Ok so I have a little to add to the cutting into the container which is, if you are using steel angle then the cuts must be on the same part of the corrugated wall as the other side, this is not hugely important when putting in a door as the door jam(frame) is wide enough to not be affected, however windows are thin and building the steel angle frame out of the window opening and then welding it in place is better.

As for the welding, I tried it for the first time yesterday and after a little splatter in the beginning I was able to successfully weld the front door steel angle in place and it is a very strong weld (can’t say it’s a pretty weld though) and having a spray can of zinkgalv to coat the welds is essential for rust prevention, also using a wire brush and on an angle grinder was the best way I found to clean the weld area (prior to welding) to bring it back to metal which allows for a much cleaner,neater, easier and stronger weld. Next I’m cutting the bedroom windows in and welding the frames in place, I will post pics of it!

I had watched a lot of YouTube videos showing different methods of cutting into the shipping container and the angle grinder seems to good to choice, I have a 4 inch angle grinder and a 9 inch I found that after speaking with some metal fabricators that using a fin 1.6 mil or even one mil metal cutting disk on the 4 inch angle grinder is the easiest and fastest way to cut through the container walls, The 9 inch angle grinder gives you straighter lines easier however because the desk is 2.5 mm it can actually be hard to cut through then the 4 inch angle grinder, I found that keeping to a predrawn linewith the small angle grinder works best and found that you go through about 1 to 2 discs per door frame, I have use the angle grinders for years on various materials however cutting through a container wall is very different, The grinder guard is not just there to protect your fingers it actually redirects all of the sparks and ember fragments, and I learnt the hard way to make sure you stand on the guard side of the grinder because all of the sparks actually contain little shards of metal which are hot and can imbed in your skin (long thick sleeves are essential) for framing the The openings that you have just cut people often use box steel which is of course stronger little more difficult to weld because the angles are a bit tighter and more expensive than angle steel, I have ordered my angle steel from a metal fabrication company and they have provided me a price one third that of my local hardware store Bunnings, however Bunnings is very good for a lots of good prices I have found for steel go to a metal fabricator (Ausram is great)and for plaster board, I found going to boral or whoever you can locally who manufactures plasterboard as they will give you the best price, in saying that I work close to Bunnings and pop in regularly after work to check out their clearances and was told that if you want to get the best clearance prices to go Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning as they will be putting them out then, I have got great bargains from just wondering around the trades area outside the trade entrance and just asking staff in each department what clearance stock they have going, and if you see a damaged box packaging then in Bunnings (I have found) they will discounted by about 30% or at least that’s what they been offering me hopefully you will do better, I haven’t used my new mig welder yet and tested anything out I’m told that the gasless wire mig welding kit is easy to use (fingers crossed) and have already got some scrap metal to test out my mig welding on, it is a good idea to get a mig welder I got a 130 amp gasless welder as this is powerful enough to go through six mm mild steel, considering the shipping container walls are 2 mm on the sides and 3 mm thick on the doors, I have decided to use shipping pallets as the internal wall structure which will hold in place the installation which is essential so you don’t freeze or cook in the big metal box, building sites where there have started plastering the walls and you can see insolation outside are always worth going to to ask for the installation for free as it is already paid for and in most cases the builder has to pay to remove it so you will be doing them a favour as well as getting free insolation. But seriously with the welding definitely needs to learn as there is A lot of welding to do and if you hire someone you will be getting them back and forth all the time, this is the current progress with the first door opening cut you can see the cut door piece leaning against the container.

Finally after all of the ground work digging the trench is for the power water and sewage excavating the land where the containers are supposed to go and putting supporting walls in place prepping and positioning my timber foundation the containers are finally being delivered, and because I have a steep narrow entrance to my block where they are going to be placed I needed to have a 20 t and 25 t Frana to move the 2 x 40 foot container is in the place has a short video I took of the moving day

CHOOSE WHERE TO PUT IT.

This may sound silly however normal planning regulations still apply (which mostly is common sense), not too close the your boundary fence (so you can work on the container house and maintain it) and in an area where power, sewage and water can be reached (unless you are going off grid with solar panels and so on) and find out your soil type this will help you decide what foundation to use and what tools to use, I have allot of sand stone and clay in my soil so I chose to use timber foundation. Also make sure that where ever the container house is to go that the big machines like cranes, or Frannas can get to it.

INFORM THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES.

In some cases a full planning application will need to be submitted, if you are in Australia then I found that a short online course to complete an owner builder course is available and will cost about $200.00 AUD. Draw up plans with a drafts person or what I did is use paint programme on my PC and made sure to make a scale drawing, this is mine it,s by no means perfect (far from it) but it does give me an idea where I am cutting into the container and what to follow.

The plans above is for two 40 Ft high cube shipping containers side by side.

CHOOSE YOUR SHIPPING CONTAINER.

If you want some one to live in it then a HC (high cube) is the way to go, they are 2.7 metres high and a GP (General Purpose) is only 2.39 metres high, and once you have put a ceiling in you will find it too low to put a ceiling fan in, plus the dimensions for the shipping containers are generally for the external and the internal is less again. If you want to stack them up they will happily go 8 high, this just needs to have a little more attention spent with an architect, and as am not building a multi story property I have no advise or experience with them. There are different grades in container A to D, A is food suitable so very clean and the best kind of used container, B grade is suitable for shipping still and very much weather and water proof, C is more likely to have dented walls, rust patches and still can be weather and water proof, D is likely to have non functioning doors and not be weather and water proof, now these grades are open to interpretation as they are based on the opinion of the person selling them so it is a good idea to (if possible) visit the container first before you buy. Allot of people use single use containers which have only ever had one load of cargo in them and are almost brand new, and of course you can buy brand new, I found that unless you plan to have the container walls on show then a B grade will be fine, just make sure to take the rust off and treat with a Zink Galv spray or something like that, I used a 4 inch angle grinder with a wire brush attachment to get the rust off (works nicely).

CHOOSING A FOUNDATION

There are a number of different foundation types and most will depend on your soil type and budget and amount of time you have, with the main aim to get the container off the floor and stable, the foundation types I know of are;

1 – Concrete slab (this is a great all purpose foundation, however cost the most)

2 – Concrete post ( this is versatile too and costs less, it does depend on soils though, i didn’t use this one as I wasn’t confident my posts would be great and also wanted a flat area out the front for a patio or garden)

3 – Concrete pillar (similar to the post just round)

4 – Steele peer (these are great as they can take approx 10 Tons each just at a cost of around $250 each which you will need for each corner, and an excavator to put them in)

5 – Timber ( versatile and old telegraph poles can be used or hardwood sleepers like
I used, this requires either very flat land or like in my case an excavator and pozie track to flatten the land I paid about $90 p/hour, this also gets you a nice flat area for garden or a porch, also useful whilst you have them there to get them to dig the trench for the power, water and sewage)

6 – Blocks or bricks (this is used allot and although there is not allot wrong with it, if you are wanting to have it as a house just make sure the bricks are not going to sing into the floor)

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton