Three West

As I continue to delve into this project, I will do my best to write about all of my new discoveries. I know over time, somethings I learn may not apply in the end or turn out to be wrong or spot on. I’m looking forward to the process of discovery and creativity.

So what’s the plan?

Land:
Ideally I’d like to build a container home on land very close to a suburban or urban area. It’s not really my goal to isolate myself from the rest of the city. I’d still like to be as close as possible to my family and friends, easily accessible to emergency help and still relatively close to hospitals, fire and rescue, and police. In other words, I don’t want to be too far away from help. So I’m planning to find out the “where” and “how” on building a container home in and around Tampa; naturally.

When considering land, I definitely want to be able to plug into the grid for electricity and use municipal water if I need to. The plan is not to but I would like those options available. I also have to be careful with flooding areas, wild life (gators and such) and mean people. *Smile*

Containers:
So far, I’ve been designing my floor plans based on the 40′ shipping container. However I would rather buy a longer container. Ideally, I’d like to use as few containers as possible and use the space well. So far, I think 4 will do. I know many people are using one container but a home 8 feet wide is not going to work for me. So I plan to put two containers together for the bottom floor and two together for the top floor. I find myself not wanting to be responsible for more than 4 shipping containers. Four is pushing it already.

My challenge then will be to find out how to seal the seam between the two tightly and how to create these joined containers in such a way that I am still able to ship them should I need to move. I did see that a California company creates multi-unit container buildings that have a water tight reusable rubber seal and the units still retain their functionality as shipping containers. That is what I want.

To my delight, today I found a website that lists a plethora of shipping container types including photographs. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Truly there is no limit to what can be done with these shipping containers. This was a great moment for me because I’m all about going the easy route. I found there are many other types of shipping containers available that makes needing to alter a container almost unnecessary.

For instance, I didn’t know there were containers types with one side open or both sides open that can still be shipped. Or there exists super cool containers with 4 doors on one side and the standard 2 doors on one end. There are sorts of configurations; flat rack, flat platform, open-top, open-side, side-door, ventilated, insulated, standard, etc.

To browse the many shipping container types, visit: The Intermodal Container Web Page by Matt Hannes

Internal Necessities:
I put together a list of necessary items for my container home (doesn’t include furnishings or structural elements):

Kitchen Sink
Small Fridge
2 Eye electric cooker/stove top.
Composting toilet
One piece shower stall
Bathroom sink
Air Conditioning
Washer/Dryer combo

I have to really think about my daily routine and what I do from day to day in my home. It is pretty fun to learn things about yourself that you didn’t notice before. For instance, I spend very little time in the kitchen. The idea of having a large kitchen is of no importance to me. I only need a little space to cook and prepare meals. So my kitchen will not be very large. I imagine it will have some counter space for the sink and the cooker/hot plate, a small energy efficient fridge and a cutting board/preparation island, a floor standing shelf rack for dishware, and peg strip for hanging pots and pans. That’s it.

I decided the bathroom should be upstairs and accessible from each of the two rooms and from the hallway. The composting toilet I’d like to get has a vertical vent post that will go out of the top of the container roof. Also, as much as I would love to have a claw foot tub in my container home, a one piece shower may be the best solution (I don’t know, if I can work the claw foot in, I will). The most annoying thing in my current home is the massive bathroom sink. The thing is insane. I can barely move around because of it. So needless to say, the bathroom sink in my container home will be one of those cool bowl fountain looking things that uses little space.

I recently learned about the ductless mini split air conditioner and think it will be a great option for my air conditioning needs. The Coolerado M30 may also be a usable option. I can not do without AC in Florida. As for the luxuries, I’m going to make every effort to have a washer and dryer in the house. Not having one at home is just not fun. But I’ll only consider it after the other necessities.

I’m going to try to hold off on too much focus on the containers for a little while and spend time learning about Florida building codes and looking for acceptable land. I’ve been searching for land a little bit and so far it’s being a little concerning. The land prices are a little high but it may be due to the quality of the sites on which I’ve been looking. The search continues….