Clark - Shipping container homes: how to build a shipping container home for cheap and live mortgage-free for life

Shipping ContainerHomes

How To Build A ShippingContainer Home For Cheap And Live Mortgage-Free For Life

Introduction

I want to thank you andcongratulate you for downloading the book, Shipping Container Homes: How To Build AShipping Container Home For Cheap And Live Mortgage-Free ForLife.

This book contains information on how toplan, build, fund and improve your first container home.

Building a home isnt easy. Nor is it cheap.But building a container home should help you save up on the costof building a traditional home. Were going to use a $7000.00budget for this container home which will show you that itspossible to have a good home for that amount of money!

Thanks again for downloading this book, Ihope you enjoy it!

Copyright 2015 by John Clark - All rightsreserved.

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Chapter 1 A Home For$7000.00

Before we start, these are some questionsthat you have to ask yourself and answer as honestly aspossible.

How would you like to own a home withoutbreaking the bank and living mortgage-free for life?

How would you like to reduce your carbonfootprint?

Are you willing to let go of a lot of yourworldly possessions?

Are you open to the idea of living in a waymost people would never imagine?

And lastly, do you think that it is possibleto create a home with a $7000.00 budget?

For some people these ideas would seemludicrous. Until you discover that its perfectly viable to live ina container house.

The idea of living in container houses isnot a new idea. In fact its been around for more than 30 years.This idea first started with the military which eventually foundits way to local engineers and architects who saw the potential ofthese metal boxes into viable living spaces.

Chapter 2 The Basics OfAcquiring Your Home

Living in a container home is no longerthought of as a novelty. In fact, more people are shifting theirmindsets about the idea of owning a house for less than what youwould pay for with a traditional brick and mortar home.

One of the main issues that you may faceinitially is how to get around building regulations in yourlocality. For this you will have to consult your city engineers inorder to facilitate the paperwork needed to create your containerhome.

One way to get around this though is tobuild small. With a $7000.00 budget, that wont be an issue.

Lets start with the basic prices forcontainer homes

A 20 foot container van costs around $1,000to $2000 with an average price of $1500 for a container van in goodcondition. A 40 foot container van on the other hand costs around$2250 to $3000 with an average price of around $2600.

And there are smaller container vans likethe 10 footer. These usually cost around $1000 dollars to $1500with an average resting at $1300. These are also usually too smallto live in so you might want to just skip these ones or use it forsomething else.

For your first home (and only if youreliving alone) get the 20 footer. This should set you back around$1500. Not bad considering you will still have $5500 to workwith.

A 20-footer is enough to provide you withample space to put a kitchen, a bedroom and a toilet with room tospare for a living area/ office.

So this should be perfect for someone likeyou who is looking for a home that wont make you bankrupt.

Chapter 3 Laying OutThe Foundation

So you have your container with you. Nowits time to lay the basic foundation.

Once you decide to get a shipping containerfor a home, you basically have a metal box to work with. You cancut out sections to it easily but changing its basic form may proveto be a challenge if you want to go in that direction. Its usuallycostlier too.

So, were going to work with what you have a simple metal box.

Now, you cant just go on ahead and placethis on the ground and say youre done. Building permits concerningcontainer homes dictate that these huge boxes have to be elevatedat least a foot above the ground. Its a good idea to follow thoserules and regulations to save you from headaches down the road.

Another benefit to elevating these containerhomes is that it makes it easier to transport as well as keep yousafe in case theres flooding in your area.

So youll have to decide from the startwhere to place your future home and then build the concrete blocksto mount it on.

As soon as your container home standssolidly on the concrete blocks, make sure you have a boltingmechanism to ensure it does not shift or move in any way. Althougha container home is almost impossible to move due to its massiveweight, it will help you rest easier knowing that nothing short ofa herd of elephants will knock it off its perch. Just hope therearent any herds of elephants in your area though!

Added note: Some people even elevate theircontainer homes higher than a foot off the ground in order tocreate some space at the bottom for storage of wood and othermaterials.

There are also some people who built theircontainer home in a way that it rests on top of another containervan but the other one is submerged effectively making it into abasement. This is something you can consider doing in the futureonce your finances free up.

Some ideas on the foundation blocks: insteadof digging up the ground and laying down concrete you can recycleold tires and fill that up with cement instead! Once these tiresare solidly driven through the ground with some iron spikes theywill never move and you can reuse them again should you choose torelocate!

Chapter 4 Interior WorkAnd Going Through Each Room

Working with one container as your home isgoing to prove challenging. You will have to change the way youlook at a home and envision how everything will fit without yourhome ending up feeling cramped.

Here are some things you shouldconsider:

1. The living area doyou really need this inside your house?

2. Bedroom Think abouthow much time you spend in your bedroom every day.

3. Kitchen How big ofa kitchen do you need?