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Shipping containers are primarily used to store items while they’re being transported by ship across the ocean. They’ve been the global standard means for transporting cargo overseas since the 1950s. Because of the nature of the work shipping containers have to perform, they’re built to stand up to any type of weather and are about as sturdy as any structure out there. They’re durable, fireproof, flood-proof, and hurricane-proof. They’re built to last, but are actually usually left behind after just a few years of use, since shipping them back and forth can be so expensive. This means that the recipient of a shipment that’s stored in a shipping container will often discard the container or give it away. This happens so frequently that there are an estimated 30 million abandoned shipping containers all over the world.
It’s only recently, however, that they’ve been seen as a viable housing option. As affordable housing becomes harder to find and sustainable living becomes more of a priority for many people, shipping container homes continue to grow in popular. A single container, which starts at 150 square feet, is more easily converted into a comfortable home that you might think. They’re a major player in the tiny house movement, since the size of a single container is right in line with the square footage of other tiny homes. For those who require a little more space, shipping containers offer the versatility of easy stacking and connecting.
Shipping containers generally are either 20 feet long or 40 feet long, eight feet wide, and eight and half feet tall. Their standardized sizing makes the process of combining multiple containers to form a larger home very simple, and the design options are infinite. And a used 20-foot shipping container will only cost you around $2,000. You can just order the number of containers you need and have them delivered right to your site on a flatbed truck.
