Shipping containers have become quite popular in recent years. They are less expensive and easy to construct, but a little bit of container preparation is required before you can use them as your living space. One of the most important steps of container preparation is its support. Therefore, we have provided a complete guide on how to support a shipping container home.

Why do I need to support my shipping container?

The foundation of your shipping container plays a vital role in its durability. If you place the container on the ground without any foundation, it will split because of uneven ground with irregular movements. The shifting of the container from the ground can be so slow that you won’t even notice when your container changed its place. Setting your container upon a solid foundation allows it to sit happily above without causing a lot of future problems. 

Best Shipping container foundations

After you decide to provide your container with a solid foundation, you will need to choose the right one out of the four most commonly used in the market. Following are the best shipping container home foundations that you can use.

Slab

Slab foundations are one of the most durable ones, but it requires a lot of digging. The slab is placed below the container, which serves as flat support for your container to sit. We highly recommend using them if you have a really weak soil type. It also fills the space below the house seen in other foundations.

Pier

Pier foundation is one of the most commonly used for container support. They are in the form of concrete blocks placed at every corner of the base of the container. The steel rod extends from the top of the blocks, reinforcing its way into the container to build a strong attachment. Every pier or block is 50 cm * 50 cm * 50 cm. Installing them consumes far less time and money than other container foundations.

Pile

Pile foundation requires time and money. These foundations are recommended when your ground soil is too weak to hold a whole container above it. Piles are cylindrical solid steel tubes that can be placed below the ground to strengthen the base. They are placed on solid ground after removing the weak soil above. The piles are then covered with a concrete base that looks similar to piers.

Strip

The strip foundation is a combination of pier and slabs. They are mostly placed around the perimeter of the container. These slabs are 2 feet wide and 4 feet deep. It is a less expensive solution to your weak ground soil problem compared to slabs. 

Attaching shipping containers to foundations

You can use a steel plate to attach to the container’s foundation pad. It involves pressing the steel plate with welded anchors below into wet concrete. The flat concrete plate is then joined with the four corners of the container once the concrete has cured. The container sits on the steel plate, and everything is then welded together for a strong container base.