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The Container House Project
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Small Scale Engineering offers you the following services:

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The Latest From the Container House Project

- Securing Shipping Containers to the Ground
  22nd May 2019Main Structure and RoofNow that the shipping containers are in place, Kevin’s next task had to do with securing the shipping containers to the ground. Kevin has completed a large amount of the welding work. I’m pretty sure our new house won’t budge whether it’s hit by earthquake, hurricane or tornado! Quick Recap of Previous Work If you’re just joining us here for the first time on this blog, this is the preparation we completed in order to prepare for securing the shipping containers to the ground: Dug huge holes where we were going to cast the concrete footingsCast the concrete footingsAttached metal plates to the footingsFinally, moved the containers so that they sit correctly on the footings Securing the Shipping Containers to the Ground by Means of Welding Now with all of the above complete, Kevin could finally weld the containers to the metal plates on the footings. He could also weld the containers to each other. Before every weld, Kevin cleaned the area. He wanted to ensure that the areas were free of old paint, dust, mud, rust or anything else. Contaminants will weaken the weld. Kevin then welded the containers to the metal base plates on the footings. As you can see, he had some awkward angles to contend with! The corner casting are welded to the metal plates on the footings. Angle-iron in the corners attaches the containers to each other. Securing the Containers to Each Other He also needed to attach each container to the others it touched. In the corners he used angle iron. In one of our previously used shipping containers, a previous owner had put a small window in the side. This pushed the container out by 25mm, so there is a gap between that container and the next. Kevin cannot weld across a gap that big. Therefore he put in a piece of 25mm square tubing to bridge the two containers. He welded the containers to the 25mm square tubing. The small window that caused the 25mm gap As you probably know, there are several types of welding. For all of these welds, Kevin decided to use stick welding. He chose this type of welding because it is one of the stronger types of welds. He also chose it because it is not affected by wind which would blow away the shielding gasses. The last reason is because his stick welding equipment is the lightest and easiest to move around the house as he completes the welds. (Left) angle iron bracing the corners and painted with red oxide paint for rust prevention(Right) 25mm square tubing used to bridge the gap Problem Solving Access Our shipping containers are arranged in a box shape. So, you might ask, how did we get through the containers into the central courtyard? The shipping container with the window, as mentioned above, has a door cut into it. However, the door is on the inside of the rectangle we created with the containers. So, if you were in the inside courtyard area, you’d be able to access only this blue container. From the outside, you would be able to access the other blue and white container, as this one has a door previously cut, on the outside. You could also access the yellow container as its doors are still facing outwards. The red one is wedged between two other containers, so you cannot access it. And the green one is stacked on top of the yellow one, so you cannot access that one either. To solve this problem, Kevin has cut a door into the outside of the blue and white container that has the doorway into the courtyard. Through this container, we can now walk from the outside, through the container, right into the courtyard. Our current entrance The red container that is wedged between two others, will be used as our entrance hall, office and laundry. Therefore, Kevin cut away a portion of the side panel from the inside. He then pushed it inwards to make the new wall for the laundry area. We can now access the cement bags we have stored in the red container. We have some awesome plans for our entrance hall. I’m very much looking forward to sharing our ideas, so watch this space! What will be our entrance hall (not yet complete) The Lost Generator When we moved the containers into position, we forgot that we had stored the generator in the green container. This wasn’t very clever of us because that container was always destined to be stacked on top of another container. This was a problem because we really needed the generator to complete the welding. Our current electricity supply is not powerful enough to run the welders. Kevin cut a door into the side of the container, which we can access from the top of the red (entrance hall) container. We would be adding doors to the side of this container anyway. Kevin has has just cut it a little earlier than anticipated. From here, Kevin has been running the generator. The generator is safely out of the elements and the container now has an opening too that will let exhaust fumes blow out. From here, Kevin could prepare for the next exciting step – the roof installation!...
- Positioning Shipping Containers
  15th May 2019Container Delivery / Main Structure and RoofThe one day I’ve been most nervous about was the day that we were finally ready to work on the positioning of the shipping containers. Would everything run smoothly on the day we finally placed the containers in their final resting places? Was I right to be nervous? We’ll let you decide … We decided that we would position the containers on the day that we brought in the last container. This way we could avoid having to pay the transport company to make a special trip to bring out a crane. Therefore, after the concrete footings were cast and ready, we began looking for our last container. Finding our Last Container before Positioning Began The team that finally completed the work arrive on site Buying shipping containers is a funny business. The sales reps we deal with are not usually in Cape town, and from their offices in Johannesburg and Durban they arrange the purchases and deliveries. Most containers are sold from a depot to which civilian access is not allowed. (This is why you should always deal with a reputable business.) Container King, whom we have used for most of our deliveries for private container purchases, did not know of any damaged shipping containers available for sale. We therefore contacted another company we have bought a container from and they had a damaged one available for sale. First thing the next morning, after receiving the quote, we sent them the go-ahead to invoice us and arrange delivery. Unfortunately the seller then decided to not sell after all. We had to start again looking for our last container. All the April public holidays were slowing things down too. We ended up having to buy a more expensive container. This is not necessarily a bad thing because it means it is in better condition. This container would have a second one stacked above it. By the time we were ready for delivery and for the final positioning of the shipping containers, we had three days before the roofing team were expected to come in to install the roof. This did not leave Kevin much time to complete the welding necessary before the roof was to be installed. A Container Delivery Gone Wrong We made the necessary arrangements for the delivery of the last container and arranged to have the other containers we have collected over the last year positioned at the same time. We all took the day off work and waited impatiently for our last container to arrive. And we waited… and waited… Finally, the truck with the container itself arrived at about 4pm in the afternoon. We asked the driver about the crane. We we were worried about having enough daylight left to accurately place the rest of the containers. The driver didn’t know when the crane was arriving. He spent the next few hours alternatively trying to call his office for an update and having cat naps in the cab of the truck. Google informed me that sunset was just after 6pm that day. The crane finally arrived at about 6:30pm. It was already dark and too late to move shipping containers around. They had also brought a side loader instead of a crane; the wrong equipment. A side loader cannot place containers directly next to each other like we required. We were extremely disappointed and angry about the waste of the day. All they could accomplish in the dark was to off-load the last container (a mustard yellow one). (Left) The container sitting safely on the footing, and, (right) the containers are arranged at 90 degrees to each other The next day, after contacting the company that had originally arranged everything, they sent out someone presumably from a different rigging company, to have a look at our site. He was extremely negative. He made it quite clear that either he didn’t want to do the work, or would only do it for a much higher fee than we were initially charged (and had paid for up front). We decided we didn’t want him or his company back on our property. We had to come up with another plan, so contacted Container King once again. How Container King Saved the Day! I phoned Neil of Container King on the Friday afternoon and explained the situation to him. It turned out that an email I had sent him a couple of weeks before had gone astray. The lost email had contributed to our decision to go with the other supplier. He was very sad to hear about our dilemma and jumped into action from his desk in Durban. At 7pm that evening, we had an entire team from Container King’s preferred rigging company on our site discussing the situation by torch and car headlight. What a difference in attitude! Within ten minutes they had a plan of action and could foresee no problems in completing the work. By 11am on Saturday morning, I had the quote and two possible time slots for the job. The roofing company and we were mutually happy to postpone the roof work. Thankfully that timing all worked out in the end. Unfortunately, as per above, our initial plan didn’t work out, so we did have to pay for a truck and crane to drive out to us a second time. However we were very happy to have a trusted team on site exactly one week later. We were expecting them around lunchtime. They even arrived early at around 10am. In less than two hours, all the containers had been placed into position, with no fuss at all. Three containers in their final positions! Two Small Glitches with Positioning the Shipping Containers Aerial View of Container Number Five Being Moved into Position Okay, so we did have two small glitches. But they were both our problems – not problems with the rigging company who helped with the positioning of the shipping containers. First Glitch The first was with a small window set into the side of the one blue and white container, which had been previously used as a building of some kind. The frame of the window sticks out the side of the container by 25mm. We didn’t think about the window, but this frame has pushed the next container, the red one further along by 25mm, which in turn pushed out the yellow container by 25mm. As a result, the edge of the yellow container’s corner block was sitting right on the bolt that we used to attach the metal plate to the concrete footings. The bolt was supposed to sit in the middle of the corner block where there is a hole used for securing the container to trucks and ships. The rigging team asked us if we wanted to deal with the problem before they unhooked the container, but Kevin said no. He later attacked the problem with his oxyacetylene set and melted the metal around the corner block and bolt until the container was sitting level on the metal plate and effectively welded into place. Our house is going to be 25mm longer than expected. I don’t think anyone will notice. Second Glitch The second problem was a really silly problem. Shipping containers are extremely useful for storing things. We have been using them to store the odd thing for the house project. For instance, one of the containers has a few bags of cement left over from casting the footings. We forgot that the generator was stored in the green container, and as you can see from the picture below, the doors are no longer accessible! Last container in place! Kevin needs the generator in order to do the welding as our electricity supply is not powerful enough. He solved the problem by cutting a door into the side, above the red container, approximately where we’d need one anyway. We can now access the welder. A Huge Thank You to Container King and the Rigging Team We cannot thank Container King and the rigging team enough for their quick response to our plight. Their professional and positive attitude have saved this project. The positioning of the shipping containers went extremely smoothly, in the end, thanks to them. If you, our readers, require any assistance in regards to shipping containers anywhere in South Africa, we obviously recommend Container King! Thanks Guys! You’re the best!...

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Latest Posts

Securing Shipping Containers to the Ground

7:30 am 22 May 2019

Positioning Shipping Containers

7:30 am 15 May 2019

The Advantages of Aluminium Door and Window Frames

7:30 am 08 May 2019

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