An interesting woman...and concept(s).

[Lee]

I guess you'd have to live in a pretty temperate climate o be very comfortable in a structure like this, but it's an interesting idea for putting up a really cheap, yet fairly solid/secure structure
on the cheap.  I plan on buying a little piece of land in the boonies someday, just for short getaways. This might be a tolerable way to put more $ in to buy more land, rather than spending it on a cabin, trailer, or such. 

Anyway...she seems like a a creative and resourceful lady.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsVxgOjNLbA&feature=related

[MicroBalrog]

Shipping container homes are quite common. I think there's some Eastern European countries where entire shopping malls are made out of them, and Russia has mobile shipping-container operating rooms.

[AZRedhawk44]

My neighbor owns land in Alaska and goes fishing up there every year.  He and his wife live in a shipping container they've converted to a home.

[Jocassee]

I applaud this woman's use of her ingenuity however I frown upon the hijacking of smart/minimalist living by an outfit called "faircompanies" (i can only guess this is what progressives call themselves when they form an evil corporation--ya know, to distinguish themselves from all the other, unfair companies out there) and the exceedingly obnoxious "Tiny Houses" company which is merely a front for west-coast style "minimalist" living in an overpriced, overrated, and if I may say it, ostentatious package.

Rant off

[lupinus]

Shipping containers are pretty popular actually...to the point some lines charge a major arm and leg to ship to certain Caribbean countries because getting their empty container back is less then certain.

They also make EXCELLENT shops/sheds.

[Tallpine]

Yawn ... we were living in a 1950 8x28 trailer in the woods in the 1980s 

[Ben]

I applaud her ingenuity and avoidance of stuff like Section 8, however some of her statements in the video, as well as some of the comments, really are obnoxious. Several commentators rightly mentioned that, "great, you did good building a home for four grand, but where did you get the land?" Followed by many rants about how, "there is no private property".

ETA: Not to say that she didn't buy the land, maybe she did. Even in CA, you can buy an acre of land for a couple of thousand dollars, especially if it's in BFE where there are no utilities.

[RoadKingLarry]

I wouldn't mind having one of the smaller containers for a tool shed but they want an arm and a leg or the things around here. Used 20' units start around $2500 + delivery charges.

[Tallpine]

I wouldn't mind having one of the smaller containers for a tool shed but they want an arm and a leg or the things around here. Used 20' units start around $2500 + delivery charges.

You could nail together an uninsulated shed for less than that 

The cost and effort to convert a container to a cabin would be considerable. 
For example, it would be a pain for the average person to cut out window openings in the side of a metal container, compared to wood construction.

[Lee]

Thats what really amazed me about the story. Unless she's fibbing a bit, it sounds like she did all the work herself. Never heard the word "we" during the interview. Hell, my wife can't change a light bulb.

[Jamisjockey]

Resourceful, but looks more like a good hunting cabin.  I'd rather not live in a third world hovel, but whatwever floats her boat.

[Tallpine]

So ... she put 2x4s and insulation inside, making it even smaller.

For that amount of materials, you could pretty much build it from scratch.  I don't really see the point of the container - nor the "flatbed trailer" for the bedroom shed   It's really not that hard to build a wooden floor with joists and plywood, and set it on concrete blocks or something, and then build your walls, etc on top of that. 

You see a lot of interesting clapped together buildings out here in the Montana hill country, but most places would probably arrest you for building stuff like that.

[Hawkmoon]

Unclear if her $4,000 was for the whole "estate," or just for the first container module. But I agree that one could use demolition materials and build the same size house for less using conventional construction -- and NOT have to go out in the rain to use the loo.

I was also struck by the fact that she grew up in Argentina yet she speaks English with essentially no accent. But she nonetheless managed to pick up valley speak, using "like" two or three times in every single [bleeping] sentence ...

[Lee]

Keep in mind that she was probably living in the container from day one while modifying it. I'm assuming the 4k included the container, since she claimed that nearly everything else came from the junk yard. I wonder if you guys would dump your wife or daughter off in the boonies with a load of blocks and lumber, and tell them " here's your new home, starting now, start building!"
I'd say she did pretty well.
Don't dismiss everything because she's a California liberal hippie type.

[Tallpine]

Keep in mind that she was probably living in the container from day one while modifying it. I'm assuming the 4k included the container, since she claimed that nearly everything else came from the junk yard. I wonder if you guys would dump your wife or daughter off in the boonies with a load of blocks and lumber, and tell them " here's your new home, starting now, start building!"
I'd say she did pretty well.
Don't dismiss everything because she's a California liberal hippie type.

If she had a husband, I don't suppose she would be fixing up an old shipping container 

I wonder just how the heck she got this nice acreage to homestead 

And what about utilities way out there in the boondocks ...? 

And how far does she commute to work - if she works anywhere?


You know ... some of us have actually built stuff and lived way out in the woods or hills or desert. 

[roo_ster]

She seems like a handy & resourceful gal, however much granola she consumes.

Before the Perons & progressive politics ruined it, Argentina had a higher GDP/capita than the USA.  Lots more Euro immigration than most S American countries.

[Tallpine]

[zxcvbob]

I like her style.  And what she did almost makes sense, but then I start thinking, OK instead of spending all that time fixing up a storage container, wouldn't it be easier to just live in the unimproved container while you build nice little shack using conventional construction and use the container for something else later?  And if you can do that, how about living in a tent while you build?

But maybe she though load-bearing walls and getting the thing weatherproof were beyond her capabilities.  I can respect that.

I thought I heard in the video that she said she rented the land, but that might have been a different tiny house on youtube.  I watched several of them.

The idea of an almost-traditional "shotgun" house intrigues me.  I wonder how cheaply one of those could be built?  I would put the kitchen/laundry room in the front (high ceiling low ceiling with attic storage above), then the dining room/den/living room (high ceiling), then a bedroom (low ceiling) with a loft over it.  The bathroom would be carved out of a front corner of the bedroom.

[Devonai]

I don't know about living in one, but the Army has cobbled together some pretty impressive OPFOR villages with the damn things.  The one at Camp Edwards has over thirty, some stacked three high, with staircases, balconies, railings, streets, and a perimeter fence.  The most fun I've ever had in uniform was as OPFOR blowing off hundreds of blanks at MPs in this village.

[dm1333]

Here is an interesting blog about a woman who had a home built out of shipping containers.

http://8747house.blogspot.com/

I like the idea of a container home but my latest obsession is building an earth berm house, with concrete walls.  But something stronger than what Burt Gummer built!

[Scout26]

I wonder if you guys would dump your [STBX] wife off in the boonies with a load of blocks and lumber, and tell them " here's your new home, starting now, start building!"

I find your idea intriguing and want to subscribe to your newsletter....

 

[White Horseradish]

She does say she got the container for free.

[Scout26]

Two problems with using shipping containers as a home:

1) The are small(ish) compared to other forms of constructed homes.

2) Steel is a conductor.  Of Heat.  They are cold in the winter and hotter than Hades in the summer.  Living in one in San Diego where it's 72 everyday would work.  Living in one (or more) in Chicago.  It would have to be well insulated, then heated and cooled.  Insulating them, either interior (will also reduce living space) or exterior, will get $$$.  

[roo_ster]

Two problems with using shipping containers as a home:

1) The are small(ish) compared to other forms of constructed homes.

2) Steel is a conductor.  Of Heat.  They are cold in the winter and hotter than Hades in the summer.  Living in one in San Diego where it's 72 everyday would work.  Living in one (or more) in Chicago.  It would have to be well insulated, then heated and cooled.  Insulating them, either interior (will also reduce living space) or exterior, will get $$$.  

Yup.

Which is why the best shipping container home would be covered with/sunk into earth up to the top, with skylights in the roof and decent roof insulation on top.

[TechMan]

Another video from the same "Fair Companies"