We escaped city living to build an off-grid shipping container home in Oregon. Learn from our list of pros and cons of shipping container houses.
About two years ago, Pacific Pines Ranch was born from our idea to escape the city life and chase our dreams out in the Oregon forest. We decided to change our life and start from ground zero to develop an off-grid shipping container home, ourselves, with little to no construction experience.
The reasons why we decided to meander down this road in life vary. We think it’s important for us to expand our abilities and learn valuable DIY construction skills such as welding, framing, electricity, plumbing, finishing work, mechanics, wood working, concrete setup/finishing, etc. There are so many aspects that go into building a house, and they all offer great experience in the different realms of construction. We wanted to challenge ourselves as individuals and teach ourselves how to build something not only unique, but also to build our dream house with our own hands. Our overall goal with this project is to change our lifestyle and become as self-sufficient as possible, and to learn to live off the grid.
Pros of Shipping Container Homes
Cons of Shipping Container Homes
- One of the cons of shipping container builds is they can require quite a bit of work to make them livable. To create any openings, panels need to be cut out, which compromises the strength of the container and can require reinforcements.
- They can also be hard to get if the building site is not near any shipping area, such as a port or railway hub. Depending on the location and design of the build, they can require cranes to place the containers onto the foundation which can be a costly expense.
- Overall, they require a lot of ingenuity to make them work as structures, and can be labor-intensive depending on the size of the structure and the design.
Specifications for Our Shipping Container Home
We put a lot of thought into the design of our shipping container house, and we designed our house to specifically fit our property. We used seven containers to create three levels, plus a rooftop deck.
Our land is sloped, so we designed the house to flow with the topography of the land. We took inspiration from how they are used for shipping cargo, and we stacked them the same way to take advantage of how they are made. We have two containers on the first level, three on the second level, two on the third level, a structure on the side to create stairs between the second and third level, and agarage parallel to the containers on the first level. The first two levels are 40-foot-high cube containers, and the third level is 45-foot-high cube containers, so it creates a small cantilever effect.
We converted all of the container doors into glass doors so the entire side of our house can be opened. Our goal was to feel outside, even when inside, and have as much windows and doors as possible. Luckily, the weather is very mild where we are building, so we didn’t have to take extreme heat or cold into consideration.
One of the more important aspects of our design is simplicity. We wanted the design to be simple enough we could learn to build it ourselves.
Pros and Cons of Shipping Container Houses: The Joy is in the Journey
That’s a little bit about why, what, and how we are doing our shipping container project on Pacific Pines Ranch. Currently, we have five containers on the foundation and we are working on Phase 2 of our build.
We have a long way to go for us to leave the diamond-in-the-rough stage, but eventually we will get there. We are constantly learning new techniques and improving our work day by day. As we like to say out on the ranch, the joy is in the journey.
Jessica is a hardcore DIYer who taught herself how to build, weld, and bring her ideas to fruition. She is developing a sustainable, off-grid property from the ground up in Oregon, where she is building a shipping container home herself. Follow the journey of Pacific Pines Ranch on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
All MOTHER EARTH NEWS community bloggers have agreed to follow our blogging guidelines, and they are responsible for the accuracy of their posts.
