• Adkml [he/him]
    hexbear
    109
    1 month ago

    What is it with their obsession with trying to use shipping containers as houses.

    Why do none of them realize that something that was designed to the bare minimum standard of not destroying products would be a good thing to live in.

    There like, actual materials designed to be used to build homes, maybe fucking try using some of them instead of trying to recreate what was supposed to be a crazy dystopian example of housing.

    This is like the dumbasses that keep reinventing a train.

    Take a shipping container, but you have to ventilate it and have heating and cooling.

    Oh and you're going to have to have some kind of plumbing sos you'll need some internal walls and some penetrations

    Wow I just had a great idea you could actually put some wheels on it and you could easily move it to any available lot.

    Annddd it's an rv or a mobile home.

    • BeamBrain [he/him]
      hexbear
      62
      1 month ago

      Why do none of them realize that something that was designed to the bare minimum standard of not destroying products would be a good thing to live in.

      Under capitalism, laborers are a product.

    • T34_69 [none/use name]
      hexbear
      52
      1 month ago

      Also they act like a Faraday cage so you can't use wireless devices in them without connecting to a router inside

    • @driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
      hexbear
      44
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      I used to love the idea of living in a container house for the price and the ecological impact of it, but after some research I found out that to make them livable they had to be modified so much that are just as "bad" as a normal house.

    • GenXen [any, any]
      hexbear
      24
      1 month ago

      Additionally, you can't repurpose a used shipping container since it's nearly impossible to determine if and/or what hazardous materials have been shipped in one over the course of it's life. So all of these concepts rely on net new containers, which completely nullifies the whole point.

      • Owl [he/him]
        hexbear
        18
        1 month ago

        There are a lot of shipping containers that have been used only once, due to US/China exports imbalance. These are available at a good price, or at least were when I looked at this like seven years ago.

        (Still plenty of other problems though.)

    • HeyGreg [he/him]
      hexbear
      6
      1 month ago

      You have to insulate it too, there’s no getting around that. So the inside becomes smaller or you build a shell around the outside. More practical to just build a regular wooden house.

      • Adkml [he/him]
        hexbear
        60
        1 month ago

        Everything is "pre engineered" that's just called design.

        And they're not engineered for habitation they're engineered to transport goods that aren't sensitive to temperature, humidity, or oxygen levels (unless you're talking refrigerated ones but I don't know a lot of people who want their house to be 38 degrees)

        Wooden shipping pallets are also portable and pre engineered that doesn't mean you should build a house out of them.

        • Torenico [he/him]
          hexbear
          20
          1 month ago

          Wooden shipping pallets are also portable and pre engineered that doesn't mean you should build a house out of them.

          We should totally build houses out of pallets and force the rich to live in them though

        • 7bicycles [he/him]
          hexbear
          17
          1 month ago

          Everything is "pre engineered" that's just called design.

          Counterpoint: Groverhaus

          • Adkml [he/him]
            hexbear
            17
            1 month ago

            That was architect'd not engineered.

            • 7bicycles [he/him]
              hexbear
              9
              1 month ago

              I hate architects as much as the next guy but I'm still pretty sure no architect'd'ing has gone into groverhaus

        • BoscoBear@lemmy.sdf.org
          hexbear
          1
          1 month ago

          My comment was meant to further the conversation. Yours was meant to stop the conversation.

          I can build a shipping container house that will fit on a price of leased property. I cannot build a pallet house at all.

          I have gone back and forth on container homes. At the moment I see a place for them.

          • Adkml [he/him]
            hexbear
            46
            1 month ago

            That's because it's a stupid conversation.

            You know what else you cana build a house with.

            Building materials.

            And it won't be an unventilated, 100 sf, 120 degree Faraday cage that will collapse on itself after it rusts away in a few years because the expected lifespan of a shipping container is 20 years before you cut a bunch of holes in it.

            • @hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              hexbear
              6
              1 month ago

              after it rusts away in a few years because the expected lifespan of a shipping container is 20 years before you cut a bunch of holes in it.

              20 years with very large portion of it on the sea exposed to the elements and with minimal to no maintenance. That's a very damn important detail

              • Adkml [he/him]
                hexbear
                20
                1 month ago

                Oh yea I'm sure cutting a bunch of holes in it and then propping one end up and having it support itself plus the weight of all the building materials you added at an angle so it concentrates all of the force onto one short edge plus the unsupported span of the floor will drive that expectancy way up.

            • BoscoBear@lemmy.sdf.org
              hexbear
              1
              1 month ago

              1,) No, I cannot.

              1. shipping containers are not 100sqft.

              2. they aren't 120degrees.

              3. I have never seen one collapse on itself.

              Either you are ignorant or disingenuous.

              • Yllych [any]
                hexbear
                30
                1 month ago

                To put it plainly, shipping containers can get hot. Really hot. One study of wine shipments found that containers traveling between Australia and the US reached a maximum temperature of 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) while at sea.[1]

                Another study conducted by engineers at Xerox found that temperatures in shipping containers on land can drop as low as -21ºF (-29ºC) and reach as high as 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57ºC).[2] The researchers found that the greatest temperature fluctuations occur on land, though containers traveling by sea are still subject to intense heat.

                https://epgna.com/how-hot-do-shipping-containers-get/

                • BoscoBear@lemmy.sdf.org
                  hexbear
                  1
                  1 month ago

                  Certainly they can get really hot in certain conditions. I do t think that is very relevant to the actual living conditions, but I have a small sample size. The ones I have seen have been pretty efficient.

              • Adkml [he/him]
                hexbear
                22
                edit-2
                1 month ago
                1. If you can afford a shipping container you can afford a greater amount of building material for the same price, your complete lack of construction ability doesn't make them a better option.

                2. Standard shipping containers are either 20 or 40 by 8 exterior dimensions. So if you have exactly zero modifications or internal walls, so zero hvac electrical or plumbing and one open space you have about 200sq ft if it's on level ground which this isn't.

                3. Your right it's actually higher than that as other people have cited. You literally responded to that comment describing the sun shining on them as "in certain conditions"

                4. I've never seen a house built out of pallets collapse. It's almost like anecdotal evidence isn't worth a shit. The stated life expectancy from manufactures is 20 years if properly maintained and unmodified.

                Thank you for being rhe best possible example of how this seems like a good idea if you're a complete fucking moron with zero construction experience, knowledge or ability.

          • alexandra_kollontai [she/her]
            hexbear
            17
            1 month ago

            On the contrary, new research from the University of Michigan shows that shipping container houses (and similar repurposed pre-engineered objects) are actually much more costly than you might expect: https://cadence.moe/PPB_Portable_Prefab_Buildings.pdf

      • homhom9000 [she/her]
        hexbear
        29
        1 month ago

        Literally modular and manufactured homes. Pre-engineered, portable, and an actual house, not a storage unit.

      • xj9 [they/them, she/her]
        hexbear
        17
        1 month ago

        TO BE SHIPPING CONTAINERS

        you can't modify them in any way without compromising the structural integrity of these things. that crinkle isn't just for fun, its part of what makes the whole thing rigid enough not to fall apart. If you start cutting into that, you have to come up with a whole new support structure and might as well just build it normally.

        Actual prefab buildings though? That's workable.

  • Dolores [love/loves]
    hexbear
    105
    1 month ago

    dedicating 1/3 of extremely limited floorspace to stairs to fit the fucking garage lenin-dont-laugh

    • Adkml [he/him]
      hexbear
      70
      1 month ago

      Truly brilliant.

      Way more sensible than just adding an awning to the side of it for $40 and parking under that.

      Shipping container houses are one of those things that seem like a great idea unless you know literally anything about construction or think about it for more than 30 seconds.

      Case in point the genius telling me that the internal temperature reaching 125 degrees in "some situations" (the sun being out) doesn't have any effect on living conditions.

      • D61 [any]
        hexbear
        52
        edit-2
        1 month ago

        Case in point the genius telling me that the internal temperature reaching 125 degrees in "some situations" (the sun being out) doesn't have any effect on living conditions.

        You're just acclimatizing yourself to the future average day time temperatures. free-real-estate

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      hexbear
      32
      1 month ago

      It comes with all the cost saving of not adding a second pair of legs to the container for the low low price of adding 3 sets of staircases to a 40ft container

    • D61 [any]
      hexbear
      26
      1 month ago

      For like... 700$ US you can get a "car port" and just bolt the metal supports to the concrete pad.

      • Dolores [love/loves]
        hexbear
        17
        1 month ago

        i dont know where the idea a covering for a vehicle is obligatory even comes from, theres not much of a rule to provide parking period, nevermind covered

          • very_poggers_gay [they/them]
            hexbear
            15
            1 month ago

            if you're able-bodied and have a $10 brush or scraper, you can clear a car in like 5 minutes or less. it's even a bit fun.

            Many Canadians are doing this trump-yassified

            • @BakerBagel@midwest.social
              hexbear
              18
              1 month ago

              Unless it rained before it started to snow so you have a nice layer of ice under the snow. Covered parking is just way nicer if you have a car.

              • very_poggers_gay [they/them]
                hexbear
                5
                1 month ago

                Yeah, that's valid. For me, it's like 90% of my life was spent in a place where we had to clear our cars of snow and ice as they warmed up for most days for 3 to 4 months of the year, so it never felt that wrong. Covered parking was never even on our radar tbh, but I can see how yucky it would be if it wasn't the usual

          • Dolores [love/loves]
            hexbear
            8
            1 month ago

            that's how i know developers don't really give a shit about it. this scheme compromises so much for a thing the competition knows ain't much of a selling point

          • Dolores [love/loves]
            hexbear
            8
            1 month ago

            but we'll tolerate it for basic accomidation, which is seriously bungled by this 'conveinience' scheme

        • @SSJ2Marx
          hexbear
          4
          1 month ago

          I don't even cover my motorcycle every time I park it much less my car lmao.

  • FlakesBongler [they/them]
    hexbear
    67
    1 month ago

    No kitchen

    Minimal storage

    Liable to crush your car with you inside

    Love the idea!

    • @PlexSheep@infosec.pub
      hexbear
      10
      1 month ago

      No heating

      No cooling

      No cables for power and communications

      No plumbing, so no water

      Especially not connected to waste water, so you need a regular poop truck

  • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
    hexbear
    45
    1 month ago

    All these attempts to make inexpensive, affordable housing like this completely ignore the fact that it's not the house itself that's so expensive. It's the land.

    • very_poggers_gay [they/them]
      hexbear
      17
      1 month ago

      True, though I feel like this kind of "cheap and easy to build housing" is exactly the kind of thing that appeals to the near-sighted 'real-estate developers' of today.

      Why spend so much time and money building a duplex, when you can plop some shipping containers on a lot and start leaching in a fraction of the time and with a fraction of the investment?

      • CthulhusIntern [he/him]
        hexbear
        10
        1 month ago

        A tall apartment complex is way more tenants for not much more land though, so it doesn't even work for that.

  • BodyBySisyphus [he/him]
    hexbear
    41
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Start with a 3600 cu ft container
    Immediately shave off 25% of that with stairs
    You will probably hit your head going to bed because that's like a 6 foot ceiling in the bedroom now
    Put the bathroom right over the car
    Sewer hookups? Don't need 'em. Use your composting toilet to fertilize your tree on your massive empty lot
    Room for a dorm-sized fridge and maybe a hot plate right next to your midcentury modern easy chair: support for a nutritious froot-loop and canned-soup-based diet
    Just wash your dish in your bathroom sink
    Also yourself, everyone loves a sponge bath and there's no way we're cramming a shower in this puppy. No sewer hookups, remember?
    Window (singular)
    Lamp (singular)
    Creeping sense of having been entombed alive (free with purchase)

  • macabrett[they/them]@lemmy.ml
    hexbear
    39
    edit-2
    1 month ago

    Uhhh all you naysayers are forgetting one important thing: the text says "suitable home design" right there. So, whatever negative things you have to say, maybe learn to read first. It's clearly suitable.

  • Awoo [she/her]
    hexbear
    37
    1 month ago

    This just reduces floor space inside the container for no appreciable reason. Park the car on that strip of ground outside.

    • Guamer [she/her]
      hexbear
      40
      1 month ago

      At the foot of your bed, and then let the downward momentum roll it down the stairs like a slinky and out your (open) front door.

    • Robert_Kennedy_Jr [xe/xem, xey/xem]
      hexbear
      23
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      Know someone that lived in a shipping container in the woods with his wife and teenage daughter. They used an outhouse and the shower was in the same area as the kitchen.

      • DyingOfDeBordom [none/use name]
        hexbear
        13
        1 month ago

        the shower was in the same area as the kitchen

        I mean makes sense to me if you're trying to save on plumbing

  • adultswim_antifa [he/him]
    hexbear
    36
    1 month ago

    What if it's icy and your car slides into one of those tiny supports when you come in to park under your box, thus destroying your car, your home, most of your possessions, and possibly killing you?

  • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]
    hexbear
    29
    1 month ago

    The shipping container home thing is similar to making furniture out of shipping pallets. Not functional, not aesthetically pleasing, and probably dangerous (chemically treated wood vs hot metal box that takes too much work to be livable).

    If Amazon was a competent company that was better than its predecessors, then it would have kit-homes like the Sears catalog used to, and no one would bother with this container BS. But instead it's oops-all-dropshipping.

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      hexbear
      16
      1 month ago

      But instead it's oops-all-dropshipping.

      I keep saying ads for pre-fab tiny homes that are approaching like 90m² pop up. That used to be like a sears catalogue single family home. I think we're getting there, if not there already

    • Deadend [he/him]
      hexbear
      13
      1 month ago

      A good modular home design could fit in a couple shipping containers easily (if packed right). Some stuff will still be needed on site like a level surface and a sewage/water/electric hookup.

  • @SSJ2Marx
    hexbear
    27
    1 month ago

    suitable

    Voted Most Likely to Pancake Your Car