Renovating a shipping container for storage

In this video I set up and renovate an old shipping container as a storage solution. Although it was in pretty bad shape when I got it, I think it now has several years of service ahead.
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[@RelicForgeCo]

My entire workshop is in one of these, They're awesome. Love what you did with the roof.

[@WowCoolHorse]

I'd love to see a shop tour video!

[@integr8er66]

But the question is why did he put a roof over the roof?

[@WowCoolHorse]

@@integr8er66 because containers have flat roofs with dips that collect water and lead to accelerated rust, so he built a roof with a slight angle to it to make the water drain off properly (+ in the future he could add rainwater collection to that roof)

[@RelicForgeCo]

@@integr8er66 No I think the real question is why didn't he put a roof over the roof.. over the other roof. Tri-roof.

[@integr8er66]

@@WowCoolHorse Well I own a bunch of these, and first off they are made of Corten steel which is made to withstand weather, second if you just put a jack under any low spots and bend them up and Voila, no more low spot. Lastly why would you collect water from the roof where birds poop?

[@frankvolkle870]

Cool project - really nice thing! :-) Just one suggestion because of my own bad experience: try to close the gap to the roof with a stainless steel fly screen mesh. It'll prevents wasps and hornets from building nests. They have enough space around and shouldn't use your new storage ;-)

[@adrianwawrzyniak8657]

I confirm, protect against wasps and bumblebees

[@EVMacD]

I’m thinking protect the bottom from critters making it their home in the winter too. Do you have skunks in Norway? My shed became a party place for them until my son and I did some serious digging and backfillling with gravel to remedy that problem

[@crabmansteve6844]

Yes, this. I don't live anywhere near, but here in the South US (Georgia) you would have so many bees, dirt daubers and spiders if you didn't get ahead of it.

[@PatrickKQ4HBD]

@@crabmansteve6844 Carroll County here. Definitely!

[@xmuggsyx]

Copper mesh--- prevent rodents too?

[@gretchenmorfea5988]

Torbjorn, I love the way you live your life, simple, happy and self sustained. It is so nice to se a life like that with skill and care for family. You surely know what your are doing! A skilled blacksmith, wood worker and handyman as well as a loving father, you are living the dream! I greatly enjoy watching these little snip it’s of your life and would love to be in a similar spot! Keep the videos coming and enjoy everything you do! Sincerely, A learning blacksmith and crafts/handy man.

[@torbjornahman]

Thank you so much! I try my best... It's not always a success... :)

[@AndyFromBeaverton]

Happy to see you wearing a respirator. There are many unknown surprises that can come from these containers.

[@torbjornahman]

Yes and the floor is treated with nasty chemicals.

[@platinum646]

Yes like snakes and spiders from other countries. I cringed at the thought the people would get bitten...

[@pbjwizard]

@@torbjornahman i would also sweep it with a lead kit and a geiger counter, if you haven't already. i'm sure there's other tests that are slipping my mind

[@samuelvigil3604]

I enjoy watching these videos of family coming together working together being outdoors building things. One thing I learn watching these videos valuable lesson is to take your time pace myself and enjoy every moment. I have the tendency to get frustrated and want projects completed quickly. Thanks for sharing your story.

[@ohasis8331]

Took me a lot of years before I learnt to just do a day's work properly and worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

[@BexandKaseybyfirelight]

That was so cool to watch I love your channel so much, peace and happiness to your family I can't wait for the next installment.

[@ScrewsAndTools]

Everything is just wonderful in this video! Good luck and good health to you!

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks!

[@MrPhotodoc]

The best thing he did was raise it up off the ground. When it snows the doors can still be opened.

[@george8873]

Not sure if you thought of this, but you can utilize the space between the container and metal sheeting you added by storing thin, long bar stock and stuff like that. I know some of it comes in long lengths, and you should be able to slide materials up and under the roof with the way you made the support rafter on the end thinner. Just a thought I had when I seen the space when you were building it.

[@torbjornahman]

Yes, that's possible!

[@aserta]

@@torbjornahman Be aware of rodents tho, if that's a thing in your area. They may not be interested in the existing space (as is) but once you put stuff up there, they will like the "cramped" nature and make it a home. Source: had it happen to me, they peed all over.

[@brobinson8614]

@@aserta rodents are cute and their pee washes off

[@8__vv__8]

Nice! My grandpa had two 40’ containers full of his most important not junk :) His didn’t have a roof like yours and boy do they rust out fast if they don’t drain well. Still I suspect you will have condensation (and rust) problems inside without some ventilation. A battery powered LED light by the door with a motion sensor might be a good investment too, you can usually just stick them on the wall. Also a screen door is so nice during mosquito season, but it has to be robust enough at the bottom to keep bigger critters out!

[@torbjornahman]

Haven't seen any condensation yet, but a fan is probably a good idea!

[@Adscam]

@@torbjornahman Check out The Container Guy on KZbin. He builds containers in Canada and experiences the same climate as you. He has lots of tips for keeping the inside of the container dry and free of condensation.

[@torbjornahman]

@@Adscam Cool, I will!

[@felixperezvillega3368]

It is incredible the amount of valuable things that a man ends up accumulating and keeping..., and habitually called by his wife as garbage.😃😃😃

[@andreacrashe9894]

*Wow that container looks so different now... You are so precise in what you are doing to have it all so perfect... Great to see your two kids helping out too. Just one tip for your son re holding a paintbrush when he does any painting. Get him to hold it more like he would hold a pen, then he will get a smoother flow on any paint job.*

[@PapaDan]

Great project to get the kids involved. Crocs! My go to shoe!

[@torbjornahman]

:) Thanks

[@PapaDan]

@@torbjornahman I also wore Red Wing steel toe work boots for all my working life over four decades. Still got a pair for when the sparks start flying. By the way I was a car knocker for the railroad. That is, I inspected and repaired railroad cars.

[@PapaDan]

Really enjoy your content. Thunder Bear never disappoints. ✌️😎

[@danielhanawalt4998]

I've thought about getting a shipping container and making a workshop. I'd like it to be wider so putting two side by side and removing the middle sides between the two containers would work. I've seen some old mobile homes for sale and thinking that might be more cost effective. Nice to see the kids getting in on the action. When I was a kid nothing was better than helping out with things. Made me feel all grown up and useful.

[@sighheinrich]

Looking good Torbjørn! The container is looking nice as well :)

[@anselmsalins7314]

Wholesome ! beautiful work, amazing talent, your family is Blessed !

[@robroy5729]

I don't know how, but all of the videos you make are extremely relaxing and motivating at the same time. Thank you for providing us genuine content!!!

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks Rob!

[@Vikingwerk]

I know the signs! Any project involving cleaning out a shop corner full of scrap means one thing: New Tool! Well I’m looking forward to seeing what tool takes the spot that was previously scrap storage!

[@Avel_runner]

Awesome job as always! Loved the roof you made

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks!

[@nenadmarkovic7998]

Brilliant. Entire video is inspiring. Thank you.

[@Justin-C]

Nice work, as always! Might be a good idea to close off the roof though to prevent birds or any other critters from nesting up there.

[@torbjornahman]

Maybe, but I really don't mind...

[@briankinnane5224]

I love a man who uses an electric planer in crocs.

[@boblow2186]

Great conversation. And love the gold and cream drill got one my self. Thay don’t make them like it any more. 😁👍

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks! Yes, it refuses to die...

[@edwardsdeacon]

👍🏽 dry nicely done. The prep-work paid off quite well. The best past was doing this project with your son.

[@m2hmghb]

Great work on this build! Are you planning to put in some type of dehumidification to stop rusting? I love the roof, but if you had extended it by a meter or so you'd have a great work area for a portable bench in the shade.

[@dondieu3154]

Outstanding revovation of an old shipping container. Can't believe how good it looks now. Bravo!

[@krishnavilashbiswas2969]

Brother I forgot to watch this video of yours right now I was feeling bored and randomly searching for restoration video and suddenly your video came I was little bit surprised that you make new tools but never restore anything. Please make some restoration video also I and my friend love to watch videos like this. Thanks bro

[@45569utube]

Love the idea of the pitched roof. I agree with an earlier comment, close in those openings. Learned a lesson also, cut those bevels on the beams using the table saw before installation.

[@bigfatbaataed]

When you sat down in the doorway at the end, you should have had a nice ice-cold beer to crack open...

[@jacobhendrickson8935]

Wow nicely done, like the roof idea should keep it cooler inside.

[@armandopinto8743]

Como as suas coisas são sempre organizadas esse contêiner ficou show de mais amei..

[@naweedkhan8682]

We recently got a very cheap 20ft container here in NZ. For our storage use only There were about 20 holes all rusting on the roof. Inside floor was pretty good just stained with water pooling in corners. Outside a couple dents here and there and rust which was just surface We cut out large sections instead of doing 20 little patches. Bleached and washed the inside floor about 3 times to bring it back to original as possible. For the roof we did all the repairs and using a trolley jack and a long pole we pushed/extended the centre line of the roof so its slightly angled. Now water doesnt pool or stay anywhere. and we dont need to make a metal roof over it We put in x 2 300mm whirlybird/spinny vents on one end and cut out 2 similar sized holes on the door end on the sides. no more condensation and damp smell The inside we had heaps of scrape marks which all had surface rust. adding rust converter to about 70 spots, then primer, then spray painting the inside walls. the original grey color. Dont 3 coats so far and may do a couple more. The floor is in good condition so we will be putting on brown color fence paint which would soak in and preserve it as best and look great. Last would be the exterior which would need a good scrubbing and about 5 coats of container paint. We'll finish it off with a lock box on the door. Next stages would be the inside lights, shelving and racking Plenty to do and looking great so far

[@MENTIRICRONEDELTACRON]

Parabéns pelo excelente trabalho!

[@miketabar2327]

Nice addition for the homestead. I was amazed to see you cutting the flooring with a regular circular saw. I can't believe that in the day of Track Saws that a regular circular saw still works. LOL You may be the only KZbinr who has not spent hundreds of dollars to do what a $80 circular saw does. Thanks

[@torbjornahman]

The old trusty still does a decent job!

[@lloydbush]

Every kid's dream is cleaning something with a water jet.

[@torbjornahman]

:) At least for a while!

[@benjurqunov]

The best modification I did to my containers. With the doors shut, I welded the doors together. Then cut off hinge pins on one side. Essentially making one large single door. This made it much easier installing a motorised door opener. My containers used as motorcycle & small traktor garage. Once I had them as electric garage doors, I’ll never go back ! Fwiw, The containers I managed to buy are made of composit walls and roof. A 20mm plywood laminated under fibreglass material. They were made by Graff AG in Germany in late 70s. I don’t know if those type are still made. They are smooth sides. Compared to steel walls container, look much nicer as backyard sheds and condense very little if any water. Being somewhat resilient, they had very few dents and scratches what filled easy using putty.

[@davidbaldree1043]

nothing better than a cleaner and more organized shop. again you show your attention to detail. nice work! 😁

[@pinkiebrain7597]

Given the current price of ply and lumber, the new floor must have doubled the price of the container. 😉

[@torbjornahman]

:) More or less!

[@9amStudio]

I watched the whole vid! it was satisfying

[@isher__]

Never one to do anything by halves. Thank you so much for sharing!

[@andymiller5611]

Great video, dude! I'm grateful for what I have but I'd love a storage unit like yours...not to mention the space you have at your property and the greenhouse and the workshops and your plots of land for growing, etc! All your videos are excellent displays of your numerous skills and I look forward tocwathing the next one! All the very best from the UK, Andy.

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks a lot!

[@tinkermouse-scottrussell3738]

Another tool well suited for the job, enjoy. Play safe from Elliot Lake, Ontario, Canada.

[@robsoncruz5029]

Excellent job! Your work is an inspiration.

[@JankoWalski-uo2br]

I like watching your movies are very inspiring. Another successful job. Greetings from Poland -:)))

[@brianalder2234]

Also LOL! Nice to see someone else wearing "Safety " Crocs ! Thumbs up :-)

[@cavs2364]

Hi Torbjörn, love your channel! How much did you pay for the container?

[@torbjornahman]

About $1000

[@royothebuzz]

Great video. Nice to see a family project

[@paliggae]

Great looking mancave!

[@Zbee167]

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[@mickellis8747]

Hay Torbjorn, What a great project. I hate to tell you but the roofing screws go through the peaks of the sheets not the valleys. you cant trust the sealing washers to not leak.

[@outbackladas]

I noticed the same thing, Sweden would be a wet place too, eventually the moisture will find it’s way past the seal and under the sheet and create corrosion.

[@torbjornahman]

Well, this is how the manufacturer want's it to be mounted! If you screw on the peaks you will never get a seal, unless you have a special profiled beam underneath.

[@outbackladas]

@@torbjornahman Well………if you’re using “trim deck” (that’s what we call it here in Aus) on the walls you screw in the valleys, but if you’re using it on the roof you screw in on the peaks. A special low torque clutch is used on the drill so as not to put too much pressure on the peaks. One of my sons is a builder, he built me a large shed using identical sheeting as you have just used. On the roof he screwed the peaks , not sure why your supplier would have recommended differently, but the you are on the Northern Hemisphere, so that’s probably it ! Lol 😂 If I get some time I’ll send you a couple of photos of the shed and how it’s sheeting was fastened. Regards from your Southern Hemisphere friend.

[@mickellis8747]

@@torbjornahman Interesting, here in Australia all roofing sheets are screwed through the peaks.

[@TheDistur]

Nice building. Also digging potatoes is so satisfying.

[@g.janssen]

Verry verry nice, this will save a lot of space in your workingplace

[@slomkaadas9603]

Nice, very interesting! Thank you for upload, cheers from Poland 🍻

[@thetrackhoeman5176]

That turned out cherry. Excellent video!

[@donniebeall8152]

You have such a pretty homestead

[@JB-mf1zc]

Mighty fine work!! God Bless!!!!!

[@markp.7165]

I have always wondered how doing this exact project would turn out. Great job!! I will say however I never knew what condition the floor would be in with these old containers. If I had to rebuild the floor and add a roof I think I would just pour a concrete slab and build a traditional shed on it instead. Although the container has some advantages being steel they also have some disadvantages. Doors on the short side tend to force you to live with those doors and the structure can become like a skinny closet where the things in the front are in the way of getting the things in the rear out. Adding additional doors or windows is quite difficult and last but not least they really don't look that appealing if they can be seen from your house. Just my opinion and I do love what you did and the quality of your build. Thanks for the video and answering the questions I had often wondered about.

[@kentclizbe]

I thought the exact same thing. With all the work required to covert the container to what is, in effect, a shed, why not just build a shed?

[@jean-marievennin8405]

Well done Sir and a good retirement for this "20feet" in a good Home.😊 May i suggest you to add a gouter on the lower side of the roof in order to collect the Rain in a water tank. Free water could be nice for the garden.!!! 🤔🤔👍👍 Bon Courage and stay safe.😉😉

[@kentshrader6616]

Planning to make a move to the country where the farm house has a barn to convert to a workshop. If there's no barn converting a shipping container into a shop will be my next option. Thanks for a well done video that will be my guide.

[@KyriaNunNuit]

Great idea. Great work! Would look inside at the end though.

[@MsFarmer567]

I wouldn’t brought my roof out to meet the opening, to give a better weather coverage; a deck stepping up, just a suggestion, can’t beat morel storage, love the ideal and the green house, the property period is beautiful. 👍

[@jawediqbal9475]

Done great job as always, thanks for sharing.

[@popgrubbs]

Always a treat, my friend! Another fun video.

[@wollaminfaetter]

That's brilliant! Thanks mate.

[@kate739]

excellent, very very creative.

[@samuelbhend2521]

Wow. Great Idea to get more Space in the Shop... .... to put new Stuff in.....

[@hmidasliman6504]

Beautiful green paint

[@khadijahdavis1572]

wow, you did a great job, this was awesome to watch, i wish like hell that i had the skills to do this kind of stuff

[@humbertosouto2690]

Torbjorn ,increible como han crecido esos niños,felicidades !!

[@douglasfathers4848]

I envy you Thunder Bear , Wish I had the room for a container . Really like the way you set it up mate looks good . 👍 👌 ⚒ 🤠

[@teriguerin8371]

Excellent video, Thank you!

[@katigroszek]

Nice! I consider doing that myself. Too late for that, but I think that roof should be fastened by screwing into the tops using trapezoidal spacers underneath rather than the into the valleys (10:24).

[@brobinson8614]

agreed, but no big deal

[@yeagerxp]

Good job 👍👍👍Thank you for sharing. 🇨🇦

[@anndrre]

This was one of my favorite videos TA!

[@torbjornahman]

Thank you!

[@whydotufaqoff]

Brilliant ...Thanks for sharing ...👍

[@miguelortiz391]

Nice work

[@jjohnson2553]

Nice harvest on the potatoes. I'd be interested in seeing how you process and store/preserve that many potatoes.

[@torbjornahman]

Thanks. We have a small cellar that is great for storing potatoes. We just put the boxes there as they are

[@owwerlord6921]

the ending is gold :D

[@SchysCraftCo.]

Awesome. That's really nice. That's very smart and very clean idea. Hopefully you get great use out of it for many years to come my friend. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Forge On. Fab On. Weld On. Keep Making. God bless.

[@jh281947]

You must be German. The attention to detail and good workmanship was I First Class.. You remind me so much of my brother in law, who is German

[@torbjornahman]

:) Swedish!

[@raskahn9286]

Those are some awesome looking potatis!

[@thecreativecraftingtable8658]

Your videos are relaxing to watch and at the same time motivating to create new things. Be careful, under the tin roof some wasps will probably build nests, our place is full of them too. Have a nice evening Torbjörn! 🙂

[@mistashortstroke443]

EXCELLENT VIDEO THANKS VERY MUCH 🙂

[@Tugmun11]

Thanks for sharing, Great Video and Edit, as all ways. . .

[@jimc4731]

Paint the inside white and add some LED lights! Keep up the good work! JIM 😍

[@hamekk]

Great work! What material are those panels you used for the floor? And what paint did you use for the outdoor walls and roof? Great inspiration, since I'm planning to renovate my own container I recently bought over the fall.

[@torbjornahman]

That was a concrete form plywood. The paint is just standard metal/steel paint.

[@vestermunnecom]

Great video nut I miss something at the end: a good glass of beer.

[@philipdunn7538]

That was a decent potato harvest 👍

[@larrykelly2838]

Wow, great build. Please come to Magnolia Texas, USA and help me build one. The potatoes harvest looked successful.

[@vonHannersdorf]

Totally Åwesome my friend! Very elegant roof.

[@franciscobarajasochoa8615]

Nice video & no ugly music. Thanks

[@sohntag]

Great idea to use container than build a storage! I subscribed and really interesting in new videos!

[@Norebx]

Very cool

[@patrickbyrnes1997]

Nice project,well carried out,you could the roof space for long lengths of stock.👍

[@Pushyhog]

thanks tor! Wow that's wonderful, l might do it, moving to california.

[@didacvz]

With all the respect this is fuc...ing awesome! haha greets from Mexico

[@crabmansteve6844]

I'm in the process of trying to find a few of these for a workshop conversion. What was the flooring material (the black ply)? Looks like birch ply coated with something but I'm unsure.

[@torbjornahman]

Concrete form plywood

[@MrHowieZ1973]

Great work but I would put in more ventilation. I have two of these and they both had to be vented or your steel will rust

[@jakethesnake941]

You should build a potato sorting system to help separate them out, filter the big ones from the small

[@torbjornahman]

Ha ha!

[@MtnBadger]

Or, spring for the "one use" container which comes solid and doesn't usually need paint and the floor is good. (All those power tools... No Wagner sprayer 😊). Good job, though...