Shipping Container Parts Storage Layouts

[Lang]

Lionel

I have 3 containers;

A 20 footer with 3 foot shelves along the back for larger items. I park my Jeep in this.

Another 20 footer same shelves with my FIAT Spider

A 40 footer with 3 high 2 foot shelves running along one side starting about 6 feet in from the door. They finish about 6 feet from the end. Across the end there are racks for smaller (jeep and car size tyres). On the right side along the wall are my truck tyres - lots of truck tyres. You could make these more shelves if you did not have tyres. Make sure the first shelf is at least 2' 6" off the floor if you are trying to store heavy axles and gearboxes to get reasonable "grunt" space.

This gives about 2' 6" passage. The reason for starting my shelves in from the door is to give a full width area for any large junk to be brought in and maneuvered or just to put stuff out of the weather temporarily.

The advice to roof the container is very sound as the cheap ones you buy often leak. Some old roofing sheet on a couple of 4x2 pine supports running the full length (Bolt or tie it down!) gives water protection but more importantly drops the temperature as I have measured a sealed one in the sun on a hot day at 65 degrees which will not do rubber etc much good.

Now the real winner. Get yourself a whirly-bird, they are very cheap if you look around. Cut a couple of holes about A4 size in the far end low down. Put some mesh or something over them to stop snakes and other creatures getting in. Put the whirly-bird on the roof near the door end.

This gives you full container circulation and even on the hottest day, inside will be very similar to outside temperature. Most importantly it eliminates sweating and subsequent corrosion that is a real problem with sealed containers.

Here is a photo for people who call a whirly-bird something else. Also a photo of my place with the shed and 3 containers out the back, bottom left two 20 footers with a truck parked between them, north side of the shed the 40 footer with a truck body on top of it. - no problems with Moreton Bay City Council.

Lang

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Lang

Lionel

I have 3 containers;

A 20 footer with 3 foot shelves along the back for larger items. I park my Jeep in this.

Another 20 footer same shelves with my FIAT Spider

A 40 footer with 3 high 2 foot shelves running along one side starting about 6 feet in from the door. They finish about 6 feet from the end. Across the end there are racks for smaller (jeep and car size tyres). On the right side along the wall are my truck tyres - lots of truck tyres. You could make these more shelves if you did not have tyres. Make sure the first shelf is at least 2' 6" off the floor if you are trying to store heavy axles and gearboxes to get reasonable "grunt" space.

This gives about 2' 6" passage. The reason for starting my shelves in from the door is to give a full width area for any large junk to be brought in and maneuvered or just to put stuff out of the weather temporarily.

The advice to roof the container is very sound as the cheap ones you buy often leak. Some old roofing sheet on a couple of 4x2 pine supports running the full length (Bolt or tie it down!) gives water protection but more importantly drops the temperature as I have measured a sealed one in the sun on a hot day at 65 degrees which will not do rubber etc much good.

Now the real winner. Get yourself a whirly-bird, they are very cheap if you look around. Cut a couple of holes about A4 size in the far end low down. Put some mesh or something over them to stop snakes and other creatures getting in. Put the whirly-bird on the roof near the door end.

This gives you full container circulation and even on the hottest day, inside will be very similar to outside temperature. Most importantly it eliminates sweating and subsequent corrosion that is a real problem with sealed containers.

Here is a photo for people who call a whirly-bird something else. Also a photo of my place with the shed and 3 containers out the back, bottom left two 20 footers with a truck parked between them, north side of the shed the 40 footer with a truck body on top of it. - no problems with Moreton Bay City Council.

Lang

Hello Lang,

I would have thought the BCC would be not that supportive of shipping containers in residential estates?

I have two whirly-birds on my house roof and they are good value.

I have a some images still in my head of when I worked in an abattoir to put myself through the first year of Queensland Agricultural College. I can still clearly picture the gantry or overhead rail systems they used to break beasts down.

When I retrained into the disability sector ironically I came across a similar gantry system in people's homes. That is why the concept of an overhead "I" beam instead of wheeled trolleys sprang to mind.

I have a trailer with a "ute" crane on the back so it could be reversed to a container and the heavy stuff deposited on the floor. Where it could be picked up by the "I" beam. Maybe I could even make a mini-circuit of a gantry system - where the horizontal system is shaped like an elongated "O".

My father in law has three - not sure how long - shipping containers with metal "C" beams forming the roof structure and corrugated sheeting as a roof. There are two motor vehicle sized gaps in between the inner containers. However, he lives on a farm within a rural shire council who tend to be a bit more lenient towards structures.

I have a month or so to explore different options. I have a weatherboard Old Queenslander on concrete stumps house. I closed off one corner of the front verandah. Now the new room needs new floor joists and a new floor put in. Plus, a ceiling installed so the new room matches the rest of the house. Then walls lined with cladding. Plenty of time to think though storage alternatives in my head.

I can picture my trailers under one section of the space between shipping containers. This is instead of it being parked out in the weather.

Oh well a To Do list is forming: contact Council and my F-i-L

Kind regards
Lionel

[maple_leaf_eh]

A supplemental roof is always a good idea. ISOs get scrapped because after they have been on the bottom of huge stack 8 or 10 high on the open deck of a pitching cargo carrier ship, they develop cracks and stresses. A timber frame and sheet material roofing skin will keep rainwater from pooling and furthering the deterioration.

Someone mentioned ISOs falling under military lifecycle material management.

As I recall, that is a task assigned to Canadian materials technicians. I believe that during and after the UN missions in Bosnia, the Mat Techs were given care and scrapping duties. So yes, just like managing a properly "built" building, managing the "built-in" infrastructure is important. The best example of unplanned construction I know was the British field print press' container was installed in the middle of a huddle of ISOs inside the Banja Luka Metal Factory. when the press needed to be replaced or was needed somewhere else, the carpenters and structures folks realized it had become a structural member of a multi-level installation, and could never be removed without unbuilding everything around it.

[Lynn Eades]

Lang, Thanks for the info. I never knew what those things were called. And I would never have guessed a Whirlybird. I've just sent an email for a quote.
Cheers.
BTW I have two shipping containers for storage. Both are insulated. Only the ends of the roof rust. The corners of course are steel as well but the insulated containers are made of stainless and aluminium I've never had any condensation, but do open them up often.

[David Herbert]

Before I moved to my present location I had three 20 foot demount-able truck box bodies for storage. These had roller shutter doors at the end and also a personnel door on the side. They were made of quite thick plastic coated plywood with a translucent fiberglass roof. Although they were not insulated they were much better than ISO containers (and cheaper). I never had trouble with condensation which is an achievement in the UK. They came with fold down legs so that the truck could be driven out from underneath and I originally intended to remove the legs but the covered space underneath proved too useful for storing big stuff. I wish that I had brought them with me when I moved but I didn't think that I would need them then.

David

[Mike K]

Instead of shipping containers my neighbour buys old buses that are running. He figures you can move the bus around your property easier than a shipping container . He recently got a 1968 Leyland bus ex Brisbane City Council , its huge, 83 passenger . The Leyland Diesel engine is 11 litres and it runs like a Swiss watch. The price of the bus is around the same as a shipping container.

[Tony Smith]

It would pay for itself in the long run if you swiped your MYKI card every time you went in to fetch something.