
Detroit starts converting shipping containers into homes - rmason
http://www.myfoxny.com/story/27755680/shipping-container-home-readying-for-detroit-debut
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obstinate
Can someone explain the advantage of doing this as opposed to rehabilitating
the vast swathes of empty houses in Detroit? Less expensive? Or are the
containers more durable than the houses they are replacing?

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ams6110
See reply to wmf. The empty houses are for the most part unsalvagable.

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ams6110
I didn't see any mention of where the containers come from. Surely most are
owned by shipping companies? Is there a huge stock of abandonded shipping
containers just sitting around?

If refurbed into homes, with windows and doors, I guess they'd be roughly
equivalent to living in a mobile home. Probably more sturdy than most mobile
homes as well. From what I've seen the typical mobile home is rather flimsy
wooden framing with a thin vinyl or metal skin, and a mostly plastic interior.

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nationcrafting
>Is there a huge stock of abandonded shipping containers just sitting around?

There is indeed. For quite a few years, imports into the US have been much
less than exports from the US, so there are more containers coming to the US
with stuff than there are containers leaving with stuff. It's quite expensive
to send empty containers back, so they've been piling up and recycled into
other things...

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mc32
yes, and there is a market for used containers. You can get a new one for like
10 grand or so, but can find used ones for about 3 thousand --but of course
you'd have to recondition them for living like strip the plywood and anti
fungus chemicals, etc...

The house designs can be pretty avant guarde and while they retain the
constraints of the geometry, the configuration can make you forget that the
building blocks are shipping containers.

See [http://www.dwell.com/great-idea/slideshow/10-examples-
shippi...](http://www.dwell.com/great-idea/slideshow/10-examples-shipping-
container-architecture)

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jonah
Making shipping container homes is sure trendy, but it's a really silly idea.
They're the wrong shape, optimized in the wrong ways, hard to work with, etc.

(A friend built up one as a bachelor pad, but it was pretty impractical - not
much better than living in an RV.)

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wmf
40,000 vacant homes and none of them fit to live in?

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ams6110
Pretty much yes, none.

They have been stripped of absolutely everything of value. Wire, plumbing,
fixtures: gone. Often also the windows and doors. They have mostly been open
to the elements for years. They are not salvagable.

