Sea Containers as Basement / Foundation

[Chris CA]

Has anyone considered or have experience with using sea containers as your basement / foundation?
They can carry the weight but I am wondering about engineering & approvals..... Thanks.

[misplayed-hand]

Here's what I came up with when considering burying a shipping container:


"The first initial response when someone asks for advice on burying a container is "no, you should not try to bury a shipping container." Shipping containers are designed to carry weight in their corners. When done properly, it's not uncommon to see containers stacked four or five units high – and the weight is all carried in the corners, where the corner beams carry all of the weight. The side walls an top of a container are normally constructed of 2.0mm thick corrugated steel sheets, without additional beams for support. If you load weight of any type, dirt, boxes, or just about anything and the weight is distributed over the entire container wall or top, given time it will gradually cave in or collapse, as can been seen with this buried shipping container in Florida. Buried shipping container collapse

If you're insistent on burying a shipping container, some people have done it successfully. One option is pouring concrete forms to support the weight from the side of the container, however if you're going that far you need to ask yourself if you really even need a container once you have the concrete forms in place. The most cost effective method that we've seen is to bury a shipping container is to use Gabion baskets. Gabion baskets are the steel cages that you often see on the highway filled with stone to support hills or as bridge abutments". https://containerauction.com/read-news/how-to-bury-a-shipping-container-gabion-basket

[rreidnauer]

That answer is pretty much exactly how I would have answered.

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[rocklock]

Has anyone considered or have experience with using sea containers as your basement / foundation?
They can carry the weight but I am wondering about engineering & approvals..... Thanks.

I think you want a quick way to lay a basement.

If you use the footer and foam blocks( ICF's) to build your foundation you can pour the foundation one week and the walls the next and still not cost as much as the containers plus have a really well insulated basement...

[DanS]

I think you want a quick way to lay a basement.

If you use the footer and foam blocks( ICF's) to build your foundation you can pour the foundation one week and the walls the next and still not cost as much as the containers plus have a really well insulated basement...

Agreed.

My foundation is 34x34' on the outside edges. Full basement and then 3+ feet above grade.

The ICF cost about $11K, and about $5K for the cement. Could set the ICF in under a week if you've got the bracing ready to go, even if you've never worked with it before.

It would be about $10K for 4 40' ConX containers in my area, including delivery. Then you'd still need concrete, in fact well above $5K of concrete to reinforce it. And at the end of the day you'd have a kludgy, difficult to work with foundation that would still require insulation to be useable.

ICF young man. Easy, strong, well insulated, and DIY friendly.

Dan

[allen84]

I think approval could be a hold up on that depending where you are. If you are trying to save money (and not time) I would look at slip form foundations... Especially if rock is easy to come by,

[Little Eagle]

I think you want a quick way to lay a basement.

If you use the footer and foam blocks( ICF's) to build your foundation you can pour the foundation one week and the walls the next and still not cost as much as the containers plus have a really well insulated basement...

Rocklock I have a question, where can you but ICF'S i have found them all over the internet from place but they never have a price.

[dvb]

Home Depot calls them smart blocks is one place, probably can find them cheaper somewhere else.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SmartBlock-4-2-lbs-40-in-L-x-12-5-in-H-x-12-in-W-Insulated-Concrete-Forms-Bundle-of-20-12VWF8/203012855

[panderson03]

Home Depot calls them smart blocks is one place, probably can find them cheaper somewhere else.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/SmartBlock-4-2-lbs-40-in-L-x-12-5-in-H-x-12-in-W-Insulated-Concrete-Forms-Bundle-of-20-12VWF8/203012855

that's the route we went. it was handy to just be able to pop on over to HD when we found we ran short :)

[Mosseyme]

We went through our local concrete company. They were using Nudura at the time and we were very pleased with the quality and the speed of erecting the basment. We also had excellent service from their representative in coming to our site the day of start and then again to check everything before the pour. There were several things about the Nudura that I felt were better than some of the others we looked at not to mention the $500 a trip the reps were going to charge for coming to the site. You will probably have to check out some of the companies on line and know kind of what products you will need. Then call to get a base price for the pieces. The good thing about going through the concrete co. is that they also had the wire and any extra rebar we needed to complete the form up as well as the bracing.