Hi everybody ?
We continue to discover for you. Our container house on today’s tour is from South Florida, USA.
An Argentine sets a trend in Miami: build houses with containers and they are a success.
They resist hurricanes. It allows to reduce construction costs. How much they cost.
Shipping containers found a new life as homes in South Florida (United States).
Recycling these structures, which no longer serve their initial purpose, are gaining a following as part of a real estate move . These are houses with a small surface, dry construction and resistant to hurricanes and termites that hit in these latitudes.
Several companies offer houses made with “containers” at a reasonable price: US $ 1,000 per square meter , a value similar to that of a work here (not counting the value of the land in both cases).
One of them is MF Global, created in 2016 by the Argentinean Mariano Bogani: “It is not profitable to return the containers to their origin or send them to the nearest plant to be melted, thus generating environmental waste,” says the descendant of an Italian family. Based in our country and with a long tradition in the metallurgical industry .
Currently, Bogani is dedicated to recycling containers to use as housing structures. “Miami Dade County has the strictest Code in the United States. Approving the plans for the first house took 9 months of adjustments and tests. In 2017, it began to code the construction of houses with container structures based on information and experience taken from our project, “summarizes Bogani.
He recalls that shortly after the start of the work he received a visit from the firefighters who were passing by and got off the truck when they saw the work: “It caught their attention very positively because they commented on the fire – retardant characteristics of the containers, in addition to their low impact environmental”.
The first work consisted of two houses of 100 m2 covered each, made from six containers: 4 of 12 meters long and 2 of 13.70 meters. All of 2.90 meters high. Inside there are three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and dining room .
Construction is 94% dry, only the foundations of the houses were made with concrete: “In the future, and depending on the soil where it is built, it can be prefabricated and installed on site,” he clarifies.
Due to the type of soil and the risk of hurricanes in Miami, 28 bases were built to support the containers, welded to an iron plate that each column has. “The impact on the ground is minimal. This lot has 3 90-year-old oaks, the most protected tree in Florida,” says Bogani.
The containers were modified by removing walls and adding columns. Openings were trimmed and window frames added.
The walls have galvanized profiles covered with plasterboard. “No wood was used for the structures of any kind and that there is also a termite problem that affects all the houses. In fact, annual insurance is paid for this problem, which in this case is not necessary, “clarifies the developer.
The roof is prepared for the placement of solar panels and for recycling rainwater, directing it to a tank and then using it for irrigation. In turn, all the plumbing was located under the structures, hanging and with easy access for any repair.
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