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Has anyone had any experience with houses made out of shipping containers?I am sure an engineer would be needed,but what else should we be looking for?Thanks.
No experience, just inquiries. Reference the Virginia Industrialized Building Safety Regulations.
13VAC5-91-20. Application and compliance.
D. The use of off-site manufactured intermodal freight containers, moving containers, or storage containers as building modules or components of an industrialized building must be approved by the administrator in accordance with 13VAC5-91-150. In reviewing the use of the intermodal freight containers as structural building components, the administrator will accept evaluation reports from accredited third-party evaluation services.
“Administrator” means the Director of DHCD or his designee.
“Approved” as applied to a material, device, method of construction, registered building, or as otherwise used in this chapter means approved by the administrator.
Sections 101.2 & 202.0
Code Interpretation No. 6/93
First Issued: 1/20/95, 1993 Edition
QUESTION: Do shipping containers fall within the scope of the definition of “structures” when they meet the following criteria:
1. are situated on a piece of property for more than 180 calendar days
2. are not accessory to an active building construction project
3. are used for purposes directly related to primary business activity on the property
ANSWER: Yes. However, since this is a building constructed off site, it would be considered an unregistered industrialized building and would be regulated under the Virginia Industrialized Building Safety Regulations.
For the majority of container homes that are intended for installation on a permanent foundation, the IRC will apply just like for any other house. This is spelled out in this HUD FAQ which we’ll quote here:
I would like to convert shipping containers into homes. Can they be listed or sold as manufactured housing?
All manufactured homes are built to the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards, 24 CFR Part 3280. Manufactured homes are transported in one or more sections on a permanent chassis and display a red certification label on the exterior of each transportable section.
Shipping containers that are converted into housing units are subject to state and local building codes like modular and site-built homes. Converted shipping containers cannot be accepted as a HUD-code manufactured home unless they are provided with a permanent chassis and are transported to the site on their own running gear and otherwise comply with all HUD Standards and Regulations for manufactured homes.
The following is from the 2018 USBC CCT guide:
Nationally recognized guidelines now specifically allowed to be
considered while reviewing code modification requests.
The amendment is intended to support the use of published
guidelines, from nationally recognized sources, such as CC
G5-2019 “Guideline for the Safe Use of ISO Intermodal
Shipping Containers Repurposed as Buildings and Building
Components” published by ICC, as supporting documentation
for a code modification.
The published container guideline, for instance, provides
valuable information that a building official can utilize to approve the use of shipping
containers as building materials. Allowing the use of shipping containers will provide an
additional option for affordable resilient housing.
USBC Code references: 106.3.1; 112.2
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