Shipping Container vs. Storage Shed

[Reptyle]

Your thoughts? Pros? Cons? The good, the bad and the ugly?

Just to be clear, I'm talking about something like this:

[clovis]

Here is a post I made to another shipping container thread:

Here's my two cents if anyone cares:

I am all for thinking outside the box, or inside the box, pun intended, when it comes to living cheaply in regards to housing. I really mean that.

I think container housing is cool, but should be considered on a case by case basis, with serious consideration taken using firm calculations of material costs.

For instance, I once saw a container home that used two of them, and it was really cool. The owner said he had $36,000 in it, not including the lot.

$36,000 for less than 400 square feet of living space? Not a good bargain if you asked me.

Around here, I've seen SC advertised as low as $1600, plus $400 for delivery. I've seen them advertised up to $3000, plus delivery.

On the other hand, my BIL built a nice shed,, 10 x 18 in size. It is a quality built shed with T-111 siding, stick framed with 2 x 4's nailed 16" on center, features a cheap window, steel service door, and a cool roll up door that he bought at Menards. Again, this is a NICE QUALITY shed/barn/shop.

Total cost, not including shingles or the concrete pad, about $1700.

My BIL bought all of his materials new. I don't think any of it was salvaged or saved from something else, even though he did comparative shopping on materials. I am a natural born salvager, so I'm guessing my building costs would definately be lower than his.

Unless you can get a real deal on a SC, depending on your area, I think traditional stick built is the way to go.

Here are some advantages:

1. You will have the ability to modify a stick built home that you build.
2. It will be easier for you to build. Drilling a hole in wood is easier than metal.
3. A wood shed can convert easily back into a shop, barn, office, guest house, or rental.
4. It will be easier to insulate and keep it hot or cold.
5. The shed you build can easily be built to code.
6. A shed like my BIL can easily accomodate a loft for storage or for sleeping.
7. While you'll need ventilation in a shed, a shed probably won't hold moisture like a SC would.
8. Repairing a shed will be easier than a repairing a SC.
9. And the most important, at least to me,is resale value. How many people are open minded enough to want to pay for a SC house on unimproved land? Most people I know would wonder how much it would cost to have it removed when they bought the land.

Again, this comes down to value. What are you getting, value-wise, for your money?

[nehimama]

If you plan to use it for storage, and it's weather-tight, go for it. We used one for storage of household goods for roughly six years with no problems (except the neighbors complained about the eyesore!)

[Wolf mom]

Love my 40 ft. shopping container. I added a side door, two turbines on top and a divider panel at the 20' length. I put it up on railroad ties. I use 1/2 for hay storage, the other for general storage. Later I added 10' roof the length of container on the lee side. Great shelter for my horses.

Mice proof, dust proof, water proof. It's been moved twice (before the side roof) & is as good as new. Paint it to blend with it's surroundings...

Being that it's steel & only 8ft wide, I'd never consider turning it into anything livable except on a very temporary basis.

[Common Tator]

I love the one pictured here: Different way to build a barn

[DaleK]

Depends what you think you might need to store in it in the future. Door opening being a huge limiting factor.

[KIT.S]

Be aware, though, that your county may require a bribe to let you buy one and put it on your land! We got notice that our shipping container needed to have a permit (read BRIBE) because it was more than 200 square feet, even though it is not on a foundation, not permanent construction, mobile, etc. Darn it! It's going to cost $200 and a bunch of paperwork and I'm really mad at 'em!

Told my son we should cut it in half and put in end-walls, so each one was less than 200sq ft! He said it would cost more than the bribe.
Kit

[Wolf mom]

Am a little confused by the "limiting factor" of the double doors- it opens to 8' X 8' X 8'.

[farmmom]

I had a shipping container for storage for a while. I really liked it. It was weatherproof (except for heat - it could get very hot inside). It was very secure - with the right kind of lock it would be next to impossible to break into. It was fairly inexpensive when compaired to storage sheds the same size.

The one thing against it was the difficulty in moving it. Most sheds can be assembled/disassembled. The shipping container was brought in on a big rig and removed the same way when I sold it to my mom.

[Darren]

I would go with the storage container. If you do your homework, now's a good time to buy. At at recent auction 20' containers went for $600. With the slow down in the economy lots of containers are for sale. Even one ways which were used for cargo once and then stored are available. You best shot at getting a good price is if you live in a coastal area near a port.

After that consider a semi trailer. Used ones are cheap, again due to the economy. Obviously they don't have ground level access but they might confuse local officials working their fee scams.

For sources look for the free trucking magazines that list equipment for sale. www.truckntrailer.com is a freebe that is best suited for folks in the Northeast. One advertiser has 40 acres of containers to sell. Another ad has containers as low as $1,250. Both of those are East coast sources.

Another ad has road worthy semi trailers for $4,500.