Container Homes Houston

Camo

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I have some undeveloped property inside 610 loop and i am flirting with the idea of building a container home on it.

Does anyone have any experience doing this and could share their trials and tribulations?

high level thought
> low cost
>unique
>fun?

dc509

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12:11p, 6/7/22

AG

How many acres?

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Camo

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12:39p, 6/7/22

small lot about 6,000sq ft

Martin Q. Blank

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12:45p, 6/7/22

There's one at 204 Cordell. Featured in some magazine years ago. I don't think it's necessarily low cost.

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mwp02ag

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1:25p, 6/7/22

AG

I just had my first 20' container delivered to our Nueces River property. It will be our pilot program to build two ~1200sf homes our of 4, 40' containers down the road. Once built we'll use this one as a STR. We are also going to have a couple of RV spots beside it.

My former collogue from my home building days, James Young, designed and built some of the first ones in SA if you'd like to talk to him his number is 210-639-8216.

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TMoney2007

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In reply to Martin Q. Blank • 2:44p, 6/7/22

AG

Martin Q. Blank said:
There's one at 204 Cordell. Featured in some magazine years ago. I don't think it's necessarily low cost.

The interior on a standard container is only 7'-9"ish high. You can get a "high cube" container that is a foot taller. Some kind of finish on the ceiling is going to cut that down.

All the exterior walls are load bearing so if you cut a hole in them (for a door or window not on the ends), you have to go back and reinforce it, especially if you're going to stack them. If you want to stack them in any way except the standard configuration with 4 corners locked together, you're going to have to reinforce it.

Unless you want the interior to resemble a shipping container shaped oven, you're going to end up furring the walls with wood and adding insulation which will cut down on the total interior volume.

I don't think they end up being that affordable, and the restrictions that they create don't seem fun for me to deal with.

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Whoop Delecto

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9:29a, 6/20/22

AG

3 edits

Gilligan

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4:47p, 6/26/22

AG

I have converted three of these into Mobile Clinics.

An office, 3 examination areas and one dentist chair and a small storage area with a generator. Two sent to Africa and one where the tsunami hit many many years ago.

What a PITA! I think the new mini splits make it much more comfortable. But what's the all end cost to build one of these out?

…to live in.

Rexter

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7:57p, 6/26/22

In Huntsville…

https://www.apartments.com/1410-sycamore-ave-huntsville-tx-unit-1a/p9qqtvt/

one MEEN Ag

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In reply to Camo • 12:47p, 6/27/22

AG

Camo said:
I have some undeveloped property inside 610 loop and i am flirting with the idea of building a container home on it.

Does anyone have any experience doing this and could share their trials and tribulations?

high level thought
> low cost
>unique
>fun?

So quick question, what do you think you gain by starting with a shipping container? No foundation? (not true), No framing? (not true). The walls are load bearing so you have to frame out where you cut in windows or doors. Also, you're going to frame out everything else because they get stupid hot and you'll want some insulation. You'll also want to do something to the exterior so it doesn't cook up to a 150 degrees in the direct sun.

Once you've cleaned out and industrial use shipping container (have fun), framed the inside and insulated it, you still need to pay to have all the nice internal finishes that people want.

For an AirBnB where you're there for a weekend and to try something novel that sounds great. For a year long rental to come home to it sounds terrible.

Win At Life

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In reply to one MEEN Ag • 1:53p, 6/27/22

AG

The wall of a house does not need to be built strong enough to pick the house up by chains attached to the wall corners. So, stud walls don't. Container wall are so designed. Which is over designed for any house that you don't plan on picking up and moving. So in short, Containers only make sense for a design that needs to be shipped multiple places during its life. The vast majority of houses do not fall into this category and Containers are a bad choice for those.