More of the Redondo Beach House

[lavardera]

More coverage of the Redondo Beach House in the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/home/la-hm-container13jul13,1,75109.story

Much more information here, some photos and interviews with the owners, more description of the house. It looks very cool. I think the LA Times site may require registration. A snip of text from the intro:

Still playing with the box
Anna and Sven Pirkl wanted a house built around their eclectic, athletic lives. What they are getting may be a blueprint for future unconventional homes that just might rock suburbia.
By Dexter Ford, Special to The Times
7:56 PM PDT, July 12, 2006

AT first glance, it looks like a mix-up on the docks of San Pedro. Eight shipping containers ? those orange-, green- and rust-colored boxes that truckers haul on L.A. freeways ? sit stacked two high at different angles on a lot in Redondo Beach. The steel containers, now painted white, have windows, door openings and some entire sides cut out. But there's no disguising their cargo-carrying heritage.

They make up different wings of a contemporary-style house that will have a 20-foot-high living room and two walls of airplane-hangar doors that will open completely to the outdoors.

As mentioned elsewhere, DeMaria Designs is the architect, and TAW fabricated the container mods. Man - in the photos you look at the other houses in the neighborhood and I really have to take my hat off to these guys on this project. I know it must have taken some perseverance to do this in an existing community and permitting it in LA to boot.

[JIM MILLER]

I have several pictures, taken a couple of weeks ago of the Redondo house.  Anyone who wants to see them send me an email.

The house is sited in a neighborhood of typical Southern California suburban homes.  Other homes in the area are nothing special...this place is!

If I had any criticism (a minor one) it would be that the containers are not used to their greatest advantage to contain space by their placement.  The major living spaces are stick-built.  Perhaps the most interesting feature to us container freaks is the spray-on, NASA derived, ceramic insulation.

I'd be interested  in  knowing  why they bought the containers and had  them modified in Florida, considering that there are thousands of unused containers just down the road in the storage yards in Willmington and Long Beach?  

Despite my minor reservations, this is one very cool project!

Jim Miller
Thousand Oaks, CA
jimandal.miller@verizon.net

[lavardera]

I'd be interested  in  knowing  why they bought the containers and had  them modified in Florida, considering that there are thousands of unused containers just down the road in the storage yards in Willmington and Long Beach?

The mods were done in Florida because that is where the know-how and facilities to handle them are located. To do them locally you would have to find a metal worker willing to do the mods - no doubt it would be a new experience and I wonder if it could be priced competitively. You would also have to get the mods engineered in order to satisfy authorities for permitting. That back-up is part of TAW's package. Anyway, if you got the containers there and modded them on site it wouldn't even be pre-fab.

One of the basics of prefabrication is that efficiency will come from the crew doing the work in a controlled environment rather than the field. TAW is one of the few outfits experienced with this kind of container modification. I doubt that working on site you could do the work more efficiently than their crew, even with transport added on. They have an element of economy of scale - a portion of their work force that does nothing but a constant stream of container mod work.

Also the transport is relatively inexpensive. Remember, this is not like a modular house. No wide loads, no special permits and fees from the Department of Transportation, no leading and following cars with flashers. You can just load the IBUs on the truck and go.

[dirtykj]

Florida ... that's wonderful news.  We plan to build in North Carolina (Hi Gregory).  The more we look into this the more we like the idea of container-bay housing.

Is there any update on the Redondo beach house that has yet to be posted?

Also, where is this house located, exactly?  Can this information be shared in the public forum (if at all, in a private message)?

Cheers.

EDIT: This is pretty cool.  We can just buy a container in California, pack it up with our belongings, ship it to North Carolina and park it on the property until it's ready to be transformed into an IBU and used.

[JIM MILLER]

The Redondo Beach house is on Vail, about 2 blocks south of Manhattan Beach Blvd.  It is certainly worth seeing.

Regarding the price of hauling containers to the west coast from Florida.  I checked with an over the road trucker, and he told me that the cost of shipping a container would be about $1.50 per mile.  Since I intend to build about 3,000 miles from Florida, (in southern Washington) and I expect to use 5-7 contianers,  I can expect a transportation cost of at least $22,500  if I take your advice and use our friends in Florida.  That mileage translates to about 3000 gallons of gasoline.  I am an environmentalist.  I believe in recycling, reducing consumption, and making as small an imprint on the earth as possible.

I think I'll find someone in Portland to weld in a few frames.

[lavardera]

My comments on transport cost were in comparison to delivering a modular home which would cost much more for any given distance. But its all relative and you have good reason for not tolerating this transport cost.

I'll let David Cross speak to his experience of the cost of shipping containers. If he is able to expand production I am sure he would be eager to have a fabrication site on the west coast.

[JIM MILLER]

David's firm would be a welcome addition.

[lavardera]

Jim, David's firm is the outfit in Florida.

[JIM MILLER]

I know, we have corresponded in the past.

[dcross]

Jim,
Your assessment of transport costs for just installing a few frames is absolutely right on.   The less complex the system, clearly the closer to home one should look.

Our primary products are containers that have been altered to become gov't command and control centers, berths, galleys, power generation, and so on.  Because these are required to be built to international standards (CSC  Convention of Safe Containers) we have invested heavily in framing jigs, testing jigs, and the 3rd party tests and certifications themselves.  

When it comes to enhancing containers into our ISBUs, there is typically a building package that comes with it, PE stamps and so on.  The kind of ISBUs that we are being called upon to build are usually entire wall removals on one or both sides, beam replacements for the top rails, bottom rail stiffener upgrades through either box rail or doubler plates, rafter packages, and an exterior skin.  Again with data that backs up their use.  If you scroll through this link (hope I did it right), you will see an example of that.  














 

There are numerous organization that could do this and many that are converting boxes for their respective business pursuits.  And again, if it just a door and window cutout it certainly makes sense to look closer to home.  As the work to the unit gets more complex, as more certifications/testing may offer solutions unfilled locally, one might consider expanding their geographic area of suppliers.  

On that front, I hope to announce next summer a location on the West Coast.  But first we have to fulfill the goals of the Florida Organization.

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[slenzen]

Dcross, that is fascinating.  Great work!  

So with all the changes/engineering you did for that house in the pictures it how does the construction cost compare to other types of building systems? (stick, metal framing etc)  just some ballpark numbers.

[paulk]

Any information for the Florida company that does the mods? I live in SE Florida and will likely build in central Florida so the distance is not a big issue.

Where are they, does anyone have an email or web address for them?

Paul

[akb]

the company is TAW (Tampa Armature Works) located in Tampa, FL.
dcross (David) - the man who posted the pictures above works for them.  I'm sure if you got in touch with him he could help you.

Go Tampa!

[nader]

Daivd,

Great pics.  Any chance you could post some completed photos of the interior of that house?  Also is this house located in North Carolina?

Nader

[dcross]

My contact info is dcross@tawinc.com.

Interior photos, I will look to see what I can find.  The interior is nothing exciting compared to what the rest of the folks in here are doing, just white on white walls, contractor grade carpet, and $1 12 x 12 stone tile, etc...