When building with Mobile Toilet, the building blocks are readymade and ready to transport. TAW starts by shipping the containers to their Tampa factory for modifications. Once there, the house blueprints are reviewed and each unit is custom-fit for construction.

In a home where four containers are to sit side by side, all but the outermost side panels are removed so that, once connected, the ISBUs create an open 40′ x 32′ interior space. The vertical steel support beams are left in place for load-bearing purposes, with five along each remaining side of a container. Openings are cut into the outer walls for doors and windows.

Attaching the Home to its Foundation

Steel shipping container homes, also called storage container homes, offer a fast, green, and sustainable approach to building. These intermodal steel building units (ISBUs) are manufactured in a factory-controlled environment so they are standardized and reliable. They can be used to build an average-sized home with almost no wood.

Hzxiaoya Cheap Modular Home uses Supertherm insulative coating, which is sprayed on both sides of the remaining container walls to prepare the house for heating and cooling loads. Supertherm is a high-performance, four-part ceramic coating that carries an R value of R-19 and adheres to the steel surface of the shipping containers. “It really worked,” says Shannon Locklair, project superintendent for the North Charleston house. “We had an open house one day when it was 85 or 90 degrees out and the air was at least 10 to 20 degrees cooler inside. This was before we had even installed the windows.”

As Pier 57 starts its transformation into a new waterfront hotspot, the interim space is already being used for an array of events and art exhibitions. Currently on display, “Magic Carpet” by CHURTICHAGA + QUADRA-SALCEDO is a hanging “garden” of 36 brightly colored shipping containers Kit Home along the ceiling of the pier's main structure. Inspired by both the area's architectural history and future plans (the pier is being turned into a mall made of shipping containers), the installation transforms the utilitarian cargo holders into hanging sculptures suspended ten feet from the ground over visitors’ heads.

Each of the 36 shipping containers used in the installation, designed by head architect Josemaria de Churtichaga, will soon house one of the future retail, food or cultural shops that will enliven the pier. With the exciting future of the pier in mind, the Magic Carpet installation is a direct representation of what is to come. Each shipping container is a shell that can hold endless possibilities on the whim of the future tenant, or what the public demands. The colorful boxes are a dangling invitation to innovators to transform the pier into something truly spectacular.

Over the next 18 months, the pier will be renovated by Young Woo & Associates with more programming, events and art installations joining the retail, food and cultural shops starting to sprout up there.

When visitors enter Pier 57’s South Head House, they are greeted with several pioneer “Incubox” retail and food stands, which have taken residence in shipping containers. Beyond the market is an expansive space now used for leisurely games of table tennis with each table set upon a floor decorated by local artists. Magic Carpet hangs above the game zone like a patterned patchwork made of heavy shipping containers.

If you've been meaning to cross "drinking and shopping inside shipping containers Modified Shipping Container Home" off of your bucket list (because that's clearly a common entry), don't miss your chance to do just that at South Street Seaport this summer. We caught up with SHoP Architects yesterday as they were putting some finishing touches on the three-story shipping container beer garden/mini-mall/food court they're building on Fulton St. for Howard Hughes Corp, and designer Sam Pepper told us that many of the units are already open for business. The repurposed container stalls are part of the seaport's SEE/CHANGE summer program, which will include concerts, happy hours, delicious artisanal foods and special events to help bring people back to the waterside area after Hurricane Sandy.

The term Modular Home raises the image of the double-wide mobile home, shipped as two units, and bolted together to make a single structure. And when you think of mobile home and safety, the slang term "tornado bait" comes to mind. There are more to modular homes, however, then the double-wide you see being trucked down the highway, and their ability to stand up to the elements can often be better than a home built on site.

While the terms mobile homes and modular homes are often used interchangeably, the housing industry has been trying to draw a distinction between the two. Adding to the confusion is the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which officially identifies mobile homes as "manufactured homes," though in fact both mobile homes and modular homes are manufactured at a central facility. But the term modular home as used by the housing industry is a structure permanently assembled at a home site, and is often indistinguishable from a site-built home.

When Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992, the damage from the force 5 hurricane was widespread, but mobile homes were especially vulnerable. As a result, HUD came up with with new standards for the homes linked to designated "wind zones." A mobile home built and secured to wind zone one standards could not be placed in wind zones two and three. In Florida, the state's Department of Highway and Motor Vehicles noted that 53 of the state's counties are designated as being in wind zone two, and the remaining 14 counties along coast areas are in wind zone 3, "requiring the most stringing construction standards."

The key difference between the two is what's underneath. Mobile homes, including double-wides, are built on a chassis with wheels, though the chassis may be hidden by a metal skirt. They are built to be temporarily located at a site. Check the air in the tires, and the owner can move the owner to wherever she wants, or trade it in for a new model. Which wouldn't be a bad idea, because older mobile homes can be susceptible to damage from high winds. News reports on major storms often shows mobile homes and even double-wides knocked over on their sides.

Modular homes are built on the same type of foundations as site built homes, and can better withstand storm damage.

In many ways, modular homes are studier than site-built homes. Both are built to local and state building codes. But modular homes have to be built strong enough to move from the factory to the home site, so framing is often stronger than called for by the codes, making modular homes even more likely to withstand damage from high winds.

Mobile homes fall under federal HUD regulations rather than local building codes. Although local zoning ordinances could restrict and even ban the placement of mobile homes in certain locations, local governments could not require stiffer building standards because the homes were never permanently attached to the land, legally or physically. And since these homes were meant to be temporary housing, federal standards were not as strict as local building codes. It took a mighty strong wind to improve those standards.

A report posted on HUD User, the information service for Kit Home, noted that since then, "the evolution of the industry itself, and the diversification of the potential customers for manufactured homes are ushering in a host of innovations and changes to the industry's core products. No area is more affected by these changes than the methods for supporting and fastening the home to the ground."

We discuss initial or rapid steps to minimize Container Houses building damage such as proper procedures for water removal, dryout, prevention of avoidable mold growth control, mold cleanup. We also include links and citations to expert sources for emergency relief (FEMA, ARC in the U.S.), and we cite scholarly books and articles on building damage prevention. Our page top photo shows wind-damaged siding following a hurricane-type storm.

Because hurricane winds are stronger at higher elevations above ground, a tall building such as a high-rise apartment or hotel can be dangerous in a hurricane. In an otherwise secure apartment near the top of a Chicago high rise we [DF] saw first hand how strong winds blowing off of the lake sent a torrent of water through the unit's lake-facing windows and doors. Damage from broken, flying glass was still worse.

Definitions of types of construction & housng. What is the difference between a mobile home, a manufactured home, a modular home, and panelized construction?

Definitions of modular Construction, mobile homes, trailers, campers, doublewides, panelized construction - what are the differences and how are these structures recognized? This article describes the history and characteristics of these different types of factory-built structures.

Manufactured homes are those built entirely in a factory. They are then transported to a building site and installed.

Buildings or private homes found on a Prefab House, in a floodplain, including homes that are located near a river, or an inland waterway are at risk of being severely flooded and can even trap occupants who first flee to upper floors without understanding that in some areas flood waters can exceed even the rooftop height.