Cheap ways to put a roof over equipment?

[beowulf]

Shipping containers are nice, but if you have a lot of stuff you use often you may have to move the stuff in front to get the stuff in the back out.

A relatively inexpensive option - depending on how many square feet you need - is some 4x4s on piers, tied together with some 2x6x and 2x2s for a roof frame. Build that and put some corrugated tin sheets on top with a slight slope and you have a shelter. You can enclose some sides or not depending on how much protection you want. Brace it as needed.

It would be even easier if you have a side or back of a building you can build off of - sort of a lean to. That way you already have one side covered.

 

[Doofy]

13x20' ShelterLogic until funds are available for either connex's, carports or home built sheds. Mine are going on 3 years in the harsh alaska climate and are still like new. You can buy replacement covers or add metal roofing for more longevity.

 

[boostmg]

13x20' ShelterLogic until funds are available for either connex's, carports or home built sheds. Mine are going on 3 years in the harsh alaska climate and are still like new. You can buy replacement covers or add metal roofing for more longevity.

That’s impressive and encouraging to hear.

 

[Doofy]

That’s impressive and encouraging to hear.

They shed snow very well also.

 

[buck12]

Those are intriguing i have struggled to find clear info on them though.

how much does something like that cost? Where do u buy them from?

I think I paid $1700 for the high cube including delivery. I have an old barn with a lean to but I cannot park anything in it with wiring because of rodents. We bought the first one about eight years ago. When I traded tractors I had to get a high cube to fit the cabbed tractor. I have them positioned where I can add a roof at some point to create a covered storage area between them.

 

[SoCalRedTractor]

You can buy a new carport from Carolina Carport (or other firms) for about the same you'd probably pay for new materials.
And don't forget - lumber prices are about 3 times as much as they were pre Covid.

+1. I'm having a 12' x 20' aluminum one enclosed on 1 side and enclosed on the rear put in for my future GC1725MB, I am having a slab poured to have them bolt it too. It's costing, with the slab, $3k installed, but, of course those are SoCal - Los Angeles County prices. I don't need wind certification or snow certification, but they offered that model.

Pick

 

[not2old]

I used an aluminum 40' container as a warehouse for years and then sold it for $1000 to get it gone quickly. Only problem was really bad condensation in a climate similar to Seattle. If the container is steel, it isn't too hard to cut in extra doors.

 

[Diggin It]

16x24 pole barn: 6ea 6x6x12', 3ea 16' bar joist trusses, 20ea 2x6x12', 4ea 2x8x12', 16ea 9.5' of pbr roof panels, 3pcs ridge vent, 10lbs roofing screws, 10ea 80lb bags of sakrete, 6 mil vapor barrier, 1 load (22t) of 3/4 crusher run. Rough guess is $2500 in materials + 3 days labor

You haven't been pricing lumber lately, have you?

 

[jthibodeau89]

You haven't been pricing lumber lately, have you?

6x6x12' PT= $70ea, 2x6x12' PT = $18ea, 2x8x12' PT = $25ea, 6x6x16' = $85ea

Lumber total is a little over $1200. Here in TN a 20' conex is $1500 delivered. You can find 40' conex on occassion for $2500. I had planned on using 4 conex for a 40x40x 16 tall pole barn substitute, but cost was a little more, and my labor was a lot more. Also needed a crane to stack 2 of the 40' connex. $10k gets a nice pole barn. But no security or rodent control.

 

[Robert_Actual]

I’d have to research the sizes, that’s crazy about moving them, crazy awesome.

if i could get them for $1k delivered I’d probably start scoping out the perfect location for it right now!

that really seems like a steal

The deal I’m speaking of is directly thru the Port of Seattle/Tacoma. You basically keep an eye on this parking lot and when it gets full, they start selling. I imagine the further away from a major port you are the more the prices go up.

Delivery is within a certain radius and then them just dropping it like a roll-off dumpster. I’ve moved them before using 4x4 rails and salvaged pipe and a few friends.

A buddy of mine and I moved a 20’ container on a flat bed trailer. We lifted it with crib boxes built in each corner and spanned the center with 12’ 4x4’s. When it was about 30” high we backed the trailer under it and set it down and then cut the 12’ 4x4’s down to the width of the trailer. Chained it down and away we went

If you have 3’ of standing snow you might want to look at a roof of some type to distribute that load since the strength is in the frame and not the field. Something simple like some right angle trusses and extend the drip line a few inches so the box isn’t wet.

Standard sizes are 20’ and 40’ long x 8’ wide. Standard height is 8’6” high and then there’s a high cube (refrigerated and a lot more expensive) that’s 9’6” high

Another option of you have a major port near by. Go into the Longshorman office and ask about getting wood from the cull pile. After a ship comes in they will have a ton of 4x4’s of various lengths used for bracing between the containers. They will typically load for you using a grapple so you don’t get to choose the wood. But in my experience about half of it is nearly new condition and the other half makes great fire wood. This has caught on in my area and you have to befriend some of the longshoreman so you can get inside the port.