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I don't think I could live in just one converted shipping container, I have issues with small spaces.....but some of the homes in the below look really cool. Just guessing any of them would be a huge amount of money.....but yup, they look neat!
I think they would be very good for earthquakes too. They could be one of the few structures to stand in a really big earthquake or hurricane.
There definitely are limitations, such as their 8 foot width. If I ever do this, I would probably weld two together, then have 2 more added so that they are in a U shape, with a courtyard in the middle. The living room and a bedroom could be in the wider double container area, then the kitchen and bathrooms could be in the single container area. With glass sliders and large windows facing the courtyard, the smaller spaces would feel larger.
This is kinda what they did combined containers. The strength in those containers is the frame, not the sides.
My friend's neighbor built one of these (with the help of an architect). It was fascinating to watch it go up. It is two stories and quite attractive. It is on a foundation and is anchored down beyond that. The steel frames on those things are very strong. I know that my friend and other neighbors were quite distressed about it at first as it was built in a neighborhood of 300K+ homes (that's alot here in Texas) on the bay, but they are quite pleased with it now and are admittedly a bit jealous of the alleged but untried ability of the house to withstand a hurricane.
POLTRACKER-
Hey! My fiance and I have been researching for months now on building a shipping container home and just happened to be looking on google and found this posting. I can't believe you know of someone in the Houston area who has built one! We live southeast of Houston in a small town called Alvin (IDK if you are familiar with the area) and would love to talk to you more about this!!!!!!!!
When I was doing some genealogy research, I found out my grandmother's parents had lived in a converted railroad car. This was back in the early 1920's, so I guess ideas like this have been around a long time.
Google has a contest using SketchUp for different ideas. There was a contest they did for people to design shelters. Worth checking out too. There might even be some shipping container ones done. Anyway, it might give you more ideas. And the cool thing about it too is that you can actually download SketchUp for free and then view the models in 3d.
Once you start cutting the sides and removing a section, your tampering with the engineering of the container. Containers can hold up as a structure to earthquakes and hurricanes but the contents and attachments will be destroyed. In hurricane, you can have a solid cement house but if the windows break, guess what happens? Same with earthquake, you rumble the container and it looks just like new, but what happened to the stuff inside?
The issue I see with container homes is they are containers and you know your living in a container. When you try to make them feel more like a traditional home, the cost goes up fast.
They are aslo horrible for heating and cooling, cost maybe twice as much energy to heat & cool them as other structures of same size.
If you have one of those mobile office rental companies that use converted containers, pay them a visit and walk through honestly figuring out how you can live in one. You may find that standing in one that is somewhat converted is actually too weird.
The heating and cooling problem was what I was thinking too - steel loves to transfer heat, towards the inside when it's hot in summer and to the outside in winter.
A shipping container home would not be my choice. You could build your own log cabin or stone house (okay stone might not be good in CA earthquakes) from scratch for about the same as it would cost to make the container like a home, if you buy the right land.
I don't know anything about container homes, but I am so glad that I don't have to resort to living in a shipping container. I would feel like a homeless bum and I would feel so desolate and forlorn. I guess that is just me.
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