Refrigerator 40' container

So you want a container.  You know it needs to be insulated, but what exactly will fit your needs?  Containers come in two styles – standard shipping container and refrigerator (reefer) containers.  Here are some general rules of thumb that might be helpful.

1)      Refrigerator containers are ideal when you need to store items at a particular temperature year round and you have a power source to run the container.  They are considerably more expensive than standard containers, which may play a role in your decision-making.

Inside refrigerator container

2)      If you are storing general items, the standard containers are great.  Standard containers are used around the world, year round for transporting the vast majority goods manufactured year round.

3)      If you are modifying the container, standard containers are much preferred to refrigerator containers.  Refrigerator containers have loose insulation between two walls, which makes modifications a huge headache.  Also, if you are using the container for living space, you will be very disappointed with a refrigerator container floor.  They are grooved to drain any liquid away from items being stored.  While that is great if the container isn’t plugged in and you are storing ice cream.  It is not as great if you want to live in the container.

Inside used 40'

One other consideration for those who are modifying containers – if you plan on adding electricity or plumbing, you will want to insulate the container once you have added those and done all your modifications.

If you still have questions about which is the right one for you, please call us and we can discuss your needs further.

Inside a Double-door 40'

Standard ISO shipping containers come with two swing doors on one short end of the container.  But that doesn’t work for everyone.  Today, we are going to cover some different options you have when purchasing containers.

1)      Double-door containers.  These are containers with standard swing doors on both ends of the container.  Because these are not as common and are so useful, they are generally only available as “one-trip” containers, meaning they are manufactured in Asia, make one trip to the US and then sold to you.  Since they are one-trip containers, they are freshly painted, have no markings and are a great option.  But they are also more expensive.

Open-roll-up door on container

2)     Roll-up doors.  If you want a used container and need the access, but not the price tag, consider adding a roll-up door on the opposite end.  Roll-ups can be added either to the end of the sides of containers to add extra access to the container.  The only place we do not recommend putting it is where the original doors are located.  Those doors are connected into the corner posts that support the container, so you do not want to mess with that.  You can have the door added on before it comes out to you, or use a kit to add the door on yourself.  You get the same access at usually half the price.

3)      Personnel –doors.  So you don’t need a full roll-up, or you just don’t want to deal with bigger doors.  Maybe a personnel door is the right option for you.  Like roll-up doors, these can be added on before you get it or by a kit where you add on the door yourself.  This is great option if you are going to be going in and out of the container often and want to have access just like you would to a building.

Man-door on container

4)      Open-side containers.  These great containers are only available in 20′ long, one-trip containers.  They feature doors that open on the 20′ side of the container.  These are a great option for retail containers, industrial applications and so much more.  But they also come with a pretty large price tag.

5)  Open-top containers.  These are a great option if you have to load the container from above.  They come with a tarp to function as the roof.  So these, are for those people who simply need to have this design, but it is not ideal for the person who wants a nice, basic container.

Containers are so flexible.  Even if they don’t come the way you want them, they can easily be changed to fit your needs.  We can help you add doors, windows, etc. so that it works for you, just the way you want, or we can help you to do it yourself.

20' Open side

Open-top 40' container

Containers with a roof between them

1) Container Barn. For this barn, you get two different types of storage – indoor storage inside containers and a covered area between the containers.  You place two containers down with space between them.  Install a roof between the two containers.  You have wind and water tight, insect and rodent-proof storage inside the containers and a covered area for equipment that you want to keep snow and rain from damaging.  You can also use the area under the roof for doing work when the weather is not cooperating with you.

2) Hay/feed/manure storage. Store hay bales, feed or manure in storage containers.  Since they are wind and water tight as well as insect and rodent proof, they are a great way to keep what you want in inside the container and what you want out can’t get in there.

Great extra storage for equipment, feed, etc.

3) Equipment storage. Do you have some equipment that just doesn’t fit in your other buildings?  Put it in a container.  You can even add roll-up doors on the container for access from multiple sides of the container.

4) Lean-to. So your container isn’t so new looking any more.  You teenager ran some equipment into it and now it isn’t as water-tight as when you got it.  But you know there is still some life left in it.  Cut and finish off larger openings in the container and set it next to a pole barn or other building.  You may have to do a little reinforcing to make sure the roof is still sturdy, but the container can still provide some shaded storage area, without actually leaning into your exising building.

A cut up container provides additional storage attached to existing building

Containers can be moved around so you can keep changing how you use them to fit your changing needs.  The 20’s weight 5,000 pounds and the 40’s just under 10,000 pounds, so you can drag them around with your existing equipment if you have some chains to attach to the container.  They can easily be modified with extra doors for easier access as well.

World Rally containers have many uses

1)       Mobile rally car shop and mobile team headquarters.  The teams for the World Rally Championship use shipping containers as their shops, as well as other items they need for their hospitality teams when they get to their location.  They transport their marketing materials so they can create their own unique space at the rallies.

Each team has their own area which can move with them throughout the season.

Character Project container theater

2)      Theaters.  We have not one, but two examples of using containers as theaters.

USA’s Character Project has traveling storage containers that are modified to be a full movie theaters that are customized to fit the films they are showing.  They are screening 8 original short films in various cities throughout the country.

Cardiff is getting its own 40’ storage container theater for the play The Container.  It is a play that explores the journey of Somali and Afganistani refugees coming to the UK for asylum.  The container-theater is one component in bringing the story home to theatergoers.

3)      Radio station studio.  Radio Free Libya in Masrata has outfitted a container as a studio for guests who cannot come to the radio station’s offices for security reasons.

Containers are a great option for any mobile space.  They can be modified easily, moved easily and are flexible enough to turn into whatever you can imagine.

Fire Training Grounds

Fire departments around the country look for useful, safe, cost-effective ways to practice fire training.  One good, reusable option – containers.  The containers provide a steel structure that can easily be modified to recreate real life situations and the containers can be burned over and over again.  Fire departments can add on more containers over time to expand their training grounds.

Fire Training Building

One department that has been working on creating a safe way to practice is the Sylva Fire Department in Sylva, NC.  Sylva FD purchased two 20’s and two 40’ containers last summer and have created a training ground.  They have plans to expand these training grounds as funds and time permits, but in the meantime, they are off to a great start.  They shared these pictures with me so I could share them with other fire departments thinking of doing the same thing.

Fire training containers

Getting ready for another phase of fire training grounds

Eco-Restaurant Greenhouse by Joost

Containers provide a secure, easy way to install a temporary building just about anywhere.  They are easy to modify to personalize to your needs.  Some uses include:

• Temporary, ground-level offices
• Cabin
• Hunting lodge
• Restaurant (see here)
• Portable retail space
• Temporary housing
  

  Quick, easy building

• Hotels
• Workshop
• Tool Crib
• Artist studio
• Any time you need a roof over your head – quickly.

Container buildings can be as fancy or as basic as you want.  Currently they are a popular, green building material in the architectural world.  But they can also be as basic is throwing a door and window on a container and calling it the office.

A couple of things to think about while you plan

Large shop made with containers stacked 2-high to accomodate trucks and containers

1)      Do you need an architect or engineer? If this is housing and you are removing large portions of the container or you are stacking modified containers, then YES.  Don’t risk it, make sure your plan will work once you pull that wall off the container and avoid disaster.  If you are living in the container, you will still need electricity, plumbing and all the other features you expect from a tradition building.  That takes some know-how.

2)      To insulate or buy insulated? As a general rule of thumb, only get an insulated container if you are using it to keep something at a steady temperature.  If you are modifying it, get a non-insulated container.  Insulated containers are expensive and very hard to modify.  Save your wallet and a headache by modifying a standard container and insulating once that is done.  Don’t forget to insulate the flooring and roof!

Inside the shop

3)      Modify yourself or have someone else do it? If you can weld, doing some easy modifications yourself is a great way to save money.  Use container modification kits to add doors, windows, skylights, AC/Heat or other basic additions.  If you have more complicated modifications – taking out container walls and adding in extra support, adding in industrial flooring, etc – bring in the pros.  These are headaches or possible structural problems you don’t want to handle on your own.  Have a container shop take care of doing that for you.

You are only limited by your imagination – and the laws of physics – in coming up with the container building of your dreams.

Exploded view of container

Basic Frame

Design - Containers are designed to filled, then stacked on ships, then removed.  Containers hold all their weight in the floor of the container and the four corner posts.  Those corner posts are what the cranes connect to when moving full containers around.  These corner posts are slightly higher than the roof and slightly lower than the floor of the container.

What this means for you – When you stack containers, make sure that you always have corner posts resting on corner posts.  If you can’t do this, make sure those corner posts have extra support.  Also, do not remove these corner posts unless you have designed to support the container in another way.

Corrugated walls and roof

Walls and Roofs

Design – Containers are made of corrugated steel.  The walls and roofs are made of the same material.  The walls support the roof of the container.

What this means for you – You can cut holes for doors and windows in the side of containers.  But just make sure you don’t remove the whole side of a container without providing support for the roof.  Also, the roof is not strong enough to handle heavy loads.  If you are planning on burying the container or making a balcony on top of a container, make sure you create a platform that distributes the weight back to the four corner posts.

Container doors

Doors

Design – Container doors are attached to corner posts.

What this means to you – They work well they way they are designed.  If you want a different type of entry, add extra doors on the other 3 sides of the container.

Insulation

Design – Standard containers are made of corten steel and are not insulated.  Refrigerator containers are steel containers with insulation and an interior wall added onto the container.  The insulation used is loose between the walls.  Also, refrigerated/insulated containers are generally sold with cooling units still included.

Inside refrigerated container

What this means to you – If you are looking for a container that is insulated, the first big question to ask yourself is if you are going to modify the container further.  If you are, the standard containers will be much easier to work with.  Once you cut into an insulated container, you will have a mess on your hands and the insulation will be reduced.  Instead, go with a standard container, make your modifications to suit your needs and then frame the container like you would a traditional home.  You will lose the same amount of container width as you would with a refrigerated container, but will skip a large headache.

For more questions on do-it-yourself modifications, please call us!

1.  Reliable Security. Containers are far and away the most secure way to store tools and materials on a job site. Constructed of heavy-duty steel, they’re indestructible. Add a lockbox and only a plasma cutter could have a chance (not a common tool for the common thief).

2.  Storage Where You Need It. You can have your materials delivered directly to the job site, saving you money and hauling headaches over the long run. Everything will be kept safe and dry from Day 1 to the end of construction.

3.  Time Savings. Your workers won’t have to go back and forth from your location with company trucks or wait for co-workers to show up with the tool that got put in another guy’s truck.  Everything they need will be right on site and ready to go every morning, rain or shine.

4.  Added Work Space. On bad-weather days, you and your team can use the container as a dry workshop right on site.

5.  Mobility. When the job is done, you can move the container to your next job site … with the tools right in it. (For this, we recommend the 20’ container, easily movable by tow trucks).

Your tools will be safe, secure, and right where you need them. The cost savings will add up. And as a bonus you can paint your container with your logo and company colors—an instant on-site billboard, great for your business and a productivity booster for your team.