container home

[capturethemagic]

Hello everyone
I am new to this site.
my husband is very ill and we sold our home to get rid of the mortgage with the money that is remaining we are going to try and buy a piece of land and put up a container home can anyone give me some ideas please.
we would like to do most things ourselves . I am also finishing a degree in teaching and will be working part-time.
Thanks
Capturethemagic

[scarpsD40]

Hhmm, sorry to hear about your husband but welcome to myswag. If you're going to buy a container, just check where it was manufactured. I've heard the chinese made containers have quality issues.

[KingBilly]

G'day and welcome to the forum.

There was a fantastic container home from Ireland recently featured on one of Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs TV shows.

Good luck
KB 

[MDS69]

Consider erecting a false roof like an oversized carportover the container/s to prevent leaks and act as a thermal barrier in summer.

[dales133]

If you google container house or tiny house there are plenty of resources and yes KB that one was awsum.
Theres an entire office block in the states made out of them and Christchurch NZ is worth checking out as containers are being used hugely since the earthquakes. .
They have entire shopping centers made from containers.

[macca]

Maybe send Mcgirr a PM,  he's living in one in central OZ

http://www.myswag.org/index.php?topic=42327.0

He has some photos of it in this thread

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

[RWS]

Few ideas on Youtube...https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=container+home

[Sixpack]

Hello and welcome to Myswag.  Good luck with your up and coming house project

[Lloyd65]

Hi have you thought about relocatable homes

[dazzler]

I love the container home concept and when we retire may do one.

But, unless you are VERY competent with tools I think I would give them a miss and go with a large prefab garage/shed type of deal. You can line them and insulate them with standard off the shelf gear.  Pick one with a timber wall frame and you are halfway there..

There are a lot of tricks required to get a container to be liveable, given the narrowness of them.  Simply insulating them takes some serious money/work/time.

If you are competent with the tools then have a ball.  Would be an exciting time!  Good luck with hubby's illness.

cheers

[Rumpig]

If hubby is ill as you say, i'm thinking a small kit home would be a better option then a container home as all the hard work of nutting stuff out is done, you (or family and friends) just need to build it.... or just buy a decent sized shed and live in that. My SIL and her partner lived in a shed on their property at Gympie for about 7 years whilst they saved to get a house built there. Sheds go up quick and have much more room then the container idea IMHO, the amount of engineering design and steel fabrication work needed to be done in that Grand Designs show would be well beyond your budget i'm guessing. My MIL got a small house built on her block at the front of SIL's property for about $140K, which i thought was pretty good value (2 bedroom and 1 bathroom house, seperate kitchen, lounge and dining and a small front verandah, all on stumps about 900mm off the ground). Not sure on your budget, but maybe look at speaking to small local builders to see what price you can get a small house built for also.

[dazzler]

A few years back I was helping my parents design their retirement place but sadly mum passed before it got too far.  What they wanted was to downsize and have their caravan setup so they can head off at any time.

What seemed silly was to have two kitchens (house and van), two bathrooms etc and everything was duplicated.

We came up with a design where they had a small 'house', really based on a large shed, that incorporated their van as their kitchen/dining/shower that was inside the 'house'.  So their were doors at each end of the 'garage' section so they drove in, closed the doors and they were home.  The 'house' part had a living room, laundry, second bathroom (yeah duplicating but anyway) and bedroom.

You could do the same with a large (triple) shed and a good sized van.  To begin with you only need the van and the shed.  Park the van inside and you are out of the elements and then line the shed as time goes on. 

You save on putting kitchens/bathrooms etc in the new house, you have somewhere to live while you do it and you can go away on holidays whenever you like.

Maybe I need a picture.  LOL   

[Tim - Stratford]

To have all the comforts you may require two containers, one seems cosy.

The attached link shows a single container home which requires a bit if outdoor living.

https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/a/29333947/a-new-home-for-less-than-50-000-its-possible/

Good luck and all the best to your hubbie.

Tim

[plusnq]

A few years back I was helping my parents design their retirement place but sadly mum passed before it got too far.  What they wanted was to downsize and have their caravan setup so they can head off at any time.

What seemed silly was to have two kitchens (house and van), two bathrooms etc and everything was duplicated.

We came up with a design where they had a small 'house', really based on a large shed, that incorporated their van as their kitchen/dining/shower that was inside the 'house'.  So their were doors at each end of the 'garage' section so they drove in, closed the doors and they were home.  The 'house' part had a living room, laundry, second bathroom (yeah duplicating but anyway) and bedroom.

You could do the same with a large (triple) shed and a good sized van.  To begin with you only need the van and the shed.  Park the van inside and you are out of the elements and then line the shed as time goes on. 

You save on putting kitchens/bathrooms etc in the new house, you have somewhere to live while you do it and you can go away on holidays whenever you like.

Maybe I need a picture.  LOL   

If I was doing it this is the path I'd consider. It gives you somewhere to live while you finish the inside construction and you can always get rid of the van later if you desire.

[Alan Loy]

What part of the country are you looking at?  What you would want in Hobart or Darwin would be completely different.

There are heaps of containers on the web but what you can do will be influenced by your council

This guy provides an interesting perspective http://www.tincancabin.com/2013/12/the-shipping-container-cabin-in-perspective/#comment-33332

This guy has heaps of videos, many very practical, on building a container home (in NSW I think??) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCM2h7xIBb89XHdCBRH6WSwA

[briann532]

Firstly welcome and sorry to hear of your circumstances.

Have you considered going for a shed. Or "shouse" shed-house.

http://www.bestsheds.com.au/#!triple-garages/cgrt

Really good value for money as containers are small, have leak and condensation issues and require modification to suit.

Cheers
Brian