Modified shipping containers - Things you can do with a Seacan

Whilst shipping containers are excellent instant storage they are not that great as shipping container offices or shipping container hunting lodges or camps.  Not as they are......   But with a few modifications you can turn a shipping container into an excellent office or camping lodge. You can then put it where you need it and move it or take it with you if necessary.

In this case we took a 40ft High Cube Shipping Container and added a partition, a roll up door as well as a man door, foam insulation and 1/2" ply throughout.  We put in a fine insulated sub-floor and even laminate in the office area.  The really nice looking and practical thing was a 6ft square plate glass window that we used just inside the barn-doors of the container.  Open the doors for light, close the doors for security.  It makes the office really comfortable to work in when you're there and secure when you're not.

Transforming the shipping container into an office starts with welding in your access points. I like to use a heavy steel secure man door (3' x 7') and in this case we also added a roll up door at 6' wide to make bringing bulky items in and out of the storage area easy because we intended to use the large window that blocks the normal barn door container access.

Once the exterior doors are in, the container needs to be framed and wired. Once the 2' x 4' framing is done and all the sockets and switches are wired up you can then insulate with foam. Foam insulation is not the nicest stuff to work with so if you are doing it yourself use a good mask / breathing apparatus safety goggles and all the gear.

Once framed we just used 1/2" ply throughout and then finished up the sockets and LED lights.  We chose to paint the office section but leave the storage area as bare ply.  We made the office 14' x 7' leaving 25' x 7' for the storage area.  We used a standard interior door for the partition but added a couple of tall narrow windows either side of the door to let the light pass through to the storage area.

Specs on shipping container office:

•  40ft High Cube Container
• Painted outside 1x rust coat 2x metal paint.
• Paint rust coat inside
• Foam insulation throughout
• 2” x 4” frame and ½” ply throughout
• Floor:19/32 x 2-ft x 4-ft R-5 Insulated OSB Subfloor Panel and then ½” ply over the top. 
• Approved 30AMP 120/240 service to run from extension cord, Generator or Solar/Wind.

Office: 14’ x 7’ (100 sq ft) aprox.

• Divider wall with interior door, deadlock with 2 x 8” x 5’6” windows either side of door.
• 1 x 6’ heavy plate glass square window inside container barn doors.  Doors still open for light & close for security.
• Barn doors also foam insulated.
• Air conditioner / fan opening.
• 2 x 6” LED lights on separate switch
• Laminate floor
• Painted white

Storage area 25’ x 7’ (175 sq foot) aprox.

• 3 x 6” LED lights
• 4 x plug sockets                               
• 6’ wide roll up door.
• 1 x steel insulated welded secure mandoor 3’ x 7’ with deadbolt.
• Wood shelving on back wall and above mandoor.

To view this container and our current projects call into our yard weekdays 9am to 4pm.  We currently have 4 variations of insulated containers for sale.  We can also customise and modify a container for you.