Container Home: Welded Containers Together - 20 September 2015

This weekend, I welded the steel plate over the seal between the two containers. The plate will protect the seal in the event a limb falls on it and it also provides a second barrier to stop water from coming in. I also painted the plate with undercoating paint and then sealed the edges with contractor caulk.

I also got the section between the two container where the doors are sealed. I put backer bars behind it and then caulked. This has now completed the sealing process between the two containers.

The next part I got completed was clearing out the land to the right. This is going to be where the 10 inch pipes will be buried 10 feet into the ground. As you can see in the picture, I have marked the two paths where the 24 inch wide trenches will be dug out. The trenches will be 40 feet long and connected at the end to make it in the shape of a U. This will provide 85 feet of space to circulate air through in order to cool it. At 10 feet down, the temperature will be a consistent 58 degrees all year. The piping will be galvanized steel so that it can easily conduct temperature.

Finally, I have secured an entire shipment of expended tires. I was originally going to install gabion baskets all the way around the buried portions of the containers. In thinking over the weekend, it occurred to me that tires could be used instead. The ends will still be gabion baskets for both safety and aesthetic values. The tires will be filled with gravel and stacked on top of each other. This will provide both bracing against the earth and drainage in the event of flooding. The tires will stop at roughly 1-2 feet below the top. They will then be covered over with dirt to be flush with the top of the containers. This keeps the tires from being exposed and vulnerable to fire.

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Container Home: Vertical Support Beams in Place - 13 September 2015

I finally made it back to work on the house after three weeks off. I got the vertical support beams welded in place. This is such a relief because it was the most dangerous part of the entire project. Getting that horizontal beam up to the ceiling was a challenge unto itself, but also was scary to step underneath it as it was hanging without vertical beams underneath. I knew it had been secured to the ceiling by welds and the 1,000 pound straps were more than ample to support it, but the scary part was still there. I cut the vertical beams to snugly fit in place. I then coated the sides of the beam that I will never see again with the truck undercoating after sandblasting those sides down. I will be getting back to the rest of the beam later. You can see in the pic below where I placed the plate at the bottom and the vertical beam up the wall.

Here is the final picture of the vertical beams in place after I welded the beams together and to the floor plate. The floor place is there to distribute the weight across the floor. I have to say that I was scared when I went to pull the temporary 4x4's out. I hooked a chain around them and then attached that to my Jeep to pull them out. I didn't want to be inside just in case I had not done something right. Both got pulled out and it was rock solid. I even went on the roof and jumped around. The beams never moved a bit. Here is the final view of the support beams now in place. The next part is going to be sandblasting the outside and coating it with paint so the two sides can be buried.

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