Are Open-Side Shipping Containers Better for Double-Wide Container Homes?
One of the biggest challenges with building a double-wide shipping container home is reinforcing the floor after removing the sidewalls. Standard containers rely heavily on those corrugated walls for strength, so cutting them out can create major structural problems.
In this project, Channing tests a different approach using two 40-foot open-side shipping containers. These containers are built at the factory without a permanent sidewall and use much larger structural members, making them a promising option for double-wide container homes, garages and workshops.
Why Open-Side Shipping Containers Are Different
Instead of cutting out an entire corrugated sidewall, the doors on these open-side containers can simply be removed.
That saves a significant amount of fabrication work and eliminates the need to add as much reinforcement to the floor and upper header.
The lower structural rail is approximately 16 inches tall, which provides much more support than the floor structure found on many standard shipping containers.
Even with that larger beam, the floor still showed some movement across the full 40-foot span. For a residential application, adding foundation support near the middle may help create a more solid floor.
Joining Two 40-Foot Containers
Once the doors were removed, the two containers were positioned tightly beside each other.
Because the corner castings touch first, there is still a small gap between the structures. Unlike Container Modification World's standard Double-Wide Kits, which intentionally maintain a larger center gap for folded connection profiles, these open-side containers already contain much of the required structural steel.
The finished wood flooring also sits flush with the lower structural beam, making it easier to connect the floors and add rigid foam, subfloor, and finished flooring across the interior.
Adding a Pitched Roof With Truss Brackets
Container Modification World Wood Truss Brackets were tested on top of the two containers.
These brackets allow conventional wood trusses to be mounted directly to the upper structural tubing.
For this project, a 4/12 pitched roof was mocked up across the double-wide structure. This provides a much better way to shed rain and snow than relying on a flat shipping container roof.
The brackets can also be used for other applications, including container patios, decks, and roof structures that extend beyond the original container footprint.
Creating a Flat Sill for Additional Framing
The team also tested a new exterior framing concept using several folded steel components.
A starter piece fills the irregular space near the corner casting, while a Z-profile fastens into the upper 60 mm tubing using 5/16-inch thread-cutting bolts.
This creates a flat sill plate that could be used as a starting point for conventional wood framing.
Depending on the final engineered design, this could potentially allow an additional framed level, pitched roof or other structure to be built above the shipping containers.
Why the Roof Still Needs Attention
Although the open-side containers provide a much stronger floor, the upper header still showed significant movement across the 40-foot span.
For areas with heavy snow loads, additional reinforcement would likely be required if the original flat roof is expected to remain the primary roof system.
A pitched roof supported by Container Modification World Truss Brackets may be a better solution because it helps transfer loads while preventing water and snow from collecting on the container roof.
A Better Starting Point for Double-Wide Container Builds
These 40-foot open-side shipping containers solve one of the biggest problems with traditional double-wide container construction.
Their large structural floor beams eliminate much of the reinforcement normally required after removing a standard container sidewall.
Combined with Container Modification World Wood Truss Brackets and additional framing components, they provide an interesting starting point for double-wide shipping container homes, garages, warehouses and other modular buildings.
For anyone planning a large container structure, starting with a container designed to have an open side may be significantly easier than cutting apart and reinforcing a conventional shipping container.