Storage Containers
What can Storage Containers do for you?
Storage containers have a straightforward rectangular box design. The design is practical, functional, and the only way we ship massive amounts of cargo around the world. But think of the possibilities of that no-nonsense standard box shape. Shipping and storage containers give you either storage space or room space or both. A shipping container is a flexible building module to construct any living or working space in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional construction methods. Storage containers can move stuff from one place to another. You can do a lot with a steel box.
Storage Solutions
Seasonal Storage
Some things you need for a few months every year - like camping or sports equipment. You've invested in it, and you want to keep it, but you don't need it in your daily living space. On site storage containers are ideal for keeping those things you want to keep and use away from your home. You clean, pack and store and have peace of mind knowing that when you want to collect your stuff, it's ready to use.
Pack and Forget
Business and home paperwork that you need to store but hope you will never have to see again – storage containers are ideal places to keep this material. Got all your childhood memories packed in boxes? A storage container keeps them safe and secure until you decide what to do with them. Holding on to your kid's stuff for when you have grandchildren? Again, pack and forget until that happy day in an economical onsite storage container.
Business Stock
Do you buy and sell stuff online? It started as a modest little side hustle, but now you have boxes everywhere. Or are you setting up a crafting business and selling at markets and events? If so, then you have your creations and your display equipment cramping your creativity. Moveable storage containers give you a mini-warehouse at your place or onsite storage. Ideal for times when you have excess stock or want to keep your business supplies in one secure facility.
Raw Materials and Tools
Construction sites take advantage of the secure facilities offered by shipping containers to store building supplies and equipment, keeping the site tidy, safe, and secure. You can choose to buy or rent a container based on your immediate needs. Rent a Shipping Container for short or long periods of time. Use the space when you need it. Storage Container.com offers a Mobile Office and Storage Comb. Use the space to store expensive material and run your business at the same time!
Hobbies and Sport
Clubs and individuals with a hobby or sporting interest amass a lot of stuff. Container's storage is super useful for storing equipment and collections. Perhaps you run an exercise class on the beach and need somewhere to store the equipment, or you build model ships. Storage is crucial for everyone, and flexible sizes of containers for storage meet your needs. Our Storage Containers offer solutions-either as a straightforward empty box or modified with shelves and storage hooks for customized storage solutions.
For a Few Weeks or Months
Temporary storage containers give you breathing space while moving or having building work done. You can pack your stuff away, knowing that it is kept safe and secure from thieves and weather while you deal with your other projects. Businesses, schools, and others use temporary storage containers for coping with all sorts of situations where they need extra space to store equipment, furniture, supplies, or paperwork. Whatever stuff you have flexible storage containers can solve your storage needs.
Moving Solutions
Containers shipping is the primary purpose of making these steel boxes – they ship cargo and possessions all over the world. If you are sending goods or your household possession by sea, then you need an ISO container. If you are sending by road, you can use a suitable storage container.
The advantage of using a storage container to move stuff around is that you can fit everything you need in one box. A 40-foot container will take all your household possessions – if you have the average family home.
Storage containers fit on trailers, and they can move a lot of stuff quickly and conveniently from one place to another. In the case of a house move, you can pack up your household possessions and put them in storage in the same box for weeks or months before arranging delivery to your new place.
What else can I do with Storage Containers?
You may be asking yourself, beside storing household items, what else can you do with Storage Containers? A single 20-foot shipping container converts into a useful static or mobile office.
Construction sites have been using these 'cabins' since the early days to provide site offices and sales offices.The type of building you can make from one or more shipping containers is limited only by your imagination. You can (and people have) turn shipping containers into:
· An office
· A kitchen selling takeaway street food.
· A beach bar and barbecue stand.
· A shop
· A workshop or craft room.
· A house
· An art gallery
· A classroom.
· A museum
· A kitchen selling takeaway street food.
· A beach bar and barbecue stand.
· A shop
· A workshop or craft room.
· A house
· An art gallery
· A classroom.
· A museum
Whatever building you need, you can create using the regular shape and structural strength of amazingly versatile shipping containers.
Whatever building you need, you can create using the regular shape and structural strength of amazingly versatile shipping containers.
What Size Storage Container Do You Need?
To decide what size storage container your need, you can always measure the square footage of the room or area where you currently have your stuff. Measure the height of the pile as well because, inside the storage container, you can take advantage of the volume as well as floor space.
Storage Container.com offers the following sizes; 8-foot widths and 10, 20, and 40-foot lengths. That means 80, 160, and 320 square feet. Or, 640, 1,280, and 2,560 cubic feet, which is plenty of storage space for heaps of stuff. You can always start with a small container and move up a size if needed. It depends on how much stuff you want to put in storage. If you are opting for a storage container at home or on your business premises, you may be restricted by the available space to site a shipping container. When it comes to creating a building, you need a single shipping container if you want your office or shop to move between locations. The most useful size is 20-foot, but for extra-large mobile offices, a 40-foot container gives you twice as much space.
You can create more significant buildings out of multiple shipping containers joined in imaginative ways – L shapes, crosses, or blocks. The best size of the shipping container depends on your project.
Two 20-foot containers create a decent sized classroom or office. Larger projects need more containers. It's worth playing around with floor plans to see what number of shipping containers and sizes work for your project.
Benefits of Using Storage Container
Low-cost solutions
Storage containers give you affordable extra space at a fraction of the costs of alternative options, like moving to a new house or building an extension to your business. That low-cost space can give you storage or working room.
Flexible
You choose the amount of space you need and how long you need it. You select what you need and can buy for a permanent solution or rent for a temporary one. Storage containers give you the freedom to choose.
Available
Getting hold of warehousing or a commercial office in a couple of days is difficult. Renting a storage container is quick, easy, and affordable. Mobile storage containers go where you need them, or you can go to them.
Secure
Storage containers keep your stuff safe from people and weather. You choose what space you want to secure – a construction site, home, or mobile warehouse. Rest assured your possessions will be safe from weather damage
Renting Storage Containers: Advantages and Disadvantages
When it comes to storage options, you can rent or buy your storage container. Before you decide to buy or rent consider the advantages and disadvantages below:
Advantages
• You can swap to a different size container if your needs change.
• You pay only for the time you use the container.
• You are not responsible for maintenance.
• You pay only for the time you use the container.
• You are not responsible for maintenance.
Disadvantages
• You are limited in the modifications you can make.
• Over time the cost of renting a single container may exceed the purchase cost.
• The storage container supplier arranges transport.
• Over time the cost of renting a single container may exceed the purchase cost.
• The storage container supplier arranges transport.
Buying Storage Containers: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
• You own it, so you don't pay rent –you save money.
• You can modify it to suit your needs.
• At the end of your use, there may be resale value.
• You can modify it to suit your needs.
• At the end of your use, there may be resale value.
Disadvantages
• You need to find somewhere to put it.
• You are responsible for maintenance and repairs.
• When it no longer meets your needs, you need to sell or dispose of it.
• You are responsible for maintenance and repairs.
• When it no longer meets your needs, you need to sell or dispose of it.
Rent vs Buying: Key Takeaways
The choice of buying or renting a storage container comes down to the advantages outweighing the disadvantages in your circumstances.
Renting a Storage Container is the Best Option if:
· You need different sizes of containers throughout the year.
· Your need is temporary.
· You need to move storage containers to different locations.
· You need to use an onsite storage container because you do not have a suitable site.
If you are looking to Buy a Storage Container:
· Inspect it before purchase to be sure it meets your needs and is in useable condition.
· Know where you are going to place it and prepare your site.
· Consider having desirable modifications completed before delivery.
How On-Site Storage Works?
You can choose to use an onsite storage container or have a portable storage container delivered to your chosen location. The storage container is permanently onsite, and you visit it to load and unload it. You pay rent, and you can access the container when the site is open. Your storage container is exclusively yours to use as you see fit for storing anything. Alternatively, delivery of a storage container to your home or business means you load it up, and then it is picked up and returned to the site for storage. This container can either be accessed when the site is open or if stacked for long term storage – by arrangement. On site, storage works if you don't need immediate 24-hour access to the contents and if the place is convenient for visits. Onsite storage containers are popular in construction sites and provide multiple solutions in residential spaces.
Construction Site
Construction sites use mobile storage containers for the convenience and flexibility of having secure, weatherproof storage where they need it for as long as the project lasts. Between projects, construction firm owners may take advantage of onsite storage facilities for storing tools.
Home or Business Premises
All About Storage Containers (Sizes, Grade, Manufacture)
Storage metal containers are elongated cubes – four sides, one roof, one base, so what else do you need to know?
A portable storage container is a long box with a door at one end, that's true. There are some standard features across all types of storage container:
· Corten steel construction – robust and corrosion-resistant.
· Plywood floor – shipping containers use marine ply.
· Standard 8-foot width
· Double doors on one short side.
· Weatherproof and lockable.
· Painted exterior to protect the steel.
· Durable, versatile structures.
· Portable
· Plywood floor – shipping containers use marine ply.
· Standard 8-foot width
· Double doors on one short side.
· Weatherproof and lockable.
· Painted exterior to protect the steel.
· Durable, versatile structures.
· Portable
STORAGE CONTAINER SIZES
Transporting cargo means standard sizes and processes; the portable storage container can travel by rail, road, or sea. All the equipment for transport can handle standard storage containers of an 8-foot width. Below you will find standard sizes, lengths, and heights.
Standard shipping container lengths are 10,20 and 40-foot. Popular sizes are 20 and 40-foot containers.
Standard height of a Conex box is 8-foot and 6-inches, which
Sometimes you need extra height. You can get a container box as a 'high-cube' – all that means is you get a foot more headroom. These shipping containers are 9-foot 6-inches high and typically 40-foot long for the extra-large loads. Container boxes can be custom built in different sizes for some applications. Standard shipping containers can be chopped and reassembled to create different sizes and shapes.
STORAGE CONTAINER AGE AND GRADE
The shipping container's cost depends on age and grade. A shipping container can spend between 15 and 18 years at sea before shipping companies feel it needs to retire. That redundant shipping container is still useful. Depending on its use and environment, you can expect another 10-20 years of excellent performance.
Some shipping containers go to the secondary storage market after one trip. These are virtually new. One trip was an economical way of selling shipping containers for the storage market. After all, if you are going to send a metal box overseas, you might as well use the space inside.
Shipping containers are self-assessed by the owners and given one of three grades – A, B, or C. The category refers to the general appearance rather than structural integrity or any other factor. There is no official checklist covering what makes a container A or C. A is top of the range, B is in the middle, and C is at best average.
Younger storage containers are more desirable because they have more years ahead of them. But that does depend on the type of life they have lived. A one-year-old Conex box that's lived hard and has severe dents with holes is less desirable than a ten-year container with pristine paintwork and sound walls and roof.
MANUFACTURE
Shipping container manufacturers adhere to a certified process to comply with legal codes. Corten steel's alternative name is weathering steel. This steel alloy is exceptionally resistant to corrosion. The surface oxidizes and resembles rust, but this is a protective film. The other excellent property of Corten steel is that at a ¼" thick, it has a high tensile or structural strength compared to other steels. These properties make it lightweight and lower maintenance and ideal for shipping containers.
Storage containers do not automatically use Corten steel. Provided they are maintained and painted, they are durable and weatherproof – but it is worth checking what steel is in the manufacture of your outdoor storage containers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Difference between a Storage Container, Shipping Container, Conex Box?
When you start looking for metal containers for storage or other applications, you find plenty of names that seem to be interchangeable. Do they all mean the same thing?
Yes and no. Yes, these names refer to metal boxes that store a heap of stuff. And no, all metal storage containers are not the same. There are plenty of names for all-purpose storage metal containers like freight containers, cargo containers, ISO containers, sea containers, and sea cans. But the main terms are Shipping Containers, Storage Containers, Conex box.
What is a Shipping Containers?
Californian Keith Walton Tantlinger came up with the idea of standardizing trucking and shipping with a standard metal box back in 1950. His vision and design changed the world and the way shipping cargo containers can move seamlessly from boat to rail to truck. A shipping container created from Corten steel in standard 20-foot and 40-foot lengths and 8-foot wide is licensed to carry cargo. Shipping container inspection and certification is all about seaworthiness. Put simply, shipping containers go or have gone to sea and have a unique number identifying their owner.
What is a Storage Container?
A shipping container can become a storage container as a second or even a first life, but a storage container is not seaworthy. The storage container may have the same standard. Still, without the certification from the point of manufacture, it is not legal to use a storage container as shipping containers for freight carried on a boat.
What is a Conex Box
A Conex box is a shipping container – 8-foot wide, 8-foot 6-inches tall and 10, 20, or 40-foot long. So why are they called Conex boxes instead of ship containers? The name came out of the Korean war when the Military had to ship a lot of stuff - fast, to troops overseas. They called the service – container express. Naturally, this title got shortened to ConEx, and now Conex boxes are a standard term for shipping containers.
What is a Certified ISO Shipping Container?
A certified ISO shipping container is tested and inspected and has a certificate stating you can use this container to transport contents by sea, road, or rail. ISO stands for the International Standards Organization. If you want to send your goods or possessions by sea, you need this certification.