In May of this year we finished packing our final container of household goods. We purchased the container so that we could use it as part of our infrastructure at the house. Last month I had a nice 6" concrete pad poured for it in the back yard and today we got it craned into place. This container will be used to hold tools as well as our solar battery and inverter system. It will also house our 10kW backup generator. We will clad this unit with Hardie Board planks to make it easier to look at.
2022/10/31 update.
The 20' container has been sitting unchanged since we put it on the pad and so far nobody has complained but we have been nervous about pushing our luck on this since it is clear that it is against someone's rules to have a shipping container on the property in Fortune Bay. We know, because we asked for permission first and they told us shipping containers were considered temporary structures (and thus disallowed) even though this one is clearly meant to be permanent.
So this past weekend I began the upgrade process with the help of 3 local young workers. The plan for the 4 sides of this is finalized to appear approximately per below. The top/roof plan is still being considered because I have not yet decided if solar panels will be placed on this surface or even if the container will serve as part of the solar panel support system.
The siding being used is Hardie plank cement board which comes in 12' lengths with a 7.5" width. They are 5/16" thick and have a nice textured appearance. They come pre-primed with a light beige color. The are overlapped from the ground up as shown. Screws go in along the top edge of the plank so that each subsequent plank hides and protects the prior screws from the elements.
The planks will be attached to the container using vertical 2x4 furring strips which will be placed on the metal lands of the corrugated corten steel siding per below.
This container is single door, meaning a door on one end only. In order to make it seem less like a shipping container, 3 of the 4 door handles will be removed so that it looks per below. This will also be planked with shiplapped Hardie board.
The entire exterior of the unit will be painted with white Gardner Sta-Kool+ (model SK-7805) elastomeric roof paint which is intended to reflect the heat of the sun. Many people with container home experience indicate that applying this type of paint greatly mitigates the issue where containers in direct sunlight become ovens on the inside. A more formal discussion of it can be read here.
Since this is going to be used as a battery house and workroom, it will be important for this space to be cool and even air condition-able in the summertime. I can tell you that before I started the external upgrade, the container was quite warm inside if left with the doors closed here in Freeport's autumn temperatures. I would guess 110-120 degrees f. The sun is still very strong during the day here even if lower on the horizon than in the middle of summer. I actually planned ahead by importing 10 five gallon containers of this stuff with my household goods since I will be using it on my AirBnB container-dwellings over near Blue Marlin Cove. So this battery house work is actually helping guide my action for that other project as well.
Given that it is so important for this building to remain cool, I also plan to insulate the outside of it using RMax 1" thick closed cell (waterproof) home exterior insulation panels. The exterior vertical furring strips mentioned above will create space to place these sheets on the outside of the container.
The first step was to remove 3 of the 4 door handles. In the picture below,left is my helper, Gabba, using an angle grinder to cut off the rivnuts that hold these handles in place. Below, right is how we patched the resulting holes using sealant and rubber backing pad.
The unit was then scuff sanded on all external surfaces using 100 grit and rusty areas were cleaned up with a wire wheel and then sandpaper to get the metal to shine through the rust. Locations which exposed bare metal were spot primed. We then used a high pressure airless sprayer to blow this Sta-Kool product onto the outside of the container. Not only did this result in even coverage, but it also made it easy to apply the product to tight corners, etc. where a roller could not reach.
I have nothing but praise for this Krause & Becker (AKA Harbor Freight) sprayer. The last time I used it was about 8-9 years ago to spray a thick coating onto a wooden fence. I cleaned it up well and put it in a cabinet where it sat for all that time. And then when I used it here in Freeport it worked like the day it was purchased. But the amazing part is how thick this coating material is and how well the airless sprayer worked with it. This stuff is perhaps 3 times thicker than standard exterior paint. It really doesn't flow at all. Yet still the airless sprayer was able to suck it right out of the 5 gallon pail and blow it onto the container like it was normal spray paint.
Here is the sprayed entry door. You can see that all but one of the latch handles have been removed. This is an amazingly smooth paint job given the thickness of the Sta-Kool product.
Here is the side of the unit with first set of exterior furring strips installed. Each of these furring strips is held in place with a 3/8" x 1.5" galvanized lag bolt which has been screwed into the wood from the inside of the container. That is as far as we got this past Sunday and the crew is planning on meeting me this coming Sunday to finish off the outside of this unit. Once we get this clad with Hardie plank I do not anticipate anyone claiming this to be a temporary structure anymore.
Before the Hardie planks go on I will also level the container out with shims and then install several heavy duty concrete anchors so that it is totally solid and cannot be rolled by high winds. American Containers states that "Even without securing a shipping container down, it can generally withstand high winds and storms. If unsecured and standing alone, they could handle up to 130 mph winds, but if fastened to a proper foundation (as we recommend), they could take wind speeds of up to 175mph." Of course resistance to movement or rolling will also depend upon how much weight it loaded into the container. There will be about 3500 lbs in this container based upon the 10Kw generator, 100kWh of battery and about 400 lbs worth of inverters and charge controllers. And that assumes no solar panels on the roof.
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