To Do List, Shipping Container Home Planning Edition, v2025.12
Hey there. When I am not busybusy (which I am much of the week), I plan for reentry, both short term and long term. One of the things I do is contemplate housing options for myself.
I've made an assumption that I may not be able to emigrate to a country that is notably less dangerous to those with disabilities, less dangerous to those of us with an abundance of melanin, tolerant (or even celebrant) of those of us who love differently, and has a shared language, or people and places that will help me to learn the local language. This can change at the drop of a hat: I could learn that I can enter and live elseworld, and I would beg to do so the moment it becomes possible. After all, my birth country is doing as much as it can to tell me I am not welcome in much of it.
Assuming I am forced to stay within the borders, I started planning a home situation.
It looks a bit like this:
Find safe places where I can be reasonably near people I care about, and can have access to reliable high speed Internet connectivity.
I don't want to be out on a homestead in Wyoming or Montana in the middle of winter by myself, no offense intended to your states (your states are genuinely beautiful, what pictures I have seen): I personally do not have the wherewithal to live in a rural environment and would feel like I'd become a burden on someone there as a city-minded folk. A hardier sort would benefit in that place, perhaps.
Learn about any building ordinances in areas I am considering with regard to a shipping container based build.
If you place four 20' containers into a square, that is, 28' per side, you end up with an approximately 12'×12' area in the middle that is not inside a container. Whether one turns this into part of the living space, or plops a hot tub in there and calls it a day comes down to the ordinances or rules that govern wherever I end up.
... although I really would like to plop a hot tub in that space. :)
I've been doodling up a series of potential layouts, looking to maximize living space while minimizing the number of containers and extra materials needed to build.
One build layout uses three 20' containers, two 40' units, and uses a structure made of concrete blocks (the ones shaped like an 8) to form a garage while supporting and balancing the longer containers which will be atop and acting as a roof. This provides an astounding 1,120 sq. ft of heated space, never mind the garage/workshop (though if I can heat it for free in the winter, I will). I could even have an upstairs patio with this layout.
There are a lot of permutations to sample (and a number are considering a small manufactured home as the core), so I will spend a bit of time juggling them around and figure out how things will go from there.
Figure out heating options that are efficient and earth-friendly for any build.
I want an excellent combination of efficiency and earth-friendliness, because look, I'm old enough to understand that there are people who will follow me and inherit the keys to this broken kingdom we call Earth. I consider it my duty to think forward five, ten, twenty years, understand what my choices right now in this moment will ripple out to in order to alleviate suffering as best I can.
Since I can not count on this country's leadership to do their part in lowering the chances of there being brand new beach front property down in Miami, FL in 25 years, I feel it best to lead by example and look into responsible options.
Maybe burying pipes 30-50 feet down, using the earth itself as my home's thermal sink is the best choice? Who knows?
I just know I cannot use wastewater for heating, because I don't make enough of it by myself to stay warm. :)
Find out if there are sources of recycled large solar panels, and whether they are worth the price compared to new.
Things I need to know include how much would it cost me to panel the whole area, and how much electricity should this net me per day, average. Can I get panels over 100 watts each? 250 watts would be great.
I would also need to sort out power storage devices -- likely retired Toyota Prius or Nissan Leaf batteries (good enough for the home, just not good enough to accelerate a 1+ ton car up to 30 km/h, you see), power inversion for the myriad of appliances on AC power...
Can I stay fully off grid, or will I be in need of a grid tie?
I'd likely need to tie on, which won't be as bad as it sounds, as I can sell what I don't use once my batteries are full.
Doing some research on grid tie systems would be vital, so I can understand what I'm getting into.
Now you know a little about what I do with what little spare time I'm allocated here in prison. The rest of it is spent in vocation, callouts, my religious services, and being the external brain module for several people. :)