02-23-07

Hey,

You do not want to bury a cargo container. These boxes are meant for stacking. Only the corners are structual. I have a 40' high cube box for storage on my property. I put a couple of spinning roof vents up on the roof. It is very flexible. The steel is strong, but only a skin. You would have to place beams over the top to make it safe. Most boxes are pulled for age and rips in the steel.

I have seen modern bomb shelters, and they use large scale drainage pipe. You can bury that pipe. They weld plates over the ends, and build an elevated walkway.

Tom
nobleknight
class 01-15-05

I think I'd still be inclined to toss a few timbers or someting under it. I'll probably put down a decent stonebed just to keep it from sitting directly in water or damp soil.

I used that method for my hanger. Atop the stone, I had a couple sheets of visqueen, and two layers of 1/2" plywood. (so I could screw it all together to form a single piece floor) After ten years, and selling the plane and hanger, I tore up the floor (quite a job) and the bottom plywood looked good as new. (the top sheet was fine too, just normal wear over the years) The only place there was any sign of rot, was where I had consistant roof leaks in some localized places.

Stone is cheap, far cheaper than a rusted out cargo container. :wink:

Most areas of TX can't have basements/cellars because 6" or so under the top soil is rock. It takes a lot just to get an inground pool. If you have to blast forget about it, the Edwards people won't let you do it because of the potential damge to the aquifer or some branch that feeds it. Getting a company to come in and dig with a jackhammer would be cost prohibitive and is the reason some 95% + homes in TX are built on slabs. East TX is too wet and west TX is too sandy, but both suffer from the same rock problems to some extent.

Burying a container would be bad, as has been pointed out, only the corners are structural. Get a couple of railroad ties, you can find them for about $17 each, cut them in half and use them at the corners.

Also do some more research. Shipping containers can be had for the cost of the shipping to your location, ebay is far from the best resource for finding them. If you are in the Houston area, you have shipyards, and most containers are a one-way use trailer, that's why you see stacks of them, nobody wants them back. The ones you see on ebay are just bringing them too you from the closest place that wants rid of them.

Why, yes you can. But, heed Noblenight's cautions to you.
You can't go so deep that the forces of nature overtake the load capacity.

here in WA State, a few years ago, the largest pot bust of the century (for the state) brough to light several sea going containers burried with a small stair/access way to the surface. Plants along with lights and hydroponic equipment kept a very large crop. The police found and raided it the day they were to be harvested.

These burried chambers were deep enough that the DEA and Police never found them in previoius searches of the property---only an eyewitness tip lead them to the containers.

But, unless you have a very intensive monetary pay-off, I think it would be more hassle than helpful to use one as a root cellar---it would take a pretty big and deep hole---not the safest thing to dig alone either--even if you know how to shore-up as you dig.

-Andrew