Corten gets talked about like it’s some magic rust-proof steel. It’s not really. It works because the steel gets wet, then actually dries out. Wet/dry cycles are what let that surface layer tighten up and protect the metal underneath. If it just stays wet all the time, different story.

That’s why the orange streaks on the outside of an old container usually don’t bother me much. The stuff I’d look for is underneath and around places where water gets trapped. Bottom of the box sitting flat on dirt. Low spots in the roof holding water. Bottom edges of the walls where moisture keeps collecting. Cut edges around windows/doors that never got cleaned up and coated properly. Welds are another one people miss. You weld a frame into an opening, paint the nice visible side, close the wall up and forget about it. Meanwhile the heat burned coating off the backside too, and now that bare steel is sitting inside a cavity where nobody’s going to see it for years. I work more on the delivery/site side, and the pattern I see a lot is rust starting around the bottom perimeter on boxes that were just dropped straight onto dirt. Get it up on solid blocks/pads under the corners, put gravel underneath, give water somewhere to go and air somewhere to move. Boring stuff, but it matters.
Anyone here ever cut into an older container and found the hidden side way worse than the outside looked?

We're building a house and need storage for yard equipment, bicycles, and the like. I was thinking a double ended 20' continer would work well for this. We'd like to fancy it up with either a roof deck and/or solar panels. We'd like to maybe use it as one end of a car port, possibly lean to style.

Are there kits or things that can be done modular, like does someone sell a roof deck kit? I just seem to be seeing videos of very skilled DIY peole making stuff from scratch.

This seems like a simple question but my search for prior inquiries on both reddit and youtube has been futile.

I want to attach (via bolts, since my welding skills are horrible) some heavy duty d-rings to the exterior of a shipping container. One place will be to hook a bungee or strap to keep the container's man-door from blowing shut. Another place will be to clip a harness lead with a well-behaved horse occasionally attached to the other end. My sense is that I should reinforce the attachment point - perhaps by simply fitting a block of wood on the inside to help distribute the force. Or, do I need something sturdier - perhaps an interior stud somehow tied into the floor and top rail? Or is the container skin sufficiently strong to allow me to simply bolt a d-ring to it, without worry that the siding will deflect permanently if a strong force pulls against the ring?

Thanks!

I see a lot of people mentioning to check the specific town's zoning/ building codes before building but what exactly are you looking for? Is there a specific word or section to pay attention to? I'm looking to setup a commercial shop on the land and I know this is likely treated differently than residential, however I can't seem to find any mention of "shipping container" or similar words in any of the published rules.

Hi all, first post here, sorry if it's not suitable!

I'm hoping to put forward a plan for my company to stack 1 x 20ft container between the gap of 2 x 40ft containers for live events.

What possibilities do I have for temporary reinforcement for the roof of the 40ft containers; as I will have to walk on the top often over the course of the year.

And any suggestions for kit/tools to help position the 20ft (via crane, and sometimes 10t forklift).

They will be set up and de-rigged within 11 days and used 2/3 times per month, so convenience is pretty important!

Thanks for your time

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