Our friends are moving into the neighborhood and have decided to build a container house using five containers - 3 40' ones and 2 20' ones.
They brought in a large crane to move the containers from the truck base onto the location for their house. I was able to catch them moving the 4th container into place. The whole process was really quick, but I missed the 5th container because it was pouring rain!
The containers were purchased from another person in town who was selling them. The crane and truck would go over together to pick them up and then return to the neighborhood. At the spot for the house, the worker would get on top of the container and hook the crane up to the chains that were picking up the container.
The container would then be lifted into the air. Container houses work out well here because the weather is nice - not too hot to need an AC, and not too cold to need a heater. We are constructing a few container apartments on the property as well, and they always feel nice inside.
After the container was swung into place, the worker had a rope attached to it that he used to pull it into the location where it would sit. The containers are seated upon a few foundational pieces so that they are above ground. Since it rains so much here in Panama, they are hopeful this will help cut down on mold inside their home. Their plumbing and electrical will be more easily accessible this way, too.
It took a few minutes to get the container facing the right direction and then they were ready to get it into the right spot. There were a couple of us out there watching and hoping everything would go well, and it did!
The owner even got to help by pulling the rope to get it right into place. It's pretty amazing how such a small rope can pull such a large, heavy container so effortlessly!
After the container was set down on top of the other, it only needed to be adjusted by an inch or so. They were told to pull really hard on the rope to get it to just barely move. When they were satisfied with the location, they started taking off the rope and the chain with the crane attached.
Our friend designed the layout to be 2 containers stacked on top of each other beside 2 others stacked with one in between the two stacks. He drew it up online and showed it to my husband, who is an architect. It's a pretty basic design, but they think it will work for them.
We are pretty excited for our friends to get here. They have three kids and get along well with our kids, so I know it will be fun for them. They also hope to have a garden. Beside their property is a creek that runs through the property. I'm excited to see what color they paint the containers and how quickly this project is finished. They hope to be in by the end of the year, but I'm not sure if it will happen! I'll keep you posted!
