Another shipping container question.

StinkerBell · January 21, 2011, 12:36:40 PM

I have limited understanding of shipping containers. My basic understanding is that the strength is the corners of the container. Is it possible, structually to turn a container on its side? a 40' high is only 8 feet wide, but I was thinking that if i placed it on its side then it would be almost 10 feet wide and 8 feet high.

rick91351 · January 21, 2011, 02:15:37 PM

Stink, sorry structure engineering wise I would say no. However Hill Billy fashion Hell Ya!' So long as you never stacked anything on it, and a building permit is not required, wind load requirements were met....... and on and on and yada, yada, yada. The other side of the coin of course is you still never change cubic feet or cubic meters. So how 'bout put'in two twenties side by side? You might have more usable space.

I was actually thinking a twenty footer for a welding / metal shop. One thing I like about that idea is portability. Then when one moves you could load your shop on a heavy-duty goose neck trailer using a fork lift or two depending on weight. Raise it up in the air, back the goose neck under it, strap it down and go with it. Then to set your shop back up, it would be as easy as unloading and running the electrical. Your shop is already wired and ready to go.

It could hold a lathe, maybe a mill, a rack for tanks, a stick welder and a wire feed, as well as a place to put my welding table, grinder and anvil as well as hand tools and extension cords when not in use. Seems as I am outside doing that most of the time anyway. (When I do get the chance and I am not very good at metal but never have done a lot of it.) Other than the lathe and maybe mill it would be more a place to store all that stuff and lock it up out of the weather. Sort of one of those wishful thinking /dreaming things.

January 21, 2011, 03:38:19 PM

A friend of mine made a shop out of 2 20's.

He set them side by side but with a 20' span between. Then he made trusses to cross the gap and put a roof on.

The center section was great to work in in bad weather, and the two enclosed spaces held the machinery.

MountainDon · January 21, 2011, 03:40:31 PM

I like that idea

rick91351 · January 21, 2011, 03:59:37 PM

Quote from: peternap on January 21, 2011, 03:38:19 PM
A friend of mine made a shop out of 2 20's.

He set them side by side but with a 20' span between. Then he made trusses to cross the gap and put a roof on.

The center section was great to work in bad weather, and the two enclosed spaces held the machinery.

Wow! Peter that is a great idea! I might have to think on that one a little but I think it is a great idea. The center could even be raised up like 16' or 18' with a truss roof, sort of like a pole building. That could be used for an equipment or machinery run-in or a taller shop. Then shed roofs might be used on top of the containers if you want to displace water and snow and not have it sit on the containers. I see a great agricultural, homesteading value to what you are talking about.

January 21, 2011, 04:53:44 PM

His trusses crossed both containers Rick. The whole thing was under the same roof so a shed roof wouldn't be needed.

StinkerBell · January 21, 2011, 05:35:48 PM

Thanks Rick. I knew it would be a go. The other ideas are good ones to.
I need to just find a 40 high container to be delivered to my home and placed in the backyard, then the fun begins.

rick91351 · January 21, 2011, 07:33:41 PM

Quote from: peternap on January 21, 2011, 04:53:44 PM
His trusses crossed both containers Rick. The whole thing was under the same roof so a shed roof wouldn't be needed.

I sort of took it that way. I was just thinking / typing out loud some of the possibilities. More for applications I see the need of at a homestead or farmstead. Like a higher center to get a tractor or a trailer out of the weather, you could stack hay under there as well. The twenty foot contains would certainly give you a lot of secured storage for racks and shelves. You could put girts across the back and close it in even more.

rick91351 · January 21, 2011, 08:00:32 PM

Quote from: StinkerBell on January 21, 2011, 05:35:48 PM
Thanks Rick. I knew it would be a go. The other ideas are good ones to.
I need to just find a 40 high container to be delivered to my home and placed in the backyard, then the fun begins.

WOAAHH! Stink!! The short of it is strike my Hill Billy fashion answer. I do not think it will work..... Sorry!! I was having a lucid moment thinking of how much I hate shipping containers.

You all better let a few more weight in on that one before you tip a 40' container on its side and go to cuttin' and welding. I think we need a meeting of the minds first. And i promise I will stay out of it

One problem is the floor. A container does have a structurally engineered floor that might not make a bad wall. But the wall would not make a good floor. So you would have to engineer a floor. Now with the wall a floor the other wall becomes a ceiling. This poses another problem as far as will that be dry and support the required loads. Now with the floor a wall and the ceiling now becomes a wall that might be okay but..... No Stink best let it / make it stand as it was designed to stand..... I do not even know who the Rick was that broke in and answered Hell Ya' must have been that other guy I seen at my desk today.

January 21, 2011, 08:15:36 PM

lol..I meant to say a "No" not a go...