Shipping Container Parts Storage Layouts

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Thank you Chris and Phil for your insightful replies.

Phil are you describing a mezzanine type of level in your shed? Also known as partial second storey.

I have three options running through my head at the moment. Two of which are the Shipping Container instead of a mezzanine. The main limiting factor of the mezzanine would be the cost of structural steel and flooring.

The third option would be another shed. Living on acreage does have one or two benefits.

With a mezzanine it would be a lot of expense providing storage for parts that really just need to be kept out of the weather. That is why I thought of a shipping container.

There is a fourth option: I have two tray-back or flat-bed 1.5 ton trucks in the shed. With something like six steel posts and a number of horizontal joists each truck could have a deck where things could be stored. The deck would be raised above the truck bed. Once the vehicles can move under their own power each truck could be moved in and out of the shed. The trucks are parked nose out to the roller door by the way. So the area above the cab would remain unobstructed.

There is a fifth option: it is not mine .... it goes something like this..." how about you have a big clean up and get rid of all that rusty greasy old junk".

Kind regards
Lionel

[Matthew P]

Lived in them, worked in them, stored stuff in them and have two in the yard right now.

The door latches on the bottom make it difficult to put a good ramp to transition small casters over. The dimensions are for the OUTSIDE so with the corrugations your useful interior space is a bit reduced. But they are pretty darn moisture tight. I put some tape over the vents on the inside and run a dehumidifier. No problems with high humidity or rust on my stuff. You only need to support the corners. Some people put cribbing in the middle, but that's not needed. I'm still waking up here, so maybe tonight I can elaborate more.

Matt

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Matthew P

Lived in them, worked in them, stored stuff in them and have two in the yard right now.

The door latches on the bottom make it difficult to put a good ramp to transition small casters over. The dimensions are for the OUTSIDE so with the corrugations your useful interior space is a bit reduced. But they are pretty darn moisture tight. I put some tape over the vents on the inside and run a dehumidifier. No problems with high humidity or rust on my stuff. You only need to support the corners. Some people put cribbing in the middle, but that's not needed. I'm still waking up here, so maybe tonight I can elaborate more.

Matt

Thanks Matt,

Look forward to hearing from someone with lived experience of shipping containers.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello Chris and Phil,

Shelves and racking - hear you loud and clear. I am currently in the transition stage of making up for 10 years of poor storage.

I had those cardboard pack press galvanized paper thin five tier shelves. Every project had hours of inbuilt down-time and offered risk to life and limb as I fossicked for what frequently proved an elusive part or tool.

After one prolonged attempt to find something and after having some stuff in a pile shift I reached a point of no return. I saved up for proper industrial pallet racking and the rectangular cubed steel shelving.

I took every thing off the old flimsy gal shelves and whacked it into the new pallets and shelves.

My next task is to buy some of the base-board supports that go under sheeting to make more shelves.

Once everything single thing is off the floor I will go through everything one shelf at time, until I have stuff sorted, labelled and with its own spreadsheet entry.

There is nothing more frustrating than knowing you have a specific tool. Then when you go to use it - somehow it has disappeared. Then more time is lost trying to find it. Enough. Once the support bars are back home and installed the times will be a changing - for the better.

Shelves and racks are great!

Kind regards
Lionel

[Matthew P]

In some of the rougher containers over in Kandahar we had wood studs jammed floor to ceiling. Basically wedged in friction fit, then hung plywood. This was sometimes done for an easy to use man door as well. That way you didn't have to fight the main doors. But then in the desert we didn't have to worry about humidity. Because once you started drilling holes in a container it was no longer seaworthy and somebody in the Army got upset with you. So sometimes for mini-spit air conditioners we would run them through the plywood front wall too.

We usually had steel angle welded up into shelving units with heavy plywood. Worked fine for all the generator or vehicle parts. I have some where I'm at work now. I'll try to get some pictures shortly to show you.

At home I have two with the common walls cut out forming a larger temporary shop space. I just moved them from my old home to the new place and they aren't set up yet. I have to build a roof over the whole mess. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the seam between them to be water tight on the roof. I would have a pond and it would drip. I had begun welding steel studs to the interior, insulating and hanging plywood. Something I plan to finish up next month.

Matt

[chris vickery]

Further to my early comments.
Ultimately, I have a plan to purchase a second sea can identical to my first.
I would like to put them beside each other with a space in between, maybe 12-14ft or so. Overall this would be a footprint of 28/30ft x 40ft. I am thinking of adding a roof to this structure so the center would act as extra storage or even shop space in the future. Initially I'd put down gravel but eventually perhaps a concrete slab, especially if it turned into a semi indoor/ outdoor work shop area. This in in addition to the 1200sq ft shop that I already have, which is full btw...

[Matthew P]

Originally Posted by chris vickery

Further to my early comments.
Ultimately, I have a plan to purchase a second sea can identical to my first.
I would like to put them beside each other with a space in between, maybe 12-14ft or so. Overall this would be a footprint of 28/30ft x 40ft. I am thinking of adding a roof to this structure so the center would act as extra storage or even shop space in the future. Initially I'd put down gravel but eventually perhaps a concrete slab, especially if it turned into a semi indoor/ outdoor work shop area. This in in addition to the 1200sq ft shop that I already have, which is full btw...

That's pretty popular in the States. There's even some enterprising pre-fab metal shed/garage makers who sell kits sized for mounting to shipping containers. The center space is great for large equipment because of the clear span and height.

Matt

[Lynn Eades]

Chris, If you slab it first, you container shouldn't sink (in the wrong place) and have water running back to the covered area. We have an old set up like that at work. The roofs are rotten where the shelter sits on the edge of the containers.

[Allan L]

Originally Posted by Lionelgee

Hello All,

...........

There is a fifth option: it is not mine .... it goes something like this..." how about you have a big clean up and get rid of all that rusty greasy old junk".

Kind regards
Lionel

I don't understand the 5th option?????
In my last clean up I got four piles:
one pile of stuff I'm keeping
one pile I'm not chucking out
one of stuff I have a use for
and one of stuff that might come in handy!

[maple_leaf_eh]

I lived and worked in 20' ISOs in Bosnia over a winter. The camp also had container-sized modules for the dining hall. While the bright idea fairy will blink and waive their magic wand to make sleeping quarters, offices, etc, they are not well suited for heating and cooling. Someone mentioned rust already .... heed the warning.

The sleeping unit needed a proper window cut into one end. There was a proper swing door on the other. So a crew of locally-engaged-employees sabresawed a square through to the outside. These ones were outer skin, insulation and vapour barrier, and interior wall, with the utilities built around the baseboards and ceilings. Built from the outside in.

The office unit had a lot of foot traffic and floor load. The middle of the floor spans sagged, but the design has no 8' joists only 8' floor boards. Ours had some sort of rolled linoleum. Heating was similarly challenged, with baseboard radiant heat, a 220v plastic laminator, and in summer a small a/c unit and fans.

The dining units were delivered as flats. I think they were made in Turkey. While the floors were ISO dimensions, the walls and ceiling were collapsed for transport. The contractors had to find a crane that was low enough to pass a particular doorway and still be strong enough to hoist an 8' x 20' ceiling while the workmen raised four corner posts to vertical. I think they had a Czech Tatra boom truck.

Finally, outside storage ISOs were no better than outdoor ambiant storage except not exposed to direct rain. Beware of air flow to move humid air without condensing on metal objects. We had plywood map storage racks in ours, and the paper was invariably more humid than we liked. Paper does not like to be dried too many times. The sheets had lots of wrinkles. And yes, the floors were instant junk magnets if there was no clear shelf space.

[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.