Building a shipping container home (1 Viewer)

[Deadmanposting]

@ann post
Have you done much research on the feasibility of building a shipping container home down the country?
I mean either as a standalone, or as an extension or an outbuilding on an existing property?

Are they more trouble than they're worth?


Another thing I'd love to know is how expensive a new septic system is to install and how much of it you could do yourself?

 

[ann post]

@ann post
Have you done much research on the feasibility of building a shipping container home down the country?
I mean either as a standalone, or as an extension or an outbuilding on an existing property?

Are they more trouble than they're worth?


Another thing I'd love to know is how expensive a new septic system is to install and how much of it you could do yourself?

I've looked at a lot of things to sort my long term setup.

I find the 26m2 of a shipping container a bit limiting - if you study any home plan, a ballpark is 50/50 living area / sleeping area minus utilities, so you might be getting 12m2 living space all told.

In terms of DIY you'd want to have a caravan or something to tide you over while you make it, and then you'd realize the caravan is better built than the container. A container will always be a lump of steel with a flat roof in a wet country.

I've been looking at the steeltech places recently, I'll be mailing them a question list soon.

I kinda think a person needs more like 30m2 long term.

 

[GO]

I've looked at a lot of things to sort my long term setup.

I find the 26m2 of a shipping container a bit limiting - if you study any home plan, a ballpark is 50/50 living area / sleeping area minus utilities, so you might be getting 12m2 living space all told.

In terms of DIY you'd want to have a caravan or something to tide you over while you make it, and then you'd realize the caravan is better built than the container. A container will always be a lump of steel with a flat roof in a wet country.

I've been looking at the steeltech places recently, I'll be mailing them a question list soon.

I kinda think a person needs more like 30m2 long term.

Its a wooden house you need to build! PIECE OF PISS. And if you do it yourself.. which you will.. CHEAP AS CHIPS! So easy to heat too.

You just need someone who loves you to give you a bit of garden.

I'm gonna be building my daughter a little 1 bedroom gaf in her Mams back garden in a couple of years

 

[Deadmanposting]

I'd say you'd put a rubber/EPDM/TPO roof on a shipping container handy enough all told.
I get you on the size, more thinking of one as an add on to an existing small cottage or similar.

It's always the utilities that stress me. I suppose if you're in a city like Dublin and the waste line is going out the back of the house, you're on a handy enough sitch.

It's the septic and the site limitations for one, that I can never find info on.
Like could you even fit one on a 1/2 acre site on current code/regs? I have no idea.

 

[Deadmanposting]

This is way less than I thought

Septic Tank Upgrade Replacement Prices

Just another WordPress site

sepcon.ie

Gonna try and find out the percolation area size requirements....

 

[ann post]

It's the septic and the site limitations for one, that I can never find info on.
Like could you even fit one on a 1/2 acre site on current code/regs? I have no idea.

I don't know these things either but am curious, there's an outside chance i can do something behind UTM's gaff but I have a hazy memory of minimum distance to septic tank type stuff. I'll be looking at it more serious soon enough. I've been messing with the idea of two of those small prefab places - one more office/utilty/music/cinema and one more like a tiny house, all in maybe 75m2 combined. Could be a more interesting way to use the space than one buidling. Been messing with sketches and stuff. In a fantasy version of events I'd have two years and about 300000 to renovate something but that might be a 'when i'm older' job.

@GO I would love to self build - time is the enemy though - I'd need to leave my job and I don't have the financials to go all in on it. But it would totally be wood if it was my call.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I don't know these things either but am curious, there's an outside chance i can do something behind UTM's gaff but I have a hazy memory of minimum distance to septic tank type stuff. I'll be looking at it more serious soon enough. I've been messing with the idea of two of those small prefab places - one more office/utilty/music/cinema and one more like a tiny house, all in maybe 75m2 combined. Could be a more interesting way to use the space than one buidling. Been messing with sketches and stuff. In a fantasy version of events I'd have two years and about 300000 to renovate something but that might be a 'when i'm older' job.

@GO I would love to self build - time is the enemy though - I'd need to leave my job and I don't have the financials to go all in on it. But it would totally be wood if it was my call.

Turns out the septic tank has to be 7m from the dwelling


Turns out a percolation area doesn't need to be that big - 270m2 for a large one
Which is like .066 of an acre

 

[shitepipe]

Turns out the septic tank has to be 7m from the dwelling
View attachment 16837

Turns out a percolation area doesn't need to be that big - 270m2 for a large one
Which is like .066 of an acre


View attachment 16838

I think you need to get the soil tested to confirm the capacity for it to aborb the effluent before you can fully confirm the area and minimum distance etc...

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I think you need to get the soil tested to confirm the capacity for it to aborb the effluent before you can fully confirm the area and minimum distance etc...

That’s very apt and precise information. Your username is clearly well chosen

 

[egg_]

I think you need to get the soil tested to confirm the capacity for it to aborb the effluent before you can fully confirm the area and minimum distance etc...

This is true, and if your soil has a lot of clay in it you might need to import topsoil to make it more permeable (or at least we did when we moved in here in 2007)

This mightn't be true anymore, but in the mid-00s it was pretty much impossible to get insurance for a wooden house, so make sure and check that in advance if anyone is thinking of building one

 

[seanc]

Shipping containers are great and all. But their too hot in warm weather and far FAR too cold in cold weather.

I spent a big chunk of lockdown on a bandsaw in a shipping container which was a fairly well functioning workshop. But that was with that guy, his standards for certain things were high, and his tolerance for certain problems were also high. I wouldn't want to live like that. You're always chasing your tail.

RE septic tanks and that. My uncle renovated a house (25 years ago) and he had a mare with the septic tank and all the plumbing. It was a totally derelict gaff that he turned into a "normal" but really lovely gaff. He pointed at the PC in the corner of the office room and said "would you believe I had a cow calving in that corner twelve months ago?"

But all the septic tank/general water related business made up about 50% of the cost of the renovation. He had to bury a septic tank way off over there at the end of the garden. So, it is a major consideration.
Also, as a boaty person, it's a constant issue. You could set up kind of a shit tank thing, but then you'd have to deal with it every once in a while. And that is no fun.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I know in the US they have wood homes you buy in a kit, and are assembled in a week
I think there's something similar in Ireland - the crowd that advertises on Brendan O'Connor at the weekends. Backyard Cabins or somesuch.

Watched a guy on Youtube build a cabin out of 2" x 8" lumber
Not saying that's the way to go - the US has mad cheap lumber - but there's so many ingenious ways around a problem

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[egg_]

The US has mad cheap lumber

Mad cheap. I was gonna build a shed here a couple of summers ago out of a book called "How to build a shed" but when I priced everything it was cheaper just to buy one

(actually didn't buy one either, yet, and am currently shedless)

 

[JohnnyRaz]

PREMIUM Prefab Homes & House Kits from HUF HAUS

Prefab homes in superior quality. ✓ individually planned ✓wood-glass architecture ✓turnkey ✓smart ►Discover our portfolio.

www.huf-haus.com

 

[GO]

My studio cost approx.€2800 in materials. In fact, this thing is overengineered ,for acoustic reasons. So you could knock probably 600 off that if it was just for a living quarters. Bulid it six times bigger and it would be a very nice little house indeed. I estimate €20000 for a right plush setup ... ...based on being able to run the jax waste into an existing system. Take about 6 weeks to build. So my plan really only works for a back garden probably. You would need planning permission for anything else any way ..like a new site etc. Thats where my interest stops.

Be way nicer than any shipping container. Toasty warm around the little stove in the winter

 

[JohnnyRaz]

My studio cost approx.€2800 in materials. In fact, this thing is overengineered ,for acoustic reasons. So you could knock probably 600 off that if it was just for a living quarters. Bulid it six times bigger and it would be a very nice little house indeed. I estimate €20000 for a right plush setup ... ...based on being able to run the jax waste into an existing system. Take about 6 weeks to build. So my plan really only works for a back garden probably. You would need planning permission for anything else any way ..like a new site etc. Thats where my interest stops.

Be way nicer than any shipping container. Toasty warm around the little stove in the winter

are back garden sheds PP exempt in general? or do you get hit with PP above a certain floor area (like extensions)

 

[GO]

are back garden sheds PP exempt in general? or do you get hit with PP above a certain floor area (like extensions)

I don't know tbh . Provided you're not trying to rent it out makes no difference.

I bought a keyboard recently from a lady that was living in her in laws back garden in Donaghmede. I asked her could I have a look around...no problem. It was one of them pre built cabins. It was very nice. Her and the hubby and two kids were living in it while they saved. I didnt ask what it cost but I could see how it could be built for a fraction of the cost diy.
They had the jax hooked up with a macerator straight into the sewer, Very tidy.

 

[Deadmanposting]

I like that your structure is taken care of, and solid as heck
And it's a blank slate, you can clad it any way you like, throw some cedar cladding on there, or those external insulation systems have a million finishes you can stick on
And they're a model for full height glazing - with no messing around with lintels or headers or anything.
Plus, you don't need a slab - just what? 8 piers for the container to sit on.

I am, of course, not mentioning the shit ton of work involved

 

[GO]

I like that your structure is taken care of, and solid as heck
And it's a blank slate, you can clad it any way you like, throw some cedar cladding on there, or those external insulation systems have a million finishes you can stick on
And they're a model for full height glazing - with no messing around with lintels or headers or anything.
Plus, you don't need a slab - just what? 8 piers for the container to sit on.

I am, of course, not mentioning the shit ton of work involved

Just stick it on big ground screws. Although the weight of a container might prohibit this so yeah probably concrete piers

What do you need it solid as heck for? Its not a bomb shelter! A house framed with 4 by twos would be perfectly solid. Thats how the yanks do it. And they all seem happy enough. Cedar shingles galore

Also with a container.. you're into metalwork. Grinding welding all that jazz. Non standard construction methods, Expensive if you plan on delegating the work.

I wouldnt go anywhere near a shipping container build. Not worth a wank. Would make a great youtube video though

Like..at 50 years of age..you only need the thing to stand for 40 years max. With a few coats of paint it would last 100

 

[JohnnyRaz]

Just stick it on big ground screws. Although the weight of a container might prohibit this so yeah probably concrete piers

What do you need it solid as heck for? Its not a bomb shelter! A house framed with 4 by twos would be perfectly solid. Thats how the yanks do it. And they all seem happy enough. Cedar shingles galore

Also with a container.. you're into metalwork. Grinding welding all that jazz. Non standard construction methods, Expensive if you plan on delegating the work.

I wouldnt go anywhere near a shipping container build. Not worth a wank. Would make a great youtube video though

Like..at 50 years of age..you only need the thing to stand for 40 years max. With a few coats of paint it would last 100

thats a very good point.
you've also a relatively low tolerance for fuckups as you'll dealing with trying to modify an pre-existing sealed structure as opposed to build from scratch with easily handled materials. I mean if you cut a length of timber a bit short, versus cut a hole in the roof of a container arseways