shipping container house - insulated, cheap and quick!

[lparker]

Paul from the pictures I've seen...they stack em 6 high or better...wouldn't worry about snow load.

[Missy]

that's pretty cool. one could expand upon this idea and use other containers. There was someone who made a home inside a relocated grain silo...similar idea.

[Incognito]

But what about the nosy neighbours & the village gossips reporting your sub-standard housing to the clipboard-toting authorities?

[paul wheaton]

Paul from the pictures I've seen...they stack em 6 high or better...wouldn't worry about snow load.

The edges support the weight. The center does not.

And the snow does not fall only on the edges!

[frugalwarrior2]

Incognito lets get a bunch and paint them blue,red,green and yellow like giant duplo blocks for the nosy neighbors. We can start a whole community. You can think up a name if you like.lol

It doesn't matter where you live there is always someone saying something. I just think of these things as more suitible for large acreage anyway. Upper MI wouldn't bug me I don't think.

[Incognito]

fw2, where I live, it would never work.
Due to conflicts with housing standards and permits, mostly.
Lots of regulations these days.

And everybody knows everybody's business, down to the last chicken-coop, grainery, sandbox and doghouse on their land and in their yards.
There's no place to hide. And if you try this in an out-of-the-way area, the seasonal hunters will be sure to find it, and there'll be rangers, helicopters and planes overhead to report any unusual activities to the cops. Especially a building like this! I can just see the authorities checking it for generators or a heat-source due to suspicion of a drug grow-op. A few years ago, they even found those grow-op railroad cars that were buried underground.

With $1,700 a person could get a lot of second-hand building materials that could still pass inspection, though rules differ for the % of materials that have to be new. Maybe rent, or rent-to-own a trailer. I used to be on some sites that exclusively discussed alternative housing, and the fact is that no matter what we like or imagine for a living quarters, the hard reality is dealing with laws, inspectors and permits.
I agree with the above poster about the snowload in the center of the roof; too dangerous. Roofs collapse under heavy snow pressure, and from time to time we hear about it on the news.

[Brat]

Laws would not permit it here but we did live in our travel trailer for 10 years and that was hard enough to meet code.

That said pole barns have become a great houseing altertaive here. For 2 people that would be a lot of room really.

[Debbie-cat]

To avoid authorities you could always build a pole barn and put the container inside.

We would have no problem here with authorities if we chose to do something like that. Interesting concept. I could live in something like that only I would have the bathroom inside somehow.

[Incognito]

What is a pole barn? A bunch of logs built to form a barn? Some newly-felled tree poles tied together or wedged & fitted together?
Sounds frontier, and drafty.
I think that some open-ended animal shelters can be built without codes and paperwork, but not if it's for human habitation.

[forHISglory]

A pole barn is a structure with poles (like telephone poles) used as the frame. Then siding goes over it. We used this for our garage/shop area, and insulated and drywalled it. It made a good strong building.