Shipping container home construction has increased in popularity in recent years. Folks looking at the possibilities of shipping container home construction projects, though, need to understand how these jobs differ from more traditional buildings. Constructing a house from shipping containers differs in these three ways.
Standardization and Modularity
By design, shipping containers are modular and standardized. They have to fit on ships, in ports, at warehouses, and on truck trailers with zero modifications. Likewise, they have to move between these uses with as little effort as possible by shippers.
Consequently, you can find shipping containers that are well-designed to stack together. This can radically simplify the design process because you think of it as working with building blocks.
Notably, this makes prefabrication popular on shipping container home construction projects. Many firms provide modules for kitchens and bathrooms, for example. Even if you don't use prefab components, you can readily use the square design as a template for planning where to put everything in a grid.
Materials
Modern shipping containers almost always use steel materials. Foremost, this means the engineering ratings of the sections of container homes are easily understood. As long as the container is in good shape, you can assume the steel will have a standard strength under load sufficient to hold several sections above it. In other words, a two-story shipping container home construction plan will usually be quite simple to evaluate in terms of structural engineering needs.
As long as you produce quality welds, the containers should be rock-solid. This makes containers ideal for construction in tough conditions. If you want to build a house in a high-wind region, for example, you won't have to worry about siding ripping off the container units.
Cost-Effectiveness and Eco-Friendliness
Especially after the pandemic era rise in lumber prices, traditional building methods have lost some of their appeal on the cost front. Companies often need to part with containers due to overstocking or just to retire old units. Contractors in the shipping container home construction business follow the market and know how to keep their costs down, too.
The reuse of shipping containers for construction also is an ecologically friendly choice. As with many modern lifestyles and consumption choices, the reuse of existing materials reduces pollution by avoiding the production of new materials. Likewise, you will guarantee a container unit won't end up becoming waste or scrap for at least a couple more decades.
To find out more about shipping container home construction, contact a company such as Smart Barndominiums.
