rather than on a foundation. The floors, in my experience are remarkably durable, capable of handling forklifts and heavy machinery without a whimper.

For a permanent shop structure, I'd build with concrete block, a real bond beam, and a truss roof. It's cheap enough, quick, and durable, if done correctly. You can have all the ceiling height you want for the cost of a few more blocks. Second choice would be a pole building as Ries describes. I've lived with hurricanes too many years to build with less than hurricane-proof methods. I would probably never put up a "cheap" steel building.

There are steel buildings that will withstand hurricanes, but they're Quonset-type structures that aren't exactly attractive, unless you like airplane hangars. :-)

The cost of steel has risen enough in recent years that many containers are now being returned, even empty. One shipper here who brings in shipments from the States sends all his containers back empty, as it is cost-effective to do so now. Times are changing, eh?

Rich

Richard.
I live in the 34th most densely populated county in the country. It is also the most densely populated county in Florida. Just on the other side of the bay is the port of Tampa. There are containers for sale there. Have at 'em.
Unlike you and I most people would be unable to get the things off the truck, let alone move them when they did.
The rest of this country gets two things you and I don't have to contend with. It's gets cold up there and it snows.
Snow collapses flat roofs. Here if you have to put up trusses and a roof, the expensive part of a structure, then you just as well put in some walls, Cheapest part and fastest. Where is that no codes area of the country? Here structures have to be ventilated and insulated. Two can't get around issues. Thirdly one wants to consider the effect any structure will have on the overall real estate value. Taxes will be the same on a poorly thought out structure as they will be on a well designed one. A poorly thought out building could, after spending the money to build, bring down the overall property value. Though we are fast becoming a third world country we are not there, yet. Brad

I too have to disagree on the "overpriced" issue. Headroom can be easily rectified...just stack 'em. As for snow, well that is a non-issue since the roofs of most cargo containers can hold tons, literally, of weight. You can also add a slope roof if necessary/desired. You need to be willing to think outside the box (pardon the pun). It's a brave new world of "Cargotecture".

Some companies are starting to "build" with cargo containers as part of kits, like Lot-EK. I doubt they would bring down property values since their "houses" START around $300,000 (without the land).Check some stuff out here-

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/05/04/prefab-friday-lot-ek-container-home-kit-cmk/

or here

http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbayhome.htm

Granted it will take some work to make them look nice, but to offer Kimberli's (OP) some other viable options, I think this is one (with a little sweat equity).

I suppose it depends on where you live, availability, etc, but in the Seattle WA area it only costs $650 to have a container delivered and "placed" via crane.

Ouch! Down here in the VI, it only costs about $250 to have one delivered and swung onto your piers, foundation, etc. If you get lucky you can get it dropped for a hundred bucks flat.

You're absolutely right about the roof handling loads, too. They stack those things like Legos about six or eight high all the time with no issues. Snow loading won't be the issue, but standing water on the top of them can result in premature failure. Most folks down here coat the roof with a couple of coats of elastomeric roof coating, and renew it every five years.

I have a friend in Baltimore who has a welding and blacksmith shop built from shipping containers stacked and spaced with a roof. Works pretty well for him.

They're definitely not for everybody, though. Brad is correct that most urban locales that are anything other than pure industrial areas will have rules against such things. If you tried to put one in a subdivision, you'd probably be lynched by a hundred angry soccer moms. (grin)

Angry soccer moms...a fate worse then death! :) Although in this day and age I can't imagine most folks even having room in most subdivisions, they build on these postage stamp size lots. Luckily I have 1 acre and I'm President of the Home Owners Association Architectural review board, so I approve myself. Mu-ha-ha, I'm drunk with power!

I figured $650ish was a deal for a large truck and crane service, but $250 is incredible! I'm outside of Seattle (40 min drive) so I assume mileage plays into that figure.

Oh, yes. Mileage is everything in the dreyage business. I live on an island that is only 26 miles from end to end, so you rarely have to move one more than half that distance. Admittedly, our roads aren't so great, but they manage. With the new trucks with knuckle-boom craqnes on them, they can deliver one and swing it over your house and into your back yard onto a foundation using a radio control remote for the crane. Darn slick, and only takes them about ten minutes from arrival to gone.

Now, that's for the twenty foot containers. I'd imagine the forty footers take more crane, but I've only seen them moved at the port, where they use a huge gantry crane to move loaded ones. A full 40-footer grosses around sixty thousand pounds, so I doubt a knuckle boom could swing a full one. Empty maybe, but a truck that haul a 40 foot box won't have much room left for a crane, I suppose. I don't really know about that, though. That would probably affect the price more than a bit, too. That may be why it's $650 in Seattle - are they moving 40-footers?

Richard I believe it's the function of the walls to carry the load. The function of the ceiling is to not leak. FWIW
Brad

Certainly it is the walls that carry the load, as long as the load is over the walls. Those walls can tolerate incredible loads in compression, by the way. The actual roof members themselves will come into play if a load is not directly over a wall, though. Still, the roof members of ocean freight containers will tolerate several hundred pounds per square foot live loading, which is in excess of even the most stringent commercial building codes. Those things are tough! They routinely survive occurances that would crush a wood framed building, or cave a huge hole through a normal roof.

The function of the roof, BTW, is not to leak. The function of a ceiling is to hide the roof. (grin) Seriously though, those containers are waterproof, and airtight, too. Every so often some stowaway discovers that the hard way.

Not everyone can afford to build a nice concrete building and decommissioned ocean freight containers offer an affordable alternative to some folks. I'm certainly not saying they are the be-all and end-all of enclosed space, by any means. But they're not as worthless as you may believe.

just want to throw in that i've got a 40 footer that I use to store my steel surplus and tools and motorcycles and whatever else I need store. I got it with delivery for $2500 and then my buddy gave me a 12' roll up door for a couple hundred bucks that we mounted on one side. its not too much of an eye sore either, at least since I shot it with some cheep white paint (used to be blue with won-hi in big red letters). its just good cheep covered space.
Matt