shipping container building construction

There are 11 million shipping containers currently lying dormant worldwide, so getting some use out of them instead of using environmentally unfriendly materials like brick and concrete makes sense.īut just because they’re a sustainable building material, doesn’t mean every container is 100% safe.

Shipping container houses are eco-friendly but not necessarily energy efficient Whatever saving you think you might make on the material needs to be seen in the context of the cost of the whole project. Then there’s the costs of the landscaping, garden, driveway, fencing and front gate, outside terraces, pergolas, outbuildings, swimming pool, taxes, professional fees… The cost of the structural element on any building, in normal circumstances, may be under 30% of the cost of the building. It’s often actually cheaper for exporters in China to simply buy or build a new container than it would be to ship an empty one all the way back from Europe.īut if you’re expecting to make a significant saving, bear in mind that the material itself (steel) is not a particularly large proportion of the whole cost of building a house in Spain. One of the reasons it’s so affordable to get hold of a disused shipping container to build a house with is because once the goods have been unloaded, the container isn’t much good to the owner. You can find cheap container homes for sale in Spain but beware of hidden costs Steel structural frames are very useful for building, but a shipping container is really quite a poor steel frame. Windows, doors, ducting for piping and electricity all have to be cut into it and this may alter its strength.Īn architect in Spain will be cautious about signing off on the structure without knowing its exact strength. However, steel shipping containers need to be well insulated if you’re to make them into a hospitable environment, and you’d also need to deal with humidity and condensation before you can invite people in. Whether you’re using one or several shipping containers for your home, the strong steel structure can take a lot of the engineering work out of building a house in Spain.

Container homes in Spain are strong but not the best structure Let’s break down the pros and cons of using shipping containers for your home in Spain.

While it’s entirely possible and there are a few good examples, there are plenty of drawbacks involved in making a home in Spain out of a shipping container as opposed to a more robust structure. Shipping container homes come in all shapes and sizes, from luxury villas made up of several containers, to single units for those looking for a way to get off-grid.īut is it really a good idea to build container homes in Spain?

Shipping container building construction