More container housing

I got to learn much more about container housing from a blog and ebook by Alex Klein in

Image by seier+seier via Flickr

Mississippi. He is selling the 100 page PDF on container housing for $10 at his blog. He is doing work to get some container structures to Haiti and make container housing for oil clean up workers working on the Gulf beaches.

The information that was good for me was worth the ten bucks. He recommends closed cell spray on polyurethane foam on the outside. He recommends a SIP roof with standing seam metal on top which makes the installation of solar panels easy. He even recommends the short containers (ISBU's to those in the know) to make delivery and drop off easier. A crane is not necessary for the small ones. He shares designs of single container homes and nine container homes. He recommends planning ahead so that adding modules in the future will be easier. He prefers siding like in the house above and not making the neighbors suffer with the architectural "honesty" of the house below.

Image via Wikipedia

The houses could be left as ugly as the building blocks because the steel for these things is made to endure passage across the sea multiple times for many years. But it's nice to not annoy the neighbors permanently. Even with the expensive roofing and unnecessary siding he has seen owner/builders finish their homes for under $50 psf.

Image via Wikipedia

Planning and zoning commissions do need convincing. That's why making the outside of the containers look conventional would be in the owners best interest. Klein doubts that lenders will fund such a project though. He recommends paying cash for these builds. At $50 psf, that just might be possible. It is for people he has worked with.