Shipping container shelter

[schmism]

Anyone know of someone that has acutally burried (either compleatly or partly) a shipping container to use as a cellar/storm shelter?

It will be a couple of years before we have the house built but i want both a celler and storm shelter long before that!

Im looking for long term water proofing solutions.... (that gooie black crap they seal concrete basements with?)

Thoughts of encaseing it in 4" of concrete?

20'/40' ?

venting....


Im looking for pics, and actual experience in doing the above.

 

[tile]

I have seen a few of these here in fla Florida Storm Shelters, Inc.

Ron.

 

[AlanB]

Depends on what you want to spend, but to water seal the outside, you could have it sprayed with the bedliner material prior to burying it.

That would be as sealed as possible I believe.

 

[Kendall69]

Price: $4,795.00 installed

That's a cheap price for "tested" safety. Those look like bunkers...and that's what you want.

A shipping container is designed to ship goods. I would go with a product that is designed for a particular purpose.

You are not going to get a long time service out of burying steel underground, no matter how well you seal it it will rust. The only time you will be able to know if it works, or it still has structural integrity is when you need it most.

I couldn't live with myself, if my family ran into a metal box and where in it and the roof caved in from rust.

But, that's just me. I like the best done by professionals, when it comes to safety.

 

[RonMar]

Hard to beat re-enforced concrete for below ground. Proven technology...

 

[Skyco]

Depends on what you want to spend, but to water seal the outside, you could have it sprayed with the bedliner material prior to burying it.

That would be as sealed as possible I believe.

Maybe- but I'd bet the coating would cost way more than the container and probably place it beyond the cost of a concrete one.
I once checked into the price to bedliner spray the floor of an enclosed trailer and about a foot up the sides...WOW are they proud of that stuff

 

[MossRoad]

I have seen a few of these here in fla Florida Storm Shelters, Inc.

Ron.

Those look like the doors open out... what happens if something lands on the door???

 

[LC '92]

I have a 20' container at my place. I use it for storage and would also use it for tornado protection if needed.

Why not just anchor yours to the ground and not bury it?

Do you want the stable climate afforded the buried unit? I can understand that if you do, it gets very hot inside mine.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Those look like the doors open out... what happens if something lands on the door???

Yep...looks like an engineering flaw to me! I like the concept though. It seems everyone around these parts are getting into the action. A lot of the local septic tank companies are expanding out and making these things. The concept is sound, but I don't know if I like the idea of a door getting blocked by someone's barn roof or something similar and not being able to open the door.

For the people who will say "well if it's a barn door, your S.O.L. anyhow"...that's what chainsaws are for (which I would have one inside with me)! Now if it's a car or something, you better have plenty of snicker bars in there with you...'cause you ain't going anywhere for a while

 

[rosietheriviter]

Anyone know of someone that has acutally burried (either compleatly or partly) a shipping container to use as a cellar/storm shelter?
It will be a couple of years before we have the house built but i want both a celler and storm shelter long before that!
Im looking for long term water proofing solutions.... (that gooie black crap they seal concrete basements with?)
Thoughts of encaseing it in 4" of concrete?
20'/40' ?
venting....

schism,

I think you have a terrific idea... I have a 40' behind my house being used strictly for storage.

Partial burial with the open(able) end sticking out of a hillside seems to me to be the very best option.

Asphaltic compound seems to be the most well thought of idea for sealing and for ground moisture proofing. Remember though, asphalt will eventually deteriorate. Long time, but it will eventually happen. Perhaps a good epoxy paint would be better?

As for being trapped inside, I would think a smaller door could/should be cut thru one of the doors or the side of the container. Not only could the factory original doors be blocked by debris, but if your parents got mad at you and locked the doors with you inside? Not a very pretty picture,huh?

Ventilation is an absolute must! I have a swamp cooler mounted on the roof of mine and two small window/doors to allow for circulation.

The price of a 40 footer is not too much more than a 20 footer. The considerations being: ground space, access to transport the container to site,
price of materials to weatherproof - prepare - maintain the container.

A 40 footer will give you considerable storage space in addition to the 20x8 "living" space. A 20 footer can actually be hauled on a trailer behind a heavy pickup.

If I were to try to do what you are hoping to do, I think I would use two (or more) 20 footers. I'd bet they also make long term storage areas and root cellars.

Rosie

 

[Skyco]

The price of a 40 footer is not too much more than a 20 footer.

Actually around here the 40 footers are less than the 20's
Apparently there is a much higher demand for the smaller ones since many people don't have room for the larger one.
I have toyed with buying a 20 and picking it up with my car trailer in Savannah GA since transportation is a big expense if it is hired out. There is a place there with "new" one trip 20's at an attractive price. I need it at my NC mountain property which is about 250-300 miles from Savannah. I'd rather have a 40 there but I can't haul it myself and a commercial tractor trailer can't get in there...too tight.

 

[curly]

Now if it's a car or something, you better have plenty of snicker bars in there with you...'cause you ain't going anywhere for a while

What....you ain't gonna put yer tractor in there?

 

[schmism]

my initial idea would be welding the existing doors closed, then cutting a single hole in the center for an exterior comercial steel door that opens IN.

That means i can use a regular lock set/dead bolt and i avoid issues with being blocked if something were to fall down into the stairwell.

Mine would likely be burried in the ground a foot. IT would be placed in such a way that the back end would face the foundation of the new house when it is pourd, that way i could cut a hole in the back end later, and have 2 entrences/exits. one from the basement of the house, the other from outside.

The end that is open to outside would likley have a small landing at the bottom with a floor drain, retaining block walls and pour'd in place concrete steps.

Im still trying to invision some sort of upper cover, as it would be an 9' deep "open" hole. so railing, something to prevent peeps from just falling in would be needed.

 

[firedog]

A good friend of mine has installed one (not buried but anchored on 4 bellbottom piers). He lives on the bay and is not going to evac. for another hurricane. (can't say that I blame him) Not sure how he has the doors, but I know he's been working on it off & on all year.

As ar as burying one, anybody ever think about cathodic protection. It's how they protect all the steel pipelines.

 

[Soundguy]

At the last gun show i was at, some company was making these 2 piece, sandehich together 1-2 man fiberglass shelters you burried.. had molded in stairs down..5" or so.., 2 seats facing each other, and a small shelf... not someplace you would want to hang out for a long time.. but good enough to wait till the funnel cloud and dorthy left..

soundguy

 

[qni51]

If you are going to use it for temporary human shelter, for goodness sake have "T W O ACCESS PORTS OPENING INWARD". Having a single access could be your last sight of daylight forever.

Human safety is number one priority. Why build a shelter if it is possible to be converted to a tomb and leave you buried.

Leave on top of the ground and anchor down with steel cable.

SAFETY FIRST OR YOUR LIFE MAY NOT LAST LONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Under ground in the mostly dry desert like the Negiv desert in ******. A good coating of tar might be a great help. Suggest the consulting a designer of underground housing for other preservative coatings.

A individual I know is planing to do just that, with a heavy Plexiglas dome sky-lite through the roof as a alternate escape hatch

Spence

 

[Taylortractornut]

I just got done with a storm shelter project with with a 20 footer. The man had a bank and had a neighbor with a little 350 Deere dozer cut a slot in a bank. He hired me to cut the back of the bank out and get it square with the container. I took my excavator and dug the hole out and then picked up the tail of the ontainer to put an axle under it. The owner then tarred the top, sides and bottom about an inch thick then wrapped it with a layer of heavy rubberized plastic and we put it into the hole and backfilled 2 feet. then added another sheet of rubberized plastic this time it went way past the sides of the container and acted like and underground umbrella. We compacted the layers with a smoothdrum vibratory roller and backfilled it all bt 1/4 wich stuck out of the bank. He also had some large auger type earth anchors like we use on tower guys and had me burn some holes in the floor on the exposed end to run them down with his PHD. On one side it will have an inward opening man door and the back doors are still there to drive the tractor in and out.
I dont think rust would be a bad concern in the short run, dad put in septic tanks in 48 years ago and Im still digging them up as sound tar coated 250 gallon tanks.
He has also bought a galvanized container for his under ground housing project.