Just got a crazy idea.

How long does a Conex container last if buried?

If I was going to put in a root cellar off the basement, dug out a big enough hole, put down some drainage, and dropped a Conex box in there, buried the whole thing...?

It'd take advantage of the cool ground via direct contact, and be big enough to store LOTS of cool storage crops.  Knock a doorway through the basement wall, and have a BIG walk-in root cellar.  Suck in outside air through a couple of underground pipes for pre-cooling, and have a nice fresh air exchange system to boot!

Paint one of the pipes black, and put in a sunny location, it'd pull air naturally through the system, without a fan.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 14, 2016, 12:02:26 PM
Just got a crazy idea.

How long does a Conex container last if buried?

If I was going to put in a root cellar off the basement, dug out a big enough hole, put down some drainage, and dropped a Conex box in there, buried the whole thing...?

It'd take advantage of the cool ground via direct contact, and be big enough to store LOTS of cool storage crops.  Knock a doorway through the basement wall, and have a BIG walk-in root cellar.  Suck in outside air through a couple of underground pipes for pre-cooling, and have a nice fresh air exchange system to boot!

Paint one of the pipes black, and put in a sunny location, it'd pull air naturally through the system, without a fan.

Dig a cut away in the earth and angle it to drain or install a French drain.
Then, what they do in my area is paint them in a heavy tar mastic roofing seal, drop them in a hole, throw cheap plywood or old roofing material, even wrapped in 60lb roofing felt (just to temporarily protect the mastic coating when burying with rock).
then back fill with large drain rock.
Should last a couple hundred years., oh, and drain rock for it to sit on.

Neighbor has one, but he screwed up and didn't angle his cut away and allow for seepage from rain.
One thing neat, is it's always cold in that thing.

Quote from: Solar on May 14, 2016, 12:49:32 PM
Dig a cut away in the earth and angle it to drain or install a French drain.
Then, what they do in my area is paint them in a heavy tar mastic roofing seal, drop them in a hole, throw cheap plywood or old roofing material, even wrapped in 60lb roofing felt (just to temporarily protect the mastic coating when burying with rock).
then back fill with large drain rock.
Should last a couple hundred years., oh, and drain rock for it to sit on.

Neighbor has one, but he screwed up and didn't angle his cut away and allow for seepage from rain.
One thing neat, is it's always cold in that thing.

Cold is what I'm looking for, I envision it as a walk-in cooler.

Since you mentioned "heavy tar mastic roofing seal" - the pipes carrying Natural Gas, buried in the 1950's were coated with that stuff.  When the coating is removed (sand blasted off), they still look perfect.  The gas company recoats them with a heavy epoxy and back they go for another 60 years...?  A 1000mi of 30" gas line at 700-800psi over 60 years with minimal maintenance is quite a feat.  (They do x-ray scan them internally for defects, rust, dents, wear, corrosion, etc.  they are quite SAFE!)

We got some basement seepage round the house's foundation.  Good time to install that root cellar wifey has always wanted. 

WOW!!!

Never thought there was such a nitche market for this stuff.
http://www.cgicontainersales.com/products-and-services/shipping-and-storage-container-modifications/custom-modifications/

10' - 20' - 40' - all different lengths.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 15, 2016, 06:56:27 AM
WOW!!!

Never thought there was such a nitche market for this stuff.
http://www.cgicontainersales.com/products-and-services/shipping-and-storage-container-modifications/custom-modifications/

10' - 20' - 40' - all different lengths.

Here's what I was talking about earlier.


http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/a_look_inside_brooklands_shipping_container_apartments/9023

http://www.digitaltrends.com/home/fifteen-amazing-shipping-container-homes/

Mentioned the buried Conex box for a root cellar to a ...sort of... prepper guy.  He replied the walls have been known to buckle inward from the soil compaction around them.  BIG problem!

The idea of cool soil in contact with the ground to keep the root cellar cool was very appealing, until I heard that.   So, what if I braced the walls with vertical tube iron, or I-beams on 16" or 24" centers, floor to ceiling, and used the braces to hold trays along the walls...?

Cinder Block walls with bracing every 4' to hold shelving is looking better and better.  Plus, I could make it wider than 8', and the internal drain system (drain tile under red brick floor) would probably work better than a wooden floor, which is liable to rot from the dampness.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 16, 2016, 04:36:08 PM
Mentioned the buried Conex box for a root cellar to a ...sort of... prepper guy.  He replied the walls have been known to buckle inward from the soil compaction around them.  BIG problem!

The idea of cool soil in contact with the ground to keep the root cellar cool was very appealing, until I heard that.   So, what if I braced the walls with vertical tube iron, or I-beams on 16" or 24" centers, floor to ceiling, and used the braces to hold trays along the walls...?

Cinder Block walls with bracing every 4' to hold shelving is looking better and better.  Plus, I could make it wider than 8', and the internal drain system (drain tile under red brick floor) would probably work better than a wooden floor, which is liable to rot from the dampness.

Or better yet, pylons extending above ground as a second floor with a hidden floor entrance?

where I live, the earth is well known as Sierra Cement, meaning once disturbed and left to sit for a season becomes permanent.
We are essentially on old river bottom that was pushed thousands of feet up, millions of years ago, to form the Sierra Nevada mt range, so the ground is predominantly clay and sedimentary shale/clay pushed up vertically from it's original position.

Believe me, if I dig a hole and set a box, it'll be there intact, till it rusts.

Quote from: Solar on May 16, 2016, 05:17:36 PM
Or better yet, pylons extending above ground as a second floor with a hidden floor entrance?

where I live, the earth is well known as Sierra Cement, meaning once disturbed and left to sit for a season becomes permanent.
We are essentially on old river bottom that was pushed thousands of feet up, millions of years ago, to form the Sierra Nevada mt range, so the ground is predominantly clay and sedimentary shale/clay pushed up vertically from it's original position.

Believe me, if I dig a hole and set a box, it'll be there intact, till it rusts.

We got "Carolina Red" over here.  Clay that expands with water, and cracks when it dries out.
If your dirt is "Red" you've either grown Tobacco, poached too many deer, or you got "Carolina Red Dirt".
Stuff is like cement to earthworms.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 16, 2016, 06:24:02 PM
We got "Carolina Red" over here.  Clay that expands with water, and cracks when it dries out.
If your dirt is "Red" you've either grown Tobacco, poached too many deer, or you got "Carolina Red Dirt".
Stuff is like cement to earthworms.

Yeah, we have red clay, but it's not the same red as yours, a little more brownish red here and ours is packed full of iron, so much so, a compass will get you lost, I kid you not.
But once it rains and you disturb the ground? Snails slip and slide on this snot.

Had a bulldozer slide 700' down the mountain sideways with me eatin debris all the way into the creek, took 3 weeks before we could get it out because the rain refused to let up.

If that happened today here in Ca, the left would treat me worse than a child molester for raping the creek, which actually gets them special bathroom privileges while normal people wait in line.

Quote from: Hoofer on May 16, 2016, 06:24:02 PM
We got "Carolina Red" over here.  Clay that expands with water, and cracks when it dries out.
If your dirt is "Red" you've either grown Tobacco, poached too many deer, or you got "Carolina Red Dirt".
Stuff is like cement to earthworms.

About the best I can dig down is 3 to 5 feet in areas.  Then I hit solid rock.  So you build ever thing to withstand up to 90 mph winds in my area.

Quote from: Solar on May 16, 2016, 07:03:47 PM
Yeah, we have red clay, but it's not the same red as yours, a little more brownish red here and ours is packed full of iron, so much so, a compass will get you lost, I kid you not.
But once it rains and you disturb the ground? Snails slip and slide on this snot.

Had a bulldozer slide 700' down the mountain sideways with me eatin debris all the way into the creek, took 3 weeks before we could get it out because the rain refused to let up.

If that happened today here in Ca, the left would treat me worse than a child molester for raping the creek, which actually gets them special bathroom privileges while normal people wait in line.

I guess they call our Carolina Red, with black flecks, "Magnetite" or "iron", and there's LOTS of it  below the surface.  For the HAM radio guys, it makes a great ground plane for vertical antennas.

The frame of those conex boxes must be where the strength is, not so much in the side walls.

Rechecking the basement of my house, built into the side of a hill (gentle slope), I'd wind up with the box exposed for about 2' above grade.... not good if I want a level, walk in "cooler".

Quote from: Hoofer on May 17, 2016, 05:11:15 AM
The frame of those conex boxes must be where the strength is, not so much in the side walls.

Rechecking the basement of my house, built into the side of a hill (gentle slope), I'd wind up with the box exposed for about 2' above grade.... not good if I want a level, walk in "cooler".

Actually the boxes are extremely strong all the way around and some simple cross bracing/shelving/room/wall dividers would more than suffice.