' Shipping Containers as Underground Housing ' Construction and Renovation

Shipping Containers as Underground Housing

Uruguayans don't have basements, they're not big in to underground building, pre-fabricated buildings also aren't common here at all so I think this concept of pre-built underground housing may be very alien to the customs officer.

You ask is it easier to bring it to rural areas....all shipments arrive in Montevideo and go through customs there, its unavoidable. Why is it that you'd like to declare it as underground housing instead of household goods? If you apply for residency then importing your household goods is tax free anyway

In most rural areas you don't need any sort of planning permission to build a building and no building regulations apply except for installing a trip switch on your electricity supply. Broadly speaking you can build yourself whatever you like in whatever style and size you wish (materials and labour permitting.) If you wish to build yourself a container-bunker in which to live, as far as I know there are no laws to prevent you from doing so. The only practicalities which might intervene is the ever-present risk of flooding in our torrential storms and the possibility of condensation.

One of the greatest problems in buildings in the ROU is condensation. The rapid changes in air temperature and humidity along with the general lack of insulation are the causes. I would worry that a buried metal box with floor/walls/roof at soil temperature would suffer condensation during hot humid weather unless you were prepared to run dehumidifiers a lot of the time.

As for local rural reaction to weird building projects... yes, you'll probably be viewed as a loonie. Anyone who chooses to live outside settlements and isn't a serious farmer is viewed either as a recluse or as someone on the run. I've build myself a modest mock castle in the campo so, according to local gossip I'm a dissident spy on the run from the British intelligence services. :-)

I am recently retired, living in the No. Calif. Bay Area and expect to move after June. To date seem to be drawn to the greater Caledonia region.

Elaine: my thought was to utilize the container that duty free HG was shipped in, not declare as house, or just purchase one locally.

Patrick '009': Most world ports have a 'glut' of containers that can buy cheap- would think Uruguay in same boat as USA: imports more goods than are exported.

Generally underground or bermed housing is suppose to ameliorate heating & cooling costs as the ground is the insulation which should yield fairly constant and comfortable year round inside temps. Your concerns about condensation are relevant and merit further consideration as I am a neophyte in this subject area but such homes are being built around the world in various climates with reasonable cost insulation techniques. Locating the container near the top of a small rolling hill area should isolate me from flood problem??

Patrick, your Castle sounds great and I appreciate individuals who can walk to their own drum beat. By the way, I assume you didn't build a mote!!- I would expect any construction outside of city limits necessitates drilling a well and septic tank? Ground water level probably very high thru-out the interior? I've read that electricity grid has good coverage thru-out Uruguay? Such with you or are you on Solar? Would like to bring my trailer solar system system(2500 watt that can double to 5K) but doubt that customs considers that part of Hg. I've googled solar in Uruquay but appears there is no domestic mfg. of panels or extensive use of solar yet??

Are satellite systems for internet/tv available at reasonable cost or must one import components and build own dish?

Thanks, Brian PS: will sign up tomorrow on this blog as have many more mundane questions to clarify on various subjects.

As I discovered when I shipped a container of household goods here, the reverse seems to apply. Most Uruguayan exports are bulky (meat, wool, hides, grain, timber, pulp etc) so by volume, the ROU exports more than it imports thus shipping rates UK -> ROU were a lot less than ROU -> UK.

I've always wanted a Norman-esque tower so now I have one... and yes, I built it on top of a small hill. The sloping ground and worries about attracting mosquitos made me opt for an earth bank rather than a traditional moat :-)

The place came with a ruined house (of early and therefore solid construction) with a 15 meter hand-dug well. The water has a bluish tinge to it and smells of sulfur dioxide so I've had a deeper 30 meter bore hole sunk which provides clean water. The base is 19 meters below river level so supplies are reliable... though it took nearly 2.5 years for the well drillers to come :-)

I built a septic tank which still attracts local constructors who come to study such cutting-edge technology :-) Its usual to have a cess pit (pozo negro) instead.

I costed the possibility of installing solar electricity but the money involved in installing (and after 5 - 8 years replacing) a battery bank to store the electricity made the project unviable. OTOH solar water heaters are available and cost-effective. As I came from the UK where electricity is expensive, I don't find UTE's charges as horrifying as those coming from the USA. The grid covers most of the country so I reckon that the high price of electricity is partly caused by the maintenance cost of a huge grid with a very small rural population.

The local Direct TV satellite is available and seems popular amongst my neighbours but I rely on bit torrent downloads for televisual entertainment. After several years of downloading what I want to watch rather than what TV producers want me to watch, I find broadcast TV and its adverts too annoying to bear :-)

Don't expect anything to be cheap or happen in a logical fashion here! Even if you are trying to buy something that is old, useless or unwanted, once you show that you want it they will ask an extortionate price for it, and are unlikely to budge. I have found Uruguayans to be VERY stubborn in this sense, not business minded. They would prefer to get nothing than to lower their asking price!

"such homes are being built around the world in various climates with reasonable cost insulation techniques"

What is being done around the world should NOT be used as any sort of basis for building here - the materials and the know-how are simply not available. If you are planning to build here you should read the general outlines about construction in Uruguay from our free ebook (link below), it might help you get a basic idea of the challenges you are up against. I am all for pushing the envelope and trying to improve how they do things here, but if you come with idealistic ideas you will find yourself facing a VERY different reality.

I really appreciate the input, thanks Elaine. Patrick- appreciated your blog on the well, etc. Thanks for the insights here....until later, Brian

I know something who is pondering building a geodesic dome type house. There are apparently kits available (in the USA) that makes the construction a snap.

Well now there is the most random vague and probably untrue statement I've ever read! People looking to move to a country they know nothing about are wise to listen to the experiences of those that have gone before - not necessarily follow the same path, but learn from their mistakes at least.

BUT.. the overall concept is extremely simply and maybe someone that has experience with container homes someplace else could come here and after some time see it from a different perspective.

It is really any more difficult to plop a container down on a plot of land and hack in some windows and furnish it... than to build a house on the same land?

As said previously, a man who builds hinself a little castle would be out of order criticising another man who prefers the concept of a bunker. Designing/building a home for yourself is a very personal thing and while listening to others about possible drawbacks is wise, the final choice is down to individual preferences :-)

Over the years I've built two underground houses for clients in the UK so I know it can be done if the ground is suitable and has a reasonable slope. There can be ground pressure, ventillation and water problems building underground just as there are problems getting the roof of an exposed tower water-tight but with thought and hard work, most building problems can usually be solved.

Were I starting the building project again from scratch in the ROU, I'd give serious consideration to the idea of approaching one of the big galpon companies with a set of accurate plans to make me a steel frame kit which could be easily assembled on site. With such a kit, all that would remain is infilling between the steel members either with masonry or insulated cladding, installing internal partitions and bolting on a roof of insulated metal cladding. I doubt if it would be cheaper than the traditional cast concrete framing that is done locally but it would certainly be MUCH quicker.

But for some quick, simple and "cheap" housing...

Your mention of the water tanks on towers jogs my memory of house hunting in Uruguay.

That is another thing I saw that I didn't like; water tanks on towers (and usually right next to the house) instead of pressure tanks inside the house. I would think that at 27 inches to a pound of pressure, you can't do much more than fill a void with that system. And with the storms you get there, wouldn't the tower tend to attract lightning strikes if in an open and flat area? Around here, lightning strikes on wells and wind mills are common. I lost my pump to a lightning strike once.

Do they not use pressure tanks at all in Uruguay and if so, do you know why not?

Is a pressure tank system even available in Uruguay?

Thanks

Terry

I'm still using my old well which pumps water into a 1000 liter deposito situated outside at ground level. I also have a pressure pump (also outside) which takes water from the deposito and keeps a small tank pressurized to supply water to the house.

The drawbacks of this system are twofold. First, it means no water is available during power cuts and second, crud from the well water tends to block the pressure return valve which results in the pressure pump running continuously. In 3 years the pump has eaten 2 sets of bearings and its generally an expensive pain to use.

As a result, the new deep well is being connected to another 1000 liter deposito situated on top of the Norman-esque tower with big 2" pipes which will give the domestic water system a generous 8 meters of natural pressure and provide me with water even when UTE cuts the electricity supply (until the deposito empties entirely.)

Of course these considerations don't apply in places where you have a pre-pressurized OSE mains supply.

Because of the price of timber, most ROU houses have either flat or gently sloping roofs of cast concrete or sheeting fixed to woven metal purlins and where you do find ceilings, these are either fixed to the underside of the roof and are of light-weight design (aluminum/compressed fiber glass) so most ROU houses don't have suitable roof voids for weighty tanks.

I've yet to experience a lightning strike (touch wood) as it seems to prefer the slightly higher granite areas a few kms to the north of where I live. I'm still thinking about whether to install a lightning conductor... most locals advise against it as its said to attract lightning but I'm careful to keep all my back-up external HDDs in a well earthed Faraday cage just in case :-)

They do sell containers in Uruguay, but they may not fit your price constraints. The Uruguayans are exceedingly adept at brick and stone which is ubiquitous here. The cheapest standard construction here may fit your Bunker plan quite well. Concrete block construction is extremely common, though used mostly for Galpones(Garages &Barns)because it is a poor insulator. Many houses here are made with a submerged garage that is covered with a liquid membrane for moisture control. They typically will have a cement roof also covered with the liquid membrane. And then, the whole thing gets filled back and they plant a nice lawn above it. Great Insulation when below the ground and dirt cheap, so to speak. Tell your neighbors its the garage and build a simple also concrete block building above ground that you can call your "house". When you begin to be ignored by the neighbors, move into your well insulated 'garage'. (o:

But, , , , if you want to do something out in left field? A house that will likely draw some attention, though maybe less than a Castle, try Earth Bag Construction. They are built using the earth available right on your property, sacks (or sandbag type tubes, which can be bought here BTW), and standard off the shelf barbed wire to hold the layers in place. Some folks add a bit of beam support here and there. Beams are available pretty inexpensively all over Uruguay. Roofing can be the standard panels Patrick talked about previously, which are available with urethane insulation already stuck to the underside.

Came here from California's Central Coast myself. Welcome to Uruguay! Looks us all up when you get here.>)

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