Shipping Container Parts Storage Layouts

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I hope everyone is staying safe and well.

Has anyone a parts storage setup in a shipping container that you are happy with - and would like to share?

What size shipping container did you buy?

There seem to be some good deals lately on the prices of shipping containers.
I want to consolidate a number of parts vehicles to make my paddock look a bit tidier. After some vehicles are disassembled the parts will could be stored in a shipping container. Items to be stored are things like differentials and bulky body panels like mudguards (fenders), doors, windscreens and wheels. Plus one or two good chassis.

Engines and gearboxes will be stored in my shed.

I am thinking of making a multi-tier stepped rack to stack the differentials on.

To be able to move heavy things I would like an overhead "I" beam which a chain block can be suspended from. I would also like to maintain a corridor so I do not risk life and limb every time I want to retrieve a part.

So 3/4 of the space would be racks and shelving - not piles of unsorted detritus. There would be a walk-way either along one side or centrally.

Has anyone set up their shipping container like this?

Does it seem achievable? What other ideas would you like to add to solve your parts storage issues?


Kind regards
Lionel

[chris vickery]

Greetings
I used to have a 24ft van body that I set up with shelving units down both sides as well as across the back.
If I recall, I built my own shelves from lumber approx 24” deep. That gave me a nice wide 4ft aisle down the center which doubled from time to time as floor storage for heavier items like engines etc.
Key is manoeuvrability, I used flat dolly cats with casters to be able to roll heavy items within the van body.
This way I could at least get them to the rear door to pick with a lift or man handle into a trailer or what have you.
Recently I purchased a 40ft high cube which is 9ft high inside.
I will likely do something similar again with 24” deep industrial redi-rack running down both sides floor to ceiling.
One of the first things I will likely do is to install lighting down the center to see what I have ...

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Lionel

Though I don't have a shipping container, when I built my new shop a few years ago I spent a lot of time figuring out storage for the 2nd floor.

Worst option no shelves, end result stuff one layer deep on the floor.

Option I went with, 3 layers of shelves 2 feet between layers, shelves 4ft wide with isle 3ft apart with main isle down the middle. The ide of the intermediate isle was the everything was only two two feet from isle. Now the first fill of storage the shelves filled up, and the intermediate isle got engines on rolling base or other easy to move stuff.

So with a shipping container I'd probably go with shelves 2 feet wide down sides.

Cheers Phil

[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

[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]

Hello All,

I made initial contact with the local council today. The contact being one of those general enquiry - central numbers. The ones that take down your details and your request for what information. This is then sent to the relevant department - who may or may bother to ever respond.

Little steps at time...

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lang]

Lionel

I know you like to do things properly but my approach would be "tell them nothing take them nowhere"

I would just set my container up and if and when they said anything you could string it out forever with reams of correspondence on claims about temporary storage, requests for regulation variation (great ploy that takes forever), protests and chucking their letters in the bin.

What are they going to do - put you in jail? By the time and if, they ever got around to forcing a removal by getting a tilt tray at your expense to remove (they can't confiscate) the box you would have had a couple of years of good use and have it removed the day before their truck arrived.

Probably not good advice as this is rebellion more than most people would extend to but it is great sport if you can stand the stress! Volunteering to put your head on the chopping block only encourages the bastards.

Lang

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Lang

Lionel

I know you like to do things properly but my approach would be "tell them nothing take them nowhere"

I would just set my container up and if and when they said anything you could string it out forever with reams of correspondence on claims about temporary storage, requests for regulation variation (great ploy that takes forever), protests and chucking their letters in the bin.

What are they going to do - put you in jail? By the time and if, they ever got around to forcing a removal by getting a tilt tray at your expense to remove (they can't confiscate) the box you would have had a couple of years of good use and have it removed the day before their truck arrived.

Probably not good advice as this is rebellion more than most people would extend to but it is great sport if you can stand the stress! Volunteering to put your head on the chopping block only encourages the bastards.

Lang

Hello Lang,

Yes I hear you - well read.. unfortunately my block is looked over by the road and has new estates popping up - we were on the outskirts of town ... Plus the road is now a connection point for other townships. We were in the country ... then the town has grown.

For example, I lit a within regulations - size and height . - pile of branches next thing the local fire brigade turned up due to some one in the new estates seeing smoke. No this was not recently and especially not during a fire ban. Being ex-bushfire volunteer I now contact "Fire Central" and now notify them of my intention to burn.

Oh - did I mention about looking at perhaps three shipping containers with spaces for trailers or a working area in between them with a roof . Also asked about the alternative option of more shed space. Just in the research and possible alternative stage. Establishing parameters and courses of action.

Most of the local containers being advertised are only 20 feet. I was thinking the 40 foot option that other people have mentioned in their replies.


Kind regards
Lionel

[Lang]

Lionel

Good call. Run your own race.

I remember my mum saying when I was stopped going to the movies with my mate Alan

" Just because Alan is going does not mean you have to. If Alan jumped off a bridge would you jump off the bridge?"

Mother's logic!

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Lang

Lionel

Good call. Run your own race.

I remember my mum saying when I was stopped going to the movies with my mate Alan

" Just because Alan is going does not mean you have to. If Alan jumped off a bridge would you jump off the bridge?"

Mother's logic!

Hello Lang,

Not so much of the not following Lang. More of first-hand experience with dealing with said local council on previous occasions. The trouble is with the flat ground around here - things are too readily observable. If I thought I could get away with it .... well! The trouble is - I would be the first one to be caught - and made an example of.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Mike Cecil]

Hi Lionel,

You'll find moving 20 footers much easier to organise (it's just a tilt-bed) than a truck capable of loading & moving a 40 footer, should you ever have to move them. If you want 40 feet in length, consider two 20s end to end.

Best regards

Mike

[Lynn Eades]

Lionel, you can get High Cube containers that are (of course) highr than a normal container. You can also get them with a galved sub floor.
My friends built a house with 4 x 40 foot high cube containers. they were new and had done only 1 trip from China. The floor was treated with a "safe" treatment. Some are not so"safe" to live in. You wouldn't know you were in containers from the inside. They used the extra height to put in an insulated ceiling space. Each container was separately wired and plumbed so that they could be separated easily for removal and easy re set up. Each container was plugged into a caravan park type power supply post. Check you shire's rules on "temporary" or "relocatable" If they are not permanent the rules are quite likely different. Good luck.
Btw. they clamped them together with proper turn buckles, and bought some U.V. proof tape from Australia to seal the roofs together.

[John Mackie]

Over 40 years ago I moved on from the garage I moved a set of wodden 'pigoen holes' about 6' high , 10' long and 12" deep to a shed that I had built. I used this to store parts..I eliminated all the English Ford , Y block and Falcon parts ,this left only the SV V8 .Moddel T pasrs are stored saparatly I recently found that the white ants (termites) had taken a liking to the shelvig. i had to move all the parts out of the shelving and remove what they had left.
I am bying new steel shelving 2170 mm high and 300 mm deep this suits me as the parts are in boxes 300 long. EAT THIS YOU BARSTARDS!
So I will have to sort out all the parts and rebox them starting with 1012 wheel nuts to way past the12000 numbers.
i like the narrow shelve because i try to keep 1 , 2 or 3 parts per box . and it makes them easier to find.

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Well things have been happening here. I bought one 40 foot hi-cube shipping container and had it delivered a couple of months ago. I started to transfer some of my stuff from my shed to the container. I quickly realised that not have any shelving or racks was making the consumption of shipping container space much too rapid to be acceptable. So I stopped.

I decided to track down some pallet racking and steel shelving units. One side wall can fit four bays of pallet racking. The other side wall fits six bays of shelving. I tried a local bloke for a quote to fit out the shipping container. They were twice the price for less stuff and of a dubious brand. So off to Brisbane I went to a mob there who sells second-hand but named brand material: "Dexion".

During the wait to be able to pick up the racking and shelving I had another look in my shed and the stuff still stored in there. This triggered me buying another 40 Foot High Cube. Plus, a duplicate set of pallet racking and shelving. The containers will be spaced parallel with each other.

I was not happy how the first shipping container was placed in my paddock. A previous owner had a series of raised mounds built for fruit trees. So there was a series of mounds and drainage ditches. When the semi-trailer came to drop off the second container I had it positioned away from where the first container was placed. Some extra cash changed hands and the first container was lifted up and moved away from where it had been standing. On Saturday an earth moving company is going to level the area. A mix of recycled road-base and bitumen off the local roads is being trucked in. The road-base is going to be mostly level - with a nice uniform slope for drainage and it will all be compacted down. The next step will be to get a mobile crane to position the shipping containers onto their pad.

I jumped the gun a bit today. I got sick of having to carefully squeeze how far I can open my best car's door to stop it hitting against an engine mounted on a stand. I figure there are plenty of tie-down points in the shipping container to be able to secure the engine stand when the crane comes to move the container.

Roll on to the weekend so I can have a level spot to sit the shipping containers on in the very near future. After that I can continue my quest in trying to bring order out of the chaos that currently exists in my shed.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

I received a reply to my enquiry...

The placement of a shipping container on the premises would require the submission of a “Request for Concurrence Agency Assessment” Application with Council which will be assessed against Council’s Amenity and Aesthetics Policy, Table 5.6. After reviewing the premises, you may be able to establish a shipping container on the premises if it were to be located behind the existing shed on the premises and landscaped so as to screen the structure from neighbouring properties. In this case, you would be required to submit the completed application form (attached), proposal plans (site plan identifying the location of the structure and associated landscaping and building elevations of the structure) and the application fee ($505.00). Please note that this process is not required if the shipping container is to be used for storage for a maximum period of 1 month.

Notice the use of the little word "a" as in singular.

Duplicate the bulk of the text above and just exchange the word "shed" with "shipping container".

Having quite a bit of convict blood in my ancestry I might as well follow the principle of, "I might as well be hung for stealing a sheep, instead of a lamb"; and look at building another shed. It requires the same application process and attracts the same fees.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lang]

If you are going to have two twenty footers, for a few hundred extra you could have this dome. A lot going cheap at auction (commercial grade) at the moment.

Or you could give them the finger and just put up the little structure in the first photo'
.

Lang

[Lionelgee]

Originally Posted by Lang

If you are going to have two twenty footers, for a few hundred extra you could have this. A lot going cheap at auction (commercial grade) at the moment.

Or you could give them the finger and just put up the little structure in the first photo'
.

Lang

Hello Lang,

While they are a very good idea - I somehow doubt they would fit into the Council's definition of aesthetics. It would a bit hard to meet the Council requirement of: so as to screen the structure from neighbouring properties . It would take some big mounds of earth to screen those examples Lang!

Hmmmm .... think .... think ... perhaps I should start digging some big holes in the ground! Say ones about 6 Metres long, 2.4 Metres wide x 2.4 Metres Deep. The neighbours won't see them then!....Advice for Preppers Burying Shipping Containers Accessed 1st May 2020 from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohcXVEu7EU4


Kind regards
Lionel

[Lionelgee]

Hello All,

Looks like I will review the earlier suggestion of a mezzanine floor as an interim fix. My existing shed is starting to look more attractive because the good thing about it is that the shed is already there. A mezzanine floor is hidden inside an already fully council approved shed - and only invited guests are allowed in.

The mezzanine floor could utilise Phil Waterman's Special CMP Tools and the Electric Hoist that could serve the purpose of not needing to waste room inside the shed by installing stairs. Plus being able to lift heavier items to the mezzanine. Phil's hoist can be accessed through ...accessed 1st May 2020 from, http://canadianmilitarypattern.com/Tools.html.

Then I could go through the application process of building another shed and use it as a dedicated workshop.

Kind regards
Lionel

[Lynn Eades]

The hole in the ground sounds like a.............pond. The bus is starting to sound good as well. If you put up the big structure that lang suggested, you might offer it to the shire for large concerts etc. that might (no it wont!) pacify them.
I can see why people go down the "forgiveness" verses "permission" path.