Swimming Up Stream With the KRAGTS: Building a House and Related Things

So we're moving across the country and building a container house!

This idea of living in shipping containers is something I've thought about on and off for a number of years now. When I worked for a construction company in Michigan, we were working on an experimental project using containers to build tanks for farming shrimp. The project never really took off but it got me thinking and since then I have read and planned quite a bit.

We are still in the very early stages so stay tuned as many of the posts coming over the next half a year or so will be on this topic.

Here are the first few steps we've taken:

If I learned anything while in the construction industry is that you always start a project by... planting an orchard...?

Well, maybe that's not really related to the building of our house but it was one of the first things we did. We wanted to get the trees started as most will take 2 to 3 years before they begin to produce. We planted two kinds of oranges, lemons, tangerines, mulberries, avocado and jackfruit as well as pomegranate and macadamia nut trees.

So really the first step was lots and lots of planning. We have spent many hours researching, drawing, re-drawing and thinking through many things. We are using two shipping containers but we're also combining some more traditional construction methods. We think we've settled on a pretty good design but we know this will be a huge learning experience and we will have to adjust and change things on the fly regardless of the amount of planning.

Next was the site work and the foundation. We've laid out the corners of the 2 containers and dug and set foundation piers. We used 8 18" concert culverts fitted with rebar reinforcement and filled with concrete. We are now at the point of waiting for the containers to be delivered. This should happen in about 2 weeks and I'm sure it will be an event worthy of its own post.

In the meantime we are busy packing up the house and finishing things up in Jinja. While we work on the house we will be living in the "EDI" (Educator Development Institute) which is a conference center type building on the property that is used for training teachers and hosting conferences. We are a bit cramped and sharing space can be tough but we are so blessed to have a place to stay!