Christchurch Earthquake Update: A Week Later

On February 22nd, Christchurch NZ was decimated by yet another earthquake. Months before, a 7.0 rocked Christchurch, causing severe damage and many casualties.

The Feb 22nd 6.3 quake destroyed everything in it’s path, laying already weakened building to waste like playing card houses knocked over by a bored child.

If you read the blog, you already know that I’m helping with Aid Organizations, trying to get materials and supplies into NZ as fast as possible. I have, WE (here at RR) have friends in Christchurch.

One of them still hasn’t been found yet.

Our prayers for him (his family and ALL the people affected by this disaster) are lubricated by our tears.

Imagine Mother Nature grabbing your city firmly by its spine and then shaking it into rubble…

I’ve spent the last week, working with others to help establish supply lines and create avenues for aid and rescue volunteers.

And while I’m doing that, I’m getting emails telling me that I should “mind my own business and stick to writing posts about ISBU construction”.

I’m being told that I should just let them “take care of their own messes”.

Seriously, I have a stack of emails filled with angst because I’m talking about aid to a shattered city and not about how to build a foundation pier for a Corten Box.

As of a few hours ago (as I type this):

• There are 140 confirmed deaths.
• There are hundreds of injuries.
• Over 50 people are still confirmed as missing.

Christchurch looks like a war zone. The earthquake turned it into a eerie “sci-fi-esque” collection of debris filled streets and shattered hillsides.

$20 billion dollars in damages.

Here’s just a “brief” glimpse of the devastation;

The New Zealand Government has launched an appeal to help the people of Christchurch and the Canterbury region during this time of great need. You can help make a difference by donating to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.

The donations will be used to help the communities, families and people of Christchurch and the Canterbury region.

You can make an immediate donation to the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal from your credit card by providing your details, the amount you wish to donate, and clicking Donate Now.

When you click Donate Now you will be taken through to a secure payment page. After payment, you will be issued a donation receipt containing your details. If you enter your email address, a tax receipt will be automatically sent to you.

Christchurch Earthquake Aid

It’s bad. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.

And, I’ll help any way that I possibly can.

I urge you to do likewise. These could be OUR families…

And if some of you don’t like it (you @^#$@!! know who you are)… you know what part of my anatomy you can kiss…

In fact, if you don’t like it… get the hell off my blog.

All images are credited to the listed photographer.

It’s an EPIC Build…

You see them virtually cutting the country in half, pulled in trains stretching from horizon to horizon.

You see them in traffic… riding tractor trailers like remoras, large metal prehistoric bugs prowling thru traffic.

You see them stacked… on the outskirts of town, looking like grafittied metal carcasses piled in mountains blocking out the sun.

And…

You’re starting to see them as something more.

Brad Woodard of Channel 11 KHOU News recently talked to Vic Cherubini in Woodlands, TX about his building project.

So what? People (fortunate enough to be able to in this economy) are building all over, right?

Well, that may be, but very few are using ISBU (Intermodal Steel Building Units), or Shipping Containers to build “Enterprise Boxes”…

We’ve grown accustomed to hearing about ISBUs being used to house storage, but now, more than ever, people are starting to understand that these same steel boxes are the perfect beginning for “other ends”.

People call it the “Green Movement”.

Around here, we just call it “common sense”. It just happens to be “Green”. We’re liking that it’s good for the environment to use these boxes in a new way, once they get “cast off” but the way we see it here at RR, it’s really just a side-benefit of “taking something steel and then using it to build something strong.”

Brad (of KHOU) says:

“Builders are reusing shipping containers – like the ones you see trucks hauling every day – in their projects.

Builder Vic Cherubini is using 11 used shipping containers as the cornerstone for a 5,000-square-foot video-production studio near The Woodlands.”

The multimedia studio Brad is talking about is called the “Epic Creative Co-op” and the Woodlands is just outside Houston Proper.

Vic says: (taken from their website)

“Our mission is straightforward: epic creates awesome web sites, 3D animations, multimedia presentations, video productions and commercial photography all at affordable prices. We get the job done on time, on budget and try our best to delight every one of our clients with work we can all be proud of.”

The Co-Op is to become a multi-business enterprise, leased by several developing partners.

Even the staff of the incoming tenants is excited about it;

“The green factor of it is quite intriguing. We’re excited. When we talk to our clients about what we’re getting into, it turns their head,” Michael Huffine of Silver Rock Productions said.

If you read the blog regularly, you know that we preach the “Three R’s“;

• Re-Use,
• Recycle, and
• Repurpose.

Vic Cherubini (being a “right to the point” kinda guy and not one to mince words) simply calls it “up-cycling“.

Take a bunch of these…

… and then turn them into this:

Admit it. You want one.

“If you take it and use it for something better than what it was intended for, it’s up-cycling,” Vic says.

The KHOU News Story goes on to say:

“Green factor aside, the structure itself is virtually hurricane-proof.“

Note it says “Virtually” hurricane-proof.

This tells you two things.

First, the news reporter did his homework.

Second… Remember that NOTHING is “hurricane-proof”. People claiming to build “Hurricane-proof”, “waterproof”, or “fireproof” structures usually regret it, sooner or later.

The cool thing about ISBUs is that they lend their might to creating “highly resistant” environments, to (say it with me) hurricanes, floods, and fires from “Day One”.

That means that Mother Nature is going to have a harder time doing “The Three Little Pigs – Big Bad Wolf” act on your ISBU building.

I say that building using ISBUs means that you get a structure far stronger and superior to the “slap-ups” that we’re used to seeing springing up on very street corner and vacant lot.

Vic goes on to say:

“If I was going over Niagara Falls in a home of some sort, I think I’d choose a shipping container over a traditionally built house… I did not want a building like everybody else’s. I wanted something different and unique,” he told Brad.

Now, I think Vic is crazy for thinking about going over Niagara Falls in an ISBU, but hey… it’d make great Pay-Per-View, huh?

Learn more about this project (the studio, not the suicide ) and see a cool news video, click here:
The Epic Creative Co-op

Credits:

Original Story goes to Brad Woodard at KHOU.com

Image Credits go to Vic Cherubini over at Epic Software

Please Join Me in Saying Prayers for Christchurch, NZ

[Editor's Note: The EPIC Build update scheduled for today has been postponed due to the Earthquake in Christchurch, NZ. Please look for it to run on Thursday the 24th, 8am CST]

As many of you (who read the blog regularly) know, RR has a HUGE following in New Zealand.

We talk about New Zealand with a LOT of fondness around here as they are on the cutting edge of innovative ISBU use in constructing buildings and homes. We’ve made many friends there in the last few years.

Christchurch has been hit by a 6.3 Earthquake and is operating under a State of Emergency as I type this.

There are injuries and deaths. Over a hundred are injured so far and 65 people have lost their lives so far and the number of injuries and fatalities is expected to climb substantially over the next few days.

The downtown area looks like it’s been pulverized.

This just months after a 7.1 Earthquake hit them. Oy. It’s devastating.

I spent most of the day and night on Monday trying to establish communications with friends and comrades there…

I managed to get in touch with some friends there, people who are actually living in Christchurch and just beyond. Thankfully they are okay, just a little worse for wear, but their homes were destroyed in the ensuing shake. Many of their neighbors have also lost “home and hearth”.

There is no power and it’s not clear when it will be restored as many electrical substations were destroyed by the earthquake and aftershocks.

People are scrounging wood and whatever else they can find so that they can boil water.

Our prayers are with the people of Christchurch and the rescue workers who work to dig out and save as many people as they possibly can.

Please… include them in your prayers, huh?

I’m currently assisting in determining how aid can be provided. Stay tuned for details.

*******************

On another note:

Several readers have sent me this;

If you’re traveling thru Austin TX and you’re looking for that special gift, you can buy this…

And on another  note:

Recycled Container House – $6000 (Austin)

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Date: 2011-01-20, 12:34PM CST
Reply to: sale-pjakz-2170695856@craigslist.org

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This is a very cool use for a used shipping container. It can be used for mobile food business, hunting hideout, indoor office, lakeside retreat or country living. It comes wired up for a 50 amp service and has lighting inside and out – three low E windows – wood paneling inside w/R20 insulation -exhaust vent for mobile A/C unit – covered patio – metal entry door – cedar barn sliders – all weather wood deck. It can be easily moved or mounted on a trailer.

The Corten Corno-freakin-copia!

I’m still getting email telling me that you can’t really “modify” or even live in a shipping container.

I mean, beyond actually doing it… with my own hands…

I’ve been writing articles… about building homes with ISBUs for a decade at least.

I’ve been writing this blog… (and contributing to others) for more than three years.

I’ve written a book…  (Introduction to Container Homes and Buildings) and I’m currently writing two more on the subject.

One of them is even a freakin’ tabletop book about decades of finished ISBU projects!

So, you’d think the idiots would read a post or two before they attacked me, but…

Seriously, mixed into my hate mail is about twenty emails a week telling me that:

1. It’s cheaper to build with wood.
2. No one but an IDIOT would live in a metal box and,
3. I’m a criminal for suggesting it and then teaching people how to do it.

And, my family ancestry is getting assailed pretty thoroughly too…

So, just for laughs, here’s a few “idiots” for you;

This one is TOTALLY  DIY: (Pay attention you “fall-backers”… )

This guy is building a “Corten Castle” and I’m not kidding:

Part 1

Part 2

Here’s a company that’s building “Corten Cabins”:

And you won’t find that crazy looking Ty Penning-what’s-his-name on here, but…

Extreme Makeover – ISBU Style

So if you’re a naysayer, or even worse.. a stalker… You can freakin bite me.

This Chicken don’t lay eggs…

Lately I’m working on three projects at the same time, each one extremely different than the others.

So, I find myself looking at a lot of stuff built globally, looking carefully at how they (say it with me…) re-used, recycled and repurposed materials.

You’d be amazed at the creative ways that some resourceful people incorporate “a little of this and a little of that” to bump up the “Coolness Factor” and keep that building budget on a diet.

So, as I currently spend a lot of research time looking at cabins and small homes that should inspire us all, I give you:

The Chicken Point Cabin

This  is a cool one.  Note the use of the large garage door as a movable wall, to open the views up to the lake.

Let’s face it. The cabin has great lines and the use of natural elements and it’s rustic nature just makes it look like it was always there.

(In fact, when I first looked at it, I thought it was someone’s idea of a really cool Forestry Building.)

The guys used a lot of recycled industrial equipment and even some ladder pipes to trick this lil lakeside beauty out.

How many things do you see in this cabin that you could incorporate into a Corten Classic?

I saw several, starting with that “garage door” wall…

BTW: Again, this very cool cabin is called the Chicken Point Cabin project, and it was designed by Olson Kundig Architects.

“Peek-A-Boo ISBU” – Part Two!

Peek-a-boo ISBU!

One of the biggest problems facing families that wish to build with ISBUs is “hiding their humble origins” from the neighbors.

When people see ISBUs “stacked and packed”… they think “Max Max“.  And then, there’s that cacophony of wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanies their  “myth-driven” fears of plummeting property values.

But what if you could turn that ISBU Home into a giant billboard of “Green Goodness”?

For those of you who insist on insulating INSIDE your Corten Castles…

Forget cladding and all that “Corten Cover-up” on the boxes themselves…

Pull a “Corten Criss Angel”!

He’s a “Vegas Magician”. Pay attention huh? I’m typing as slow as I can!

While the following images are NOT ISBU based, they very well could be.

From Vegi-tecture:

New Street Square (London)

A very Blanc-esque Green Wall in London…

You could do this with something as simple as chain link fencing and some recycled rain gutter material as a “base”.

I’m just sayin’…

My thanks to Tony Adrian, who helped out… without even knowing it!

Whooosh! Jiggle, jiggle jiggle…

I’ve been getting a lot of crap on my blog lately.

As in, I’m getting email that isn’t exactly fan mail.

I’ve reflected on this in the posts, and an architect friend of mine in Tokyo told me last night that it looked to him like my ISBU blog was “headed down the cwappa”.

He went on to say that when architects and designers started their slow spiral down to the bottom, they started drawing and building shipping  container houses.

This coming from a guy who has more than a few ISBU homes in his OWN portfolio.

But  I beg to differ…

THIS is what happens when architects and designers see their careers coming to an end…

Can you believe this? Talk about “a cwappa”…

I’ll stick to ISBUs. 

We have nothing to fear… but fear itself.

Lately, I’ve been accused of being a “rabble-rouser.”

In fact, it’s gone beyond that. I’m actually getting email “demanding” to know what my “real agenda” is. Seriously.

As many of you know, I write TWO blogs, one most notably this discourse on building affordable housing using recycled, repurposed and reclaimed materials.

It’s intent is probably (hopefully) pretty clear.

I believe that EVERY family deserves a roof. Period.

The second blog is about “family survival”. It’s the “rest of the story”.

Once you have a strong roof to shield you from the elements, you need to fill in the blanks and “get the rest”. I’m not talking about stockpiling AK47s or surrounding yourself with cases of beer and ammo in your basements.

I’m talking about preparing yourself for inflation, unemployment, political gyrations and even Mother Nature.

Here, as on my other blog, I basically “say what I feel”.

Most people understand my refusal to “let another control my life”.

I see that “control” as a poison. As one of my favorite authors (Jim Butcher) put it (I’m paraphrasing from memory, albeit senile);

“It’s a repugnant notion to think of someone dictating my every move or imposing on me a code of behavior that I cannot accept, refusing me and mine to choose, pursue or even express our own hearts desires.”

Many of you identify with this. I have the email to prove it. Many more live under the yoke of oppression as their lives are manipulated to achieve someone elses own ends.

We don’t seem to be aimed at “progress” any longer. It’s all about “profits”. And, I’m not talking about YOURS.

Is it just me, or is the middle class becoming extinct?

Look, I’m not preaching “rebellion” or “revolution”.

It doesn’t take much power (or even common sense) to hurt someone. It takes far more energy to undo the damage that is caused. It’s always like that.  It’s “lose-lose”.

I’m not asking you to take up arms against your neighbors… or heaven forbid, the authorities.

I’m suggesting that by taking responsibility for more of your life, you will establish a broader comfort area for your family, as things happen, both good and bad.

If I’m guilty of anything, it’s that I’m “preaching” about “common sense”.

I simply wish to live life on my own terms, in accordance with my own values.

• Self Awareness

• Self Reliance, and

• Self Responsibility.

I wish to simply be “accountable”.

I want that for YOUR family, too.

In America, as advanced as we think we are, we still have that age old, undeniable, even primal “dread of the darkness”.

We immerse ourselves in “Reality TV”, media hype and “sensationalism” to mask any impact by “the real world”, as we wonder how we missed the signs of what is really going on around us.

We watch riots on TV of “other places far-flung” and think that it can never happen to us.

We like to think that as a nation we’re all grown up, that we are no longer afraid of the dark.

But if that’s really true, why to we work so hard to keep all the lights blaring to the point where we can no longer see the stars?

We cloak ourselves in “mindless mantles” to protect ourselves from fear.

Fear is a funny thing. In the right measure, even tiny or insignificant fear can grow, swelling up to take on monstrous proportions. Fear unchecked, feeds on itself, doubling and redoubling until chaos reigns.

This blog is just a single point of light shining into that darkness. It’s a speck of light. Nothing more.

We cannot live lives based on fear and uncertainty.

Neither of those ingredients can be combined to feed our families or protect them against the elements, be they Mother Nature or man-made.

What we can do is to make our own light, simply by tuning into our “needs” and then striving to provide them in a manner that makes the process “uncompromisable”. It’s the “light of revelation”. As in, it’ll let you see “what’s what”…  and how it will affect you.

In my view – “The Cavalry isn’t coming.”

Those “Boys and Girls on the Beltway” aren’t really listening. (At least it seems that way, to me.) So…

In other words:

WE MUST LEARN TO “DO IT OURSELVES”.

As we do this, be it building shelter or growing a garden, we’ll find the “lights you turn on” cannot then be turned off by “someone else”.

We’ll become: (say it with me)

• Self Aware,

• Self Responsible, and

• Self Reliant.

And our families will be that much better for it, no matter WHAT is happening outside our front porches.

And now… back to our regularly scheduled program.

And my thanks to Jim, for recently reminding me of this.

They call ‘em Packers for a reason… :)

As we all wait impatiently to watch the Steelers turn the Superbowl into this:

Let’s all remember how cold it is… in the refrigerator!

There’s a frosty cold beverage (okay, so it’s ROOT BEER) in there with my name on it, just waiting for 5:29 CST! Go FOX!

Go Steelers!

Truth be told, I’m more interested in the commercials this time…

So, during much of the game, I’ll probably be daydreaming about this:

After all, Spring is coming!

Berming in the Boonies!

WE were busy all last week as a result of a death in the family. So, I’m a little bit behind.

And now, we have a big storm bearing down on us to get ready for, so I’m still not able to really pound away at posts.

So you know what that means, right?

That’s right! It’s MAIL BAG TIME!

Here we go;

Ronin,

I recently came across this photo of a shipping container home.

It appears that the owner is doing many of the things that you tell us NOT to do.

Any comments?

Signed,

Smug in Cinci…

Dear Smug,

Ok, smarty pants, I’ll play.

This looks like a “fallback” to me, from what I can see in the photo.

A “fallback” is a shelter built out in the woods or “away from most”…

… used to just get away from the madness. In the old days we called them “vacation cabins”. Now, most of the ones I see getting built are quietly constructed little homes designed to be used in case things get really bumpy.

The reader sent me a photograph of a pair of boxes (they look like 40′rs) set into a berm on a lot someplace. I think it’s a lot because I can see a road behind it.  Heck, that might be a well manicured driveway, for all I know.  Although I can see what looks like a pipe stall or corral in the far left, the photo name indicates that it is a “cabin” and not a barn, or horse stalls, or a utility building.

They didn’t tell me anything more about the photograph of the build than what you’ve already read.

So, while it’s possible I’m about to get “blind-sided”, I’ll bite.

(a) From the photograph, it appears that the containers are sitting on the ground. I don’t see any drainage pipe or gravel, but I’m betting it’s there to prevent water from finding a way into the boxes.

The lack of a foundation concerns me.

It’s approximately 16′ x 40′ outside, and I’m figuring that they framed out the interior for more insulation.

So, they’re working with 580 square feet and change. That probably translates to a couple of sleeping areas, a common room, a strip kitchenette and a bathroom… plus some storage areas.

I’m assuming a couple of sleeping areas simply because a single person could easily make do with a single container and get all the “fallback” he/she needed. Two boxes probably means a small family.

We’ll assume that it’s someplace reasonably warm and mild, because the way they’ve laid it out, it’s not equipped to deal with harsh winters. (That and it’s sitting on the ground… so no snow.)

It looks like they’ve used SPF on the exterior of the boxes, albeit it looks like a thin coat. If it’s an inch, they’ll get r7 (it looks like closed cell foam). It’s possible that they’ve also insulated inside as well to build up the r value. I’m hoping so. R7 just isn’t enough.  Rigid insulation tucked in between studs inside would take the bite out and save some space over nasty fiberglass batts.

I think that we can assume that the doors are insulated from inside. If they went to the trouble to spend half a day spraying SPF on the boxes, I’m sure they did something with the doors too (even if we can’t see it).

The window almost looks like an afterthought.  I’m worried by a few things;

(1) It’s awfully low to that berm.

(2) It appears that they cut a hole and stuck it in place, possibly with self tapping screws, and then shot SPF around it to seal it up. That’s not my preferred method.

I actually build a frame out of 2″ tube steel tube that becomes an integral part of my “rough opening”.

It will get welded between the top and bottom rails to become an integral part of the box structure. The “insides” of that opening are then lined with plate steel (which is welded to the corrugated steel skin as well) so I can slide my window into THAT created subframe.

You get a really tough window or door that way and you actually increase the structural integrity of the box by using those tubular  subframes. Think “rollbars”.

I don’t see ANY roof. So, they cant “get up there and walk about” for sure.

And what concerns me most is that earthberm.

While I LOVE earthberms, you have to reinforce the box substantially to take that kind of soil load. That corrugated steel skin just isn’t enough to handle it. And it gets worse when it rains, as the soil piled up against that steel skin gets heavier.

So, I’m hoping that they reinforced the skin internally to bear that created load. Otherwise, sooner or later, it’s going to fail. Ugh.

As a case in point;

I’m working on an Alabama house right now, that will essentially have an earthbermed first level.

HOWEVER, the first level will be constructed of concrete block and then we’ll set the ISBUs on top of it stacked two high, to create a small three story house, that will look like a two story house sitting on a terraced hill.  We’re going to use 20′ High Cubes. That’s a good indication of how small the footprint will be.

Getting back to the photo the reader sent in;

I’d love to see more of this. It looks like a “work in progress”.  And I’d love to be able to contact the owner to ask them a few questions about how and why they are doing what they’re doing…

AND to congratulate them for DOING and not just TALKING.

A ton of hard work went into what you’re looking at.

I bet they have an interesting story to tell and I’d love to hear it.

Ronin