storage containers as housing?

Piglady: they're only 8 feet wide..... Gosh, I'll have to go look. Can't remember if they're ribbed inside or not.

I still think a railroad passenger car would be cool. Less work - windows already there.

Question: If you want to be off grid, don't you need some kind of wiring if you want to use multiple outlets with a generator or solar??

DH converted a shipping container and lived in it for several years. It was the "cabin" we lived in when we married, but we had to move temporarily 9we thought) when DS began to crawl...not enough space for all of us (40ft) and I was already expecting baby number 2, but then we lost it all to a wildfire last year.

We'd planned to expand in a similar way at MTN above and add a covered porch all the way around for even more space. Keep in mind, there's quite a bit of work to do with just the container shell: insulation, ventilation, electric, plumbing,... Mobile homes already come equipped, and I'm sure they're wider than 8ft.

HTH. Good luck with your search.

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Dust is a protective covering.

Excellent idea. Using the earth as insulation is a great idea. You wouldnt even need to cover the whole thing, berming 3 sides would give great insulation/ground contact benefits.
A backhoe could get this done for you in a short afternoon, and the $200 or so you'd spend on that would be worth it.
Any way you go, insulation and or shading to protect against weather extremes is going to be very VERY important to your long term comfort.

You will learn that when you ask questions like this here you will always get the facists who love to ask the state for permission telling you how you need to ask about building codes, and permits.

Buy it, remodle it to fit your needs, and live in it. Demand forgiveness later if any of your local dictators come asking questions.

Now for my technical thoughts. You are going to die in the heat in that can in the SC summer. Insulate it heavily.
My first thought for windows is to measure common available window sizes so you know how big to cut the holes in your walls, cut your holes, screw some lumber to the holes in your steel wall openings to frame your rough opening, and install your windows.

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I lived in a CHU (sorry, not a sneeze) Containerized Housing Unit in Iraq for a year. It sucked! Cold in the winter and roasted in the summer. Rain sounds like a hail of rocks.

There is a study about homeless veterans. Seems those of us who have served in the military are easily lulled into homelessness. We can sleep on a subway grate, or in an old refrigerator box and say to ourselves, "This is no big deal. I've done worse when I was in (insert your military service here)."

Then six years later, your still sleeping behind dumpsters and saying it's no big deal.

Let's try not to lose our humanity and go down the road to being... a dog.

DH is pondering this very thing, but for use as a root cellar and storage area rather than a living space.

The two biggest challenges would be ensuring it is water tight and that water drainage from around the unit has been well planned, and ensuring it can support the weight of the soil (and water in the soil).

He has also considered a very large (10 ft or so) pipe for underground root cellar and storage building. The round size could possibly give it better structural integrity. Dirt and water are *heavy*.

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Eating the dream

The problem I see is with price.I think you can build a much more usable home for less than a container would cost.
That said the moble aspects of the container apeal to me/

I saw a show about two guys who converted one into a home on HGTV