This is our 20' shipping container.Weighing in at a max weight of 30 TONNES (over 2 tonnes empty), this is 1170 cubic feet of pure awesomeness.
Why? Why do we have a 20' container of awesomeness in our yard? Firstly, because we can, secondly (and more importantly) because Queen Cassowary said I can, and thirdly, why not?
If you are wondering how much this little "investment" would cost you at home, well if you live near where I am (SE QLD, Australia) it would set you back around $2500 delivered to your door (just don't put it in front of your door, once it is in place, it can't be moved by hand). As mentioned above, it has a weight of 2,400 kg empty, so you need to make sure you know where it is going before you get it.
What am I going to do with this box? Well, you read a lot of things about people putting these underground and making bug-out shelters, bomb shelters, hide-aways, etc. and you also see a lot of people just using them above the ground as a shed. That is my use for it, a shed. It is being used to just store "things", things that I intend to use/make/fix/develop but don't have the time right now, and I don't want them to get destroyed in the open air/rain.
Normally a giant metal box in your front yard would stand out and attract attention (opposite of what we want in life), but around these parts, it is normal.
I am planning on building a root cellar (underground pantry essentially) however it will not be a container dropped in the ground, the details are still a little sketchy, but I just don't want to be conformed to the measurements of a container.
The first photo was taken in November of last year (11/14) when the container was first dropped off, the below photo was taken this morning (just now) as a comparison, mainly the growth around it. You can see such a nice change in the place, we have done so much work, not just on the house and with the animals, but in general with the land. It has taken time, money and effort, but it is all coming together
What I am going to do with this container in the near future is to build a roof for it, you can notice behind the container (to the left) is a large concrete water tank, the previous owners had disconnected it and let it sit there, doing nothing (I think they had a phobia of water). We are going to utilise the roof of the container and catch water in the tank behind it, then using that tank to water the gardens (and potentially store water for the front dam).
Well, I must be going, I have to get to work, this page has taken me over 1hr to write because I have been doing things between it (sorry for not dedicating all my time to this :) ). Until the next update, thank you all for viewing my blog, I will keep you informed of what else I am doing and how things are coming along. BTW, if you are wondering about the container, it was a great buy, I am very happy with it and it is doing just what I wanted it to do (stay there).
I hope that you all have a great day, and don't work too hard for someone else, keep your energy for what you want to do :)
You say it is practical, but it is a big reddish/brown ugly box.
ReplyDeletePut some clothes on it and hide it in your wilderness.
Put a trellis on the side and grow passionfruit.
Paint a big yellow smily face on the front door to scare the neighbours / dogs / cats / etc.
You are right, it does look ugly. We got a reddish/brown one because it was the best color to blend into the environment. It has a lot of regrowth around it, and once the roof is in place it will be hidden better by more plants (like your passion fruit idea), however I am a little concerned by creepers slowly damaging the box. Only time will tell :)
DeleteCoat the outside of the 'box' with bituminous paint so that it will remain waterproof and resist rust. Also the plants should be attached to trellis not directly to the 'box'. The trellis can be wood or wire.
DeleteGreat ideas, thank you :) The trellis are easy to get (if you have been following the posts you will see I have been collecting lots of supplies) so I can make that from lots of the wood that I have around here, and spare chicken wire, the paint, I will have to look into that from the hardware store. The unfortunate part about this whole game is priorities, and if I don't rust proof the box it will rust away, but sometimes saving for things takes awhile and a lot of other projects go on hold :( Juggling, that's the game! :)
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