thumper60
Well-Known Member
dude the corners hold all the weight,the floor holds the weight of that box
Shipping container grow rooms
- Thread starter dodacky
- Start date
doublejj
Well-Known Member
You can barely walk across the roof of a shipping container without leaving dents, it's thin sheet metal. All the weight when they stack containers is carried buy the floor of the container above sitting on the corner pillars. The floor in a container is made to drive a forklift on....try driving one on the roof....
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doublejj
Well-Known Member
exactly.....when you flip them over the wieght baring floor is now your roof. and the thin sheetmetal roof is now your floor....
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
So if the floor has cross beams for support and the roof doesn't, doesn't it make sense to use the floor as the roof before you place tons and tons of dirt on top? Of cause you would also brace the walls as they can cave in fairly easily.I have no idea where you found that. But I can say after many years in local 269 of the international longshoresman's association The metal shell is the exact same thickness on the floor as it is the roof. The floor has cross beams for support, the roof doesn't.
Anyway, no skin off my nose and not a subject I have any intention on debating to much as I have no interest in the outcome except for the OP to brace well and have at least two exits.
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
Exactly..
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
On another note a guy a couple seasons ago near me had two connected and buried and a slab and shed built on top. Entrance was under a work bench that swung away.
He got busted before his first harvest... Ex GF..
He got busted before his first harvest... Ex GF..
while Ive seen the containers get flipped for stregnth it just seems stupid as you have to build a floor where the roof was and have crossmembers to help keep the sides out.
I used 75mm x 50mm x 5mm steel and framed it like a house wall with 550mm stud spacings and 100mm x 50mm x 5mm steel across the roof for support theres also 2 vertical braces in the center to support the entrance. we had to track a 21ton excavator over the roof and it only flexed an inch or 2. The physical structure is sound and to those youtube/google know it alls untill youve actualy done or seen it in person you really have no idea.
it added almost 2 ton of steel and half ton of plywood to the container, I knew to do this as a freind tried to bury 1 6yrs ago with nothing and the roof and walls buckled in a good foot or so and ruined the container and his grow room fund.
I used 75mm x 50mm x 5mm steel and framed it like a house wall with 550mm stud spacings and 100mm x 50mm x 5mm steel across the roof for support theres also 2 vertical braces in the center to support the entrance. we had to track a 21ton excavator over the roof and it only flexed an inch or 2. The physical structure is sound and to those youtube/google know it alls untill youve actualy done or seen it in person you really have no idea.
it added almost 2 ton of steel and half ton of plywood to the container, I knew to do this as a freind tried to bury 1 6yrs ago with nothing and the roof and walls buckled in a good foot or so and ruined the container and his grow room fund.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
I won't be driving any forklifts in the upside down container, so installing a regular floor will do fine and is much easier to build and much cheaper than re-enforcing the roof. when you flip it you only need to re-enforce the side walls from buckeling because the roof is already done...
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well when you bury a container feel free to do it how you want, to build a reg floor vs what ive done is like $300 difference, to add only wall support as you suggest would be much much harder as youd need to fix it to the actual container and the corten steel is an absolute b*tch to weld!!! Much safer to have cross members to keep the wall studs pushed out then have a weld that could fail.
then also the entry point through the top would be alot more work if flipped, theres more then 1 way to do this and my ways done and its strong enough. The excavator hire was the most expensive part of the build and was only available at the time of moving and bury so had no way at all to flip before fitout. youve just gotta work to what you have and problem solve as you go.
anyways an argument about how to bury a container with people that havent actually done so themselve was not what id intended, im more interested in others layouts and how to mitigate Issues that arise while growing inside one and what would they do different next time.
then also the entry point through the top would be alot more work if flipped, theres more then 1 way to do this and my ways done and its strong enough. The excavator hire was the most expensive part of the build and was only available at the time of moving and bury so had no way at all to flip before fitout. youve just gotta work to what you have and problem solve as you go.
anyways an argument about how to bury a container with people that havent actually done so themselve was not what id intended, im more interested in others layouts and how to mitigate Issues that arise while growing inside one and what would they do different next time.
doublejj
Well-Known Member
if you want a top down entrance into a buried shipping container you can do it like this....
pinner420
Well-Known Member
You guys know this thread has been in my mind for 15 years! Is it easier to just pour concrete as apposed to all the extra engineering needed to sure up a container... I'm estimating 30k for a poor build.... what sort of estimate is a guy looking at with the container route...
doublejj
Well-Known Member
I just bought another 40' shipping container, it cost $3,300 delivered...the rest is excavator work at $100hr....maybe 2 days.
you can just lay 3/4" plywood down as a floor in the upsidedown shipping container...
im not sure cost of materials in usa but I suspect things will be cheaper there, with the current exchange rate mine translastes to aprox 12k usd. thats for everything including underground power cable for 3ph power at 30amp per phase.
I looked into a concrete block build but needs to be double blocked,filled and still good roof reiforcing. it wouldve cost me about 4-5k more but have the benefit of custom size rooms instead of working within the constraints of a container. also I dont have much concrete or brickwork exp so wasnt willing to risk failure.
that would be my ideal container location!! If I owned a farm I would build it into a bank same as that and disguise it as a silage bunker. unfortunatly I dont have millions to buy a farmI am going to backset mine into a hillside like this...
I dont want an underground swimming pool lol. I was contemplating same concept except side entry but time constraints didnt allow me to do so and wasnt keen on trying to waterproof any cuts and joins made like that, mine still leaked a bit where there was a small hole I missed but bitumous paint fixed that pretty quick.
we only had 5hrs of darkness (once neighbours and traffic went to bed) to get a hole dug and this thing in the ground and fully concealed so any work like that wouldve been hard to pull off unless prebuilt but if I do it again side entry will be a must have !!
Theyre expensive here, I paid the equivalent to that for a 20ft. a 40ft here would cost almost 8k usd +5-600 for delivery. you guys in the usa dont know how lucky you are to have access to cheap materials
Lucky Luke
Well-Known Member
Im In Tas Ausssie
Here the used containers are approx 2k plus. Im in a rural area in a rural state and lots of placers use them for sheds and such. Being rural also means Digger hire is normally a carton of beer and a BBQ . Strengthening the thing is were the money is at and that's when the exit points should be cut in and reinforced along with any services. Again a carton of beer and a BBQ to a structural wielder but metal isn't cheap. Large diameter cement drain pipe work well as a entry way and you can attach a ladder to the concrete if needed Also drainage around the container is important especially were it sits. Crushed gravel works well for the base.(like you do with a water tank base basically) Spray foam everywhere to help keep it water proof. The tough paint they spray Skip bins etc is also money worth spending. The paints not cheap but it only takes a couple hrs to paint them with a gun. Dirt fill is also not cheap you can save some money and get it mixed with sand 70/30. A drainage hole or two is also worth considering.
Depending on who you know and who you can use around 7k would be a good ball park figure.
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pinner420
Well-Known Member
It's the sides that get ya. A friend tried it out up north here and the expansion contraction on the side walls ultimately imploded his.