Permit-able Residential Dwelling Plan Requirements

[mar1957]

Hey if prince Harry can live in a container. ..............

Kiddin aside what about mold? Being so tight would airflown be a problem?

[kalakoa]

If I were doing a cargotecture project, I would avoid cutting into a perfectly good container, instead:

- Use intact containers as a foundation for a huge elevated deck with a stick-built shack or yurt on top;

- Work with alternative container styles such as open-top or open-side.

An open-side container topped with trusses would make a great frame, at which point all the walls are basically non-structural decorative trim, could even just screen it in (security issues notwithstanding).

[MarkP]

I have not noticed mold so much as condensation on heavy objects, jugs of water in particular. As for living in, if you go by code you would have as much ventilation as any other house. Yes, airflow would be a problem unless you specifically address it.

Containers have several limitations as far as housing goes. They are too skinny. It is way easier to lay out a 16' x 20' house than an 8' x 40' house. They have terrible insulation and condensation issues. They are like a guitar in that sound travels throughout the body because the welded seams are all so tight. Overlapping layers of plywood on 2 x 4s connected with nails provides a lot of dampening of noise that you don't realize you need until you try living inside a long welded tube.

They support themselves wonderfully well, along with about 50,000 lb of cargo if it is distributed along the floor. Trying to support serious weight on the roof would cause problems and would necessitate extra reinforcement extending down to the floor of the container, as well as a full set of floor joists for the upper shack. I considered it but realized I wasn't gaining all that much by having the container underneath. There would be some benefit to combining the container and the shack. The container needs a roof and the shack would be the roof. The shack needs a foundation and the container would be that.

[Kaixin]

Just want to say everyone's information has been extremely helpful so far, and thank you to yurtgirl and markp for the references! Probably a good idea to go with the local draftsman.

I dont plan to make the structure too small, around 550sqft or so, and keeping things as simple as possible so that I can do most of the work. Don't want to turn simple home projects into rocket science :/

[YurtGirl]

You're welcome, Kaixin. I think that's a wise choice, to keep it simple and let people who already know the details help you out for a reasonable cost. Then you get to spend your energy on the more fun stuff! Kalakoa, I like that design idea, with containers as foundation. I saw that design somewhere around Puna... Can't remember where, but it was one of the only container designs I actually liked.

Melissa Fletcher
___________________________
"Make yurts, not war" Bill Coperthwaite, 1973

[MarkP]

I am doing everything as cheaply as possible. There is space inside the container that is not fully utilized so I am going to use it instead of building more space on top. That is just me though. The concept of using the container as a foundation with built in secure storage has a lot of good points.

I consider it necessary to put a roof over the whole container to slow down the rust. Otherwise I would have considered building a small 12'x20' shack on top. If I covered the whole container that was getting to be some serious materials for something that was not initially permitted. As it is I think I am not out that much nor am I attracting that much attention with my "storage" building.