wow, I cannot believe how friggin' expensive these things got. i know it's been 15 years since i bought mine, but damn, i only paid 1400 for my 40' box, and 800 for my 20.
I have a 51 foot ramp trailer with winch that was built to load and haul 40 foot shipping containers. The hydraulics work correctly, new battery and most of the tires are new. You need a fifth wheel truck to pull it, I have been using an 1988 Ford L8000. The trailer is for sale $9000
Key is off the ground to promote air circulation. There was a fellow in the NE that bought them to store brand news cars it. Well 20yrs later the cars had rust all over key undercarriage componets, brakes and fuel systems and needed work to get them running. He just dumped them on the ground. They are making shipping containers into houses and in Ny City they make them into swimming pools on vacant lots. If done right they will last for a long time.
Really depends on how close to a port you live. In Ca, Wind and water tight 20' for around $1,800.00 will call price. 40's are generally only a few hundred more as supplies are greater and 20's are more desirable in a city.
Bought mine for a g a few years back, it has a few large dents in it though. I have never had any humidity issues what's so ever. I park a car in it all winter and summer. Best thing I've ever bought.
15 years is a long time. They're still a bargain when you consider 10' x 12' tin garden shed kits are $600 + at Lowes and Home Depot and you have to factor in a slab or floor. I was sticker shocked to see that a Tuff Shed barn style shed was almost $3000. Supply and demand is a factor. Survivalists, preppers, etc. are burying them as safe rooms. In Norcal they've buried them to hide pot grow rooms complete with generators.
A friend of mine has a small farm and uses a couple of 40' containers for storage - small tractor, etc. He buys 'last-use' containers, which have reached the end of their life, puts a flat roof over the top, providing some shade to keep the heat down a bit, plus to ensure no water gets in. He's got a couple of vents in them and is really happy. They're pretty cheap, strong and so long as they're up a bit off the ground, they are dry. Tough to beat for the price. Cheers.
Or natural convection ventilation, with screened air inlets down low and the outlets high. You can even install a thermal chimney to enhance ventilation rate . Simply add a metal pipe stack at the top and paint it flat black.
Here are a couple of twenty footers with factory trusses that provide storage above and hold down the heat. This is 480 sq ft for less than $10,000 and was ready to use four days after the units were delivered.
I helped exhume and prepare for sale a major car collection some years ago. Some of the stuff was stored in containers or semi trailers. Some things survived fairly well. Some was a disaster, I remember one nice restored classic car from the '20's that had the interior more or less replaced by huge, convoluted balls of mold that looked like something from a science fiction horror movie. The paint wasn't so good, and it had rusted in places. Another one had a possum get in through a hole in the floor. It nested in the car for a long time, then died there. God, was that a smelly, gross, mess! Humidity sneaks in through the air, and into the container. They get waaay hotter than the outside temp, think how hot your car can get in the summer. Ventilation to control heat/humidity, insulation helps cut down on condensation. The key will be to be vigilant, and check it often. I'd put a cheap humidity and thermometer unit in it so you can verify what extremes it reaches. Good luck!
They're great - BUT - Anchor it to the ground from inside!!! Nobody questions a tilt and load carrying those things away in the middle of the day.
I'm sorry, but this just is't respectful to our troops. We have convicts living far better that this! I understand the need to mobile, and the costs involved, but our soldiers deserve more than a 4 X 4 and plywood, thrown together, "cot", inside a shipping container without air conditioning/heat. This is a story that needs to be "told"! To all our troops, thank you for your service, and I am sorry you may have been forced to live this way. I would love to install a 40 footer in front of our home, I could really use the extra storage space; after all, if it's good enough for our troops, it should be fine with code compliance. Butch/56sedandelivery.
Buy a couple of bags of zeolite [ cat litter ] and leave it lying around in shallow containers. Keep the cats out [ I could imagine the smell in the florida heat ]
Auctions can be wierd like that. A car dealership closing auction, the lifts all sold for about what they cost new. And any auction I've been to with a car trailer, same deal, they get run up to about what a new one costs.
And I thought I was original until a buddy told me about this thread. I am on 5 acres and just may build this. If I do I will throw up a thread.
i have had 5 containers, two 40ft and three 20ft, the 40ft ones sweat, the 20's didn't for some reason, still i have just bought trusses to use to make a shop 40 by 20, my 40's are high cube that means they are 9ft inside, i'll add some short walls so i can put my roof at 14ft.
I bought a 40' one and months after I had it delivered I discovered many pin holes from rust in the top. It leaks a lot when it rains.