Dreams of Having a Shipping Container Garden House

For people who own gardens but don’t have a structure built somewhere inside it, there is always the feeling that they could use some space to sit and relax in. There might be many obstacles on the way of achieving the dream of having your own garden house, obstacles such as planning permits and the cost of building it.

A new trend which is catching on and gaining more and more popularity each day is using shipping containers as garden houses. A shipping container garden house might not require a planning permit, as we will speak about that later on in this article, but it will definitely cost far less than a normal structure would.

A shipping container garden house also doesn’t really need a much of a construction operation, as the shipping container will be modified in a factory and delivered to its intended location. Here in this article, we will talk about a few things which comes to minds of people when they are weighing the option of shipping container garden houses and whether they are good choices for them or not.

Can You Have a Shipping Container in Your Garden?

If your garden is big enough for it, sure! Shipping containers make very versatile structures. They can be designed to fit perfectly in your garden’s landscape and environment. The only thing you need is a flat and rigid surface big enough for your shipping container garden house, but in case you don’t have that, it’s not a cause for concern.

In general, it’s a very good idea to build a foundation for your shipping container garden house. It’s not necessary in many cases, but we still recommend building a foundation to everyone. It doesn’t have to be a complicated foundation. Based on your choices and hos heavy and big the shipping container garden house is, and also based on the type of soil in that location, you can use many types of foundation, including wooden foundations, metal foundations, and concrete foundations.

Generally speaking, a concrete foundation will be the most secure one and one we recommend to people who own lands which have shallow soil. But based on the size, weight, and type of intended use for the shipping container garden house, all types of foundations are viable options.

Are Container Garden Homes Capable of Attracting Lightning?

Getting struck by lightning while you’re inside a metal box can be quite a scary thought, so let’s talk about lightnings and shipping containers. In most cases, lightning is attracted to the most elevated object in its vicinity. Lightning is a massive current of electricity which has enough power to turn air into a conductive material.

But as is the common behavior of electricity, it prefers to move to a material which is more conductive. In case of lightning, it is traveling through air, so any solid object will be a vast improvement in terms of conductivity. That is why in the vast majority of case, lightning will strike the highest object it finds, since it will be the shortest distance it will travel inside a material with the low conductivity of air.

That being said, lightning can choose to travel a slightly longer distance if it means finding a better conductive material, meaning that if there is a metal object very close to the point it is moving, it might strike that metal object even if it’s not the most elevated solid surface there. But the fact is that the amount of alteration which anything can apply to the course of a lightning is very little.

This massive current has travelled a relatively long distance through the air, and all we can change is the last little bit of it. So, if a lightning strikes, it won’t change its course more than a few meters to strike a metal object. It’s just that within those last few meters of distance, if it finds a better conductive material, it will go through it.

How Can We Saften Our Container from Lightening?

What does that mean in simpler words? It means that your normal garden house has almost the same chance of being struck by lightning as a shipping container garden house. The concerning matter is how much damage it can cause to the structure and to those inside it. As for the damage to the structure, a normal garden house would be subject to a lot more damage since it is not a good conductor and a lot of heat will be generated. As for people inside, those inside a shipping container garden house will be in more danger in specific situations. If a person is touching a metal surface of a shipping container in two different spots while a lightning strikes, they will be in great danger.

But worrying about lightning in general is a misplace thought, since in case you live in an area where your garden house will be one of the tallest objects and rainstorms and lightnings are common there, all you have to do to make sure that you’re absolutely and completely safe, is to install a lightning rod. It there is risk of lightning strike, installing a lightning rod is necessary regardless of the material which the house is built of. So, lightnings are not things which could dictate what material you use for building your garden house.

Will Banks Be Able to Finance Purchasing Shipping Container Garden Houses?

This varies from location to location, bank to bank, and person to person. There are so many things a bank will consider before giving out any loans, and the material you’re building your garden house from is just one among many.

The unique nature of a shipping container garden house might attract some attention, and that can be a good thing or a bad thing, but we cannot generalize and come up with a simple answer to this question. All we can say is that you should check with your bank.

Do You Need Permission for Having a Container Garden House?

This also varies from location to location. The laws regarding planning permissions are different in different countries, different states or provinces, different cities, or even different parts of the same city. The best bet is to be safe and check with your local town hall or municipality and be absolutely certain that you are not breaking any laws.

Why should you choose Green Box?

Green Box is specialized in producing high-quality modified shipping containers for its clients. We accept any and all projects regarding the modification, repurposing, or maintenance of a shipping container or a shipping container structure. We will accompany our clients every step of the way, as much as they would like us to.

We can start from the design phase and help our clients throughout the design process, or we can just receive the design from our client and if everything is in order and the structural integrity of the structure is intact, we can just move on to the container modification process. Once the design process is over and the client is happy with all the details of it, we move on to modify the shipping container and will deliver it to our client’s chosen location within a month.

If you have any questions regarding any detail of our work, policies, and prices, please contact us, our experts are ready and happy to answer all your questions.