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THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE
Greetings from Ohio! 🙂

Looking for a shipping container home? Today we are sharing with you another Container Home Hub exclusive! Shawn from The Resilient Group is currently selling their bespoke 40’ Hi-Cube shipping container home for $80,000. Here is all the information about the house he shared with us. Enjoy!

From Shawn at The Resilient Group:

It is with heavy hearts that we are selling the tiny house that we designed and built for us on our family farm (www.resilientfarm.com), but family drama and conflict have caused us to leave the farm.  Our short-term intent was to use this for at least a weekend retreat, if not a full-time residence, and possibly add on to it with another container that was a bedroom/bath module if/once we had kids.  Medium-term we wanted to put it on a trailer and use it for a luxury travel trailer, and long term we thought we could give it to the kids as a honeymoon cabin and starter home, something to be passed on to the future generations.

This beautiful, 320 sq ft. tiny home with an additional 320 sq ft rooftop deck has an incredibly flexible layout currently set up with a chef’s kitchen, ample living room, full-size bathroom, and office/bedroom. Perfect for a mother-in-law suite, Accessory Dwelling Unit, starter home behind a host-house, temporary home on land while the permanent home is being built, retirement home on rural acreage, or luxurious travel trailer if put on a trailer.  This home is partially ADA compliant with a 36” wide hall and bedroom door, 32” bathroom door, blocking for grab rails around the toilet, etc… (This floor plan currently has no stairs, but the office/bedroom could be converted to a sleeping loft with storage below, an ATV garage if used as a hunting lodge, if set on a trailer could be an amazing Toy Hauler, etc…)

This is a “hi-cube” container, which is 9 ½” tall on the outside, and allows for a full 8.0’ ceiling inside along with room for ample insulation.  There is a ½” to 1” flash-coat of closed cell foam insulation (R6.5/inch) applied to the interior of  the walls and ceiling, as well as to the exterior underside, to control moisture and prevent air-infiltration.  Inside, there is foam board insulation between the container’s 1” plywood floor and the new plywood subfloor.  In addition to the flash coat of foam insulation, there are two layers of perpendicularly opposed fiberglass bat insulation in the ceiling; 3 ½” above the ceiling joists and 5 ½” between the ceiling joists, for a total of 9” of batt insulation (R3.25/inch).  There is then 3 ½” of bat insulation within the wall stud cavities.  Even the interior bathroom walls are insulated to better control sound.  Because this home is constructed within a shipping container, there is a greatly diminished opportunity for air-infiltration, and we expect a high level of occupant comfort with incredibly low operating costs.

The home is heated and cooled by a Mitsubishi mini-split system (13,600btu heating/12,000btu cooling), rated at 26.1 SEER (!).  There is a 100amp grid-tied electrical service, as well as an auxiliary 50amp (125/250v) hookup.  This auxiliary can be used at an RV park, if parked behind a host-house, or from a battery bank/photo-voltaic set-up.   Along one side of the kitchen is a 8’ long framed and vented soffit specifically built to house a battery bank.  The home comes with 25’ of Service Entry Utility cable for the grid-tied hookup, and a 25’ 50amp auxiliary hookup cord.   Hot water is supplied by a propane on-demand hot water heater.  Windows are low-e, argon filled, double-hung Jeld-Wen units.

Unlike most tiny’s or micro-houses , the kitchen is designed for full-size appliances.  This is a place to live, not a place to camp.  The refrigerator is 30” (there is room for a 33”, but we were going to put a 30” in and leave room for a small ladder to be able to get into the storage soffits), the 4-burner gas range is 30”, and there is a full sized double-basin sink.  Next to the sink is a cavity that is set up for either a standard size dishwasher, or a compact washer/dryer unit, depending on your situation and needs.  Cabinets are solid plywood with dove-tailed joints, rather than particle wood or mdf.  The corner blind base has pull-out pivoting trays to make better use of the corner space.  Storage is even further emphasized with soffits built in above the wall cabinets.  Mounted above the kitchen sink is a large 9.0’soffit that is pre-plumbed for a gravity-fed backup water tank, in case the power goes out or the well runs low.

Again, unlike many tiny homes, plumbing supply lines are within the thermal envelope, and accessible if needed.   There is a both a warm-weather water supply hook-up as well as a cold-weather supply hookup, depending on your location.  This home is set up for both a conventional toilet on a septic system — and pre-vented for a composting toilet as well.  Plumbing hardware is Moen, the toilet is American Standard.  Rather than a wall-mounted tiny sink or a storage-less pedestal sink, you’ll find an actual vanity with integral storage, along with ample built in cabinetry in the bathroom – as well as access to a large storage soffit for even more storage.

Speaking of soffits, there is another backup water tank location above the shower, pre-plumbed and ready to gravity-feed the shower or sink in case the power goes out or the well is dry.  The shower has a short 7” curb rather than a tub wall to step over, and more than 6’2” of headroom under the shower head.  The shower is a molded fiberglass unit, with the shower ceiling and adjacent wall clad in a water-proof hdpe panel for additional water-protection.  Additionally, the bathroom is vented by a high-capacity exhaust fan rated for continuous use, capable of providing ample air-exchange.

Because this house would be moved at least once, we decided to have no drywall or tile installed, in order to ensure that the house would arrive in the same condition that it left in.  We didn’t want the big-box “shiplap” look that is ubiquitous in the tiny house world, often made of particle wood and complete with mobile-home type inside corner trim to hide poor joinery.  We wanted a more authentic shiplap look, the kind that you’d see in an old farmhouse, or on “Fixer Upper”….  So the interior walls and ceiling are clad in 10” Amish-milled 13/16” pine shiplap, sealed on 4 sides with an oil-based primer and finished with a high-quality latex.  There is no inside corner trim/sticking in this house.  To maximize interior volume and clean things up a bit, we decided to forego any base trim, furthering the dichotomy between modern form and vernacular practicality.

There is a large storage soffit in the foyer, with built-in pull down storage from below, and long storage above.  In the office/bedroom, there is a small built-in closet, divided into upper and lower units, suitable for either office supplies, or hanging pants on the bottom and shirts on top.  A Murphy desk/bed gives the option of an office during the day and a bedroom at night, along with additional storage.  A 6.0’ sliding door (Jeld-Wen, low-e, argon filled) gives this room the best view in the house, making working in the office and/or waking up in the bedroom a pleasure.  There are 3 coax cable outlets, located in each of the 3 main rooms, along with ample electrical outlets.

Outside there is a key-pad lock on the front door, exterior lighting at all four corners as well as over the front door, along with 3 exterior outlets and 1 coax cable inlet jack.  Atop this home is the roof-top deck, providing an additional 320 sq ft of living space.  The deck is an ideal location for mounting solar panels (remember this house is set up for a 50amp auxiliary electrical service, whether a generator, or a PV system, complete with a vented soffit designed specifically for a battery bank), additional storage, and easy raised living space to take in the breeze and the view.  (If this home is set on rural acreage and not moved, this would be a perfect place for a cedar pergola.  Please see the attached renderings for an idea of how we were going to use it).

In addition to keeping the sun off of the roof, the deck also serves as a water collection system.  Below the deck boards and between the deck floor joists are troughs that collect rain water and direct it to the gutter, where you can then collect it into a tank or cistern if needed.  The deck serves as the first filter, keeping the leaves and large debris out of the gutter.

This home comes complete with an owner’s manual, full documentation and warranties of all products used, extra parts that came with the products, pictures of the construction process so you can see what’s behind the walls, and can be delivered/installed if desired.  The home can be purchased furnished or unfurnished.

This home was designed and built to be as versatile as possible, and to meet as many needs and criteria as possible.  It can be set on a gravel bed, on a permanent basement, elevated on piers, or on a flat-bed trailer.   It can go to a cold or warm climate.  It can be grid-tied or off-grid.  It works well with no stairs, or can be tweaked to add stairs.  It can have a dishwasher or a washer/dryer combo installed.  Whatever your needs, situation, or location are – this home can be a key element in you creating the low-maintenance, low-operating costs, low-input requirements, life that you want.

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

THE SENSUALIST CONTAINER HOUSE

Finally, this shipping container home was designed by FUSION Design LLC, and constructed by the principal of FUSION Design LLC, under the guidance of Yutzy Builders Inc, as a prototype for a possible future joint venture between the two companies.  You will not find a more versatile house anywhere, with as much forethought as possible put into its possible uses and locations, occupants and their needs, or systems to support as many situations as possible.

So in the midst of the heartache of family conflict and the loss of leaving what we worked so hard to build, the upside is that a promising new tiny house business is being formed.  Our shelter solutions will emphasize not just low-maintenance and low operating costs, so that the occupant can focus on being free to live the life they want – but on resiliency and being able to get back on ones feet as quickly and easily as possible.  We are looking forward to producing shelter solutions that will provide much needed relief and solutions for people and their varied needs.  We are excited about the future.

This house is located in Lancaster, Ohio. About 30-40 minutes south east of Columbus.

Please call Shawn with FUSION Design LLC at 614.589.7216, and [email protected] , or Gary with Yutzy Builders Inc at 614.206.6956, and [email protected] for more information, or to arrange a viewing.

So what do you think? Would you live here? ☺

Information SourceShawn from The Resilient Shelter Group

Photo Source:  Shawn from The Resilient Shelter Group, The Resilient Shelter Group Instagram

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