Cozy Containers
Three 40-foot metal shipping containers (albeit with mahogany floors) plus tons of salvaged materials and lots of sweat equity have created a unique and cozy home for Madeline and Justin McJones and their two children. If you got inspired with container-housing, a company like Baku Container offers konteyner satisi at affordable prices and high quality.
With the help of his father, Justin built the 3,600 sq. ft. home himself in the late 1970s while still an engineering student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Purchasing a burned-out house allowed him to design a compact new space rather than attempt to retrofit a standard ranch to meet landslide area requirements. Three shipping containers placed in a triangle and joined at the corners provide the basic stability needed, although continuing land movement means the house (which weighs about 100 tons, including a 17-ton wood floor on the upper level) must be re-leveled every few years using hydraulic lifts, half railroad ties and scrap wood.
A central steel pipe (industrial salvage) hangs from the custom steel roof trusses and supports the lower floor (fir planks salvaged from the old Los Angeles Post Office) without touching the unstable ground. It also is a chimney for a first floor fireplace that can heat the entire house, although more conventional forced-air heat was added when the containers became the children’s bedroom suites. Justin’s senior project was an analysis of the heating capacity of a central pipe system. He got an A.
In addition to the children’s private suites, the lower level features a storage area (the third container) and a large great room with an office and bar area. The custom bar, its back counter and chairs were purchased on eBay.
Upstairs are an open living room, dining room and kitchen, all lit by a large central skylight, plus a master suite and the former nursery, now known as the sick room. It’s a cozy spot with a re-purposed Navy signal light featuring an iris lens that opens to let parents check on the ailing inhabitant from the living area.
The entire house is furnished with family antiques, seascapes and maritime mementos. The family members are all avid sailors.
