the how-to of a shipping container pool

[in case you’re interested in the details]

this post is being written in response to requests for a detailed understanding of how to recycle a shipping container into an in-ground swimming pool

1.  [waterproofing part 1]  the container is welded watertight.  really.  this took a long time, and it required hours and hours of welding.  we did not coat the inside of the container with something that would hold water.  i think this should be qualified by all the options we considered in talking to engineers and chemists we know and are related to, plus a few people at pool stores…  concrete and metal have different expansion/contraction rates, and that wouldn’t work.  spraying it with the liner people use in truck beds seemed like an option, but those aren’t pools – we opted out on research down that line because we then began to see the container as having a lot in common with a water tank.  then we found a company here in town (austin tx) that resurfaces and maintains entire water treatment plants… aha!  drinkable water, metal container, chlorinated water, no liner.  watertight welds were the trick.  and good paint.

2.  [waterproofing part 2] because every container comes with a standard interior base of marine-grade plywood, it seemed easiest to lay metal over this flat and weld at the edges than to remove it.  solid wood floor overlaid with sheet metal (i’m sorry, i think i should know this, but i think it’s 12 gauge steel)… and the weld along the edge of this plate should be a straight line.  along the top edge, there will be the need to weld along each corrugation as it intersects the plate on top, but the bottom line is easy.  another note – steel in shipping containers is not thick, so where the other steel channel is welded onto the outside, there is a high likelihood that there will be pinholes in the metal that will be visible from the inside.  it is really easy to see these once it is painted.  i have gone through and put on a marine grade epoxy (from a marine store, or aqua mend epoxy in putty form) after priming but before the final coat.  some of these can be applied underwater as well, so if rust spots become visible when the pool is full, the patch can be done anyway.  my motto is to tackle rust as soon as i see it, but not freak out about it (this has been a learned skill).  hey, it’s a pool made of metal, right?  can’t freak out about a little rust; it’s just par for the pool.

3.  [sizing]  we cut down the container to the size we wanted for a pool, within reasonable limits (no shallow end).  the standard container sizes are 20′ and 40′.  i kept shopping on craigs list for an open container at first, having started out thinking that i would have an 8′ deep pool.  then i realized they are 1. expensive and 2. hard to acquire.  it ended up that the welder we started talking to told me we would just cut off the top and use part of it for a newly engineered end, so i could spec an interior height and he would slice the entire top off in one go, roof and all.  a standard 40′ container can be found for about $2500, plus delivery,  if i could go back, i would visually inspect a container i bought for rust along the bottom corrugated edges and try to pick the least rusty one, but hey, we patched.

4.  [structural engineering] the civil engineer who consulted on the house we were building (the one that now has the pool as its backyard) thought our pool idea sounded ‘interesting’ so he came out and very nicely walked around in the dirt and did lots of sketches for very little money.  his resulting recommendation was to ring our now 6 foot tall container with 3 rings of steel channel, at 1/3 and 2/3 of the way up the outside with 2″x6″ channel, and then with a  box around the outside of the top of 6″ square channel.  i then asked that we add a 6″ plate of steel on top of this to allow for a smooth curb/lip that would keep water in the pool or have it splash over the entire top.  i will attempt to draw this?!!?

5.  [shallow end?]  i have already said this, but to say it again, pretty much every available container has a roof.  which means that the roof has to be cut off.  this was an epiphany for me, since i had been imagining trying to enjoy swimming in an 8 foot deep pool.  if you’re going to have to cut the roof of anyhow, you can cut it at any height.  so we had ours cut to make an exterior height of about 6 feet, giving us a swimming depth of 5.5 feet of water.  perfect for laps.  we didn’t delve into a shallow end.  it seemed like too much complication for a beta.  you could make an entirely shallow pool, i.e. a wading pool?

6. [plumbing]  we used entirely the same plumbing as we would have for an in-ground pool, but the edge fixtures (inlets and return to the pump) are using the thin, gasketed fixtures that would be used on an above ground pool.  the pump, filter, heater, one-way valves, etc. can all be easily laid out by a pool store for you for no charge (they want your business) and all you really need to know is what the water dimensions are on your finished container.  we went around and around on whether to plumb it on the outside, attempt to plumb it along the inside walls (we were really stuck on the idea that we needed a main drain in the middle of the bottom for months), or maybe whether the plumbing made it impossible.  the main drain is a bad idea.  a main drain in a concrete pool is embedded in over a foot of concrete and rebar, so in the horrible case that the pool moves a little, the drain is going to move with it.  a shipping container, on the other hand, is going to be lowered into a carefully excavated hole lined with sand by a crane or a very large forklift.  how does that happen with a pipe attached to the bottom?  one option, expensive, would be to weld a permanent drain of non-pitting stainless steel pipe to the bottom of the pool and then have it turn a corner and come up one side (the side where the rest of the equipment will be set) so that it is an integral part of the pool.  i presented this option to the manager of the pool store i frequent, who then said to me, ‘well, people normally turn off their main drain when they’re running a pool vaccuum.  why don’t you just leave your vaccuum on all the time and have that act as a moving main drain?’

brilliant.

needless to say, that also solves the problem of the no shallow end/deep end:  the vaccuum is moving around.  we have a polaris atv.  if i could keep shopping i would, because our many pecan trees clog it up easily, but i think that’s also the lack of a cover.  also, we didn’t put skimmer baskets along the top edges (or edge, as this size pool could get away with having only one) because, again, in a beta it seemed like to many details to attempt to make it structurally sound and watertight at every seam and keep cutting holes in it.  we instead have a skimmer that floats on the water and has the vaccuum running out the other end of it, so that if the vaccuum gets blocked, there is still a place for suction to pull in water, and then our pump won’t burn out.  to say it another way, water gets pulled in from the bottom of the pool through the vaccuum, whose hose then runs up to the surface into the side of a floating skimmer (ours is a polaris lcs – leaf catcher and skimmer – meant for above ground pools), and the skimmer has a 2 part basket, collecting leaves and debris both from the vaccuum and from the surface, and out of the other side a long hose is running to a hole in the side of the container, which runs through pipes back to the pump.  from the pump, the water goes through the filter, then through the heater (if the heater is off, it still runs through – super easy), and back into 4 outlets that enter the pool right at the same height as the suction hole (about 8″ below water level).  by the time we had worked all this out, we just decided it didn’t make any sense to pay someone to implement what we already knew how to do, so we paid the electricians and plumbers that built our house only once the equipment was set up to tie in the gas (for the heater) and electrical.  you may have to find an electrician to do this on the weekend – a residential electrical company is not going to want to take on the liability of giving power to a pool. (ours didn’t)

7.  [details]  we had the outside underground part of the pool painted with a 4-part coal tar epoxy normally used by the oil & gas industry.  the inside of the pool is blue.  there are 2 ladders, one at each end (one is kind of on the side toward the end).  don’t do one ladder – you need an emergency exit for kids.  the container sits 18″ above ground, so you can see its shipping container coolness.  it also means the plumbing gaskets/pipes all sit a few inches above grade, great for doing the plumbing after the pool is in the ground, and also great for leak checking.

there are things i have forgotten.  i will add answers to questions i receive at the end of the post, here: _____________

a deluge of images

because i just am too busy living.  it’s tempting to apologize, but this epic thing was an epic building, and though life on the eastside is fascinating and quite the adventure, i am going to be cooking and reading and planning spanish lessons for our kids (or english lessons for others), which is to say not writing online.  for the moment.

the recoup process for our fam is including lots of people and lots of laying around reading out loud.  but we’ve managed to take a few pictures to show what has happened in the past 6 weeks…

the front yard.  and a shed… i’ll get a better picture too.  it really now has a metal roof and cypress siding.

the ‘living room’.

the ‘kitchen’.

the picture to compare with earlier posts to see just how much we’ve managed to put away since april 18th.

our kids are getting their life back…

the playroom/linen closet/laundry room/office/landing sans people.

view 2.

our bedroom.

our bathroom.

well, part of our bathroom.  and here’s part of the other 2nd floor bathroom.

the rest of bathroom #2.  (there is a third on the first floor.  no picture of that today.)

how we get up and down.  this was taken standing in the middle of the playroom/laundry/office/landing.

roofers.  i mean sons.

where the roofers sleep.

where our semi-permanent houseguest sleeps.  the cork on the walls he put up himself.  !

el nido:  occupied and fitted out with books, featherbed, trinkets, and some pillows.

deck transformation.  this is before and after all in one shot.

the decking sealer’s assistants, who read the gospel of mark and harry potter 3 out loud to be nice.

we really use this space.  as evidenced by the constantly moving constellation of chairs, stools, firepit, and tables.

thanks for taking a tour.  as has been said before, we’ll happily give a real tour in the real world.  find us and ask for coffee.

beautiful.

it is just a combination of wood, metal, and thought; and in the end, it’s only a house. but having never done this before, i think the order out of disorder is quite fantastic.

have you ever lay awake late at night, wondering if you needed to get an engineer to draw a roof framing plan, and now you have a roof, but no framing plan, and, heavens, how will you ever pass the framing inspection?

that was me.  i fretted.  i talked to taylor.  i did pray about it, but i still lay awake wondering if i should call the engineer who designed our foundation but is seriously amazing and this isn’t something i should bother him about (he’s a pier expert).  or if i should call the company that does the other stage inspections and ask them to cobble together something after the fact and hope that i didn’t screw up by telling the framers that whatever they thought would be good would be good.  aieeeeeeeeee.

so i thought all weekend.  i lay awake.  i woke up early with my stomach turning over.  hello?  it’s a framing plan for a roof that i already have.  but the inexorable logic of it didn’t really seep into my being until late in the weekend, and then i looked worried one moment and spouse asks, ‘are you worried?  what are you thinking about?’ and i tell him, and he just laughs.  i realize i’m a dope, but it was great to be told that there are things to worry about in life, and plans for roofs that you already have aren’t those.

so, bright and early monday morning, deep breath, but no terror…….i call the head inspector for the company i’ve been using, and ask, apologetically and perhaps a little overwhelmingly beseechingly, if i need a roof framing plan, because, well, i have this roof, and i did discuss it with the other engineer, yada, yada, yada.

‘is this commercial or residential?’

‘residential.’

‘nope.  you’re fine.  we’ll look at it and then the city inspector will look at it.  that’s all you need.’

i have never been more aware of how stupid worrying about tomorrow is.  there’s this part of the book of matthew in the bible that makes the case for not-worrying so well i have committed it to memory, mostly because i always find myself worrying.  it was idiotic to waste any stomach acid on that one.

ok, enough about my mental status over the weekend.  lesson learned, i hope.  things are happening in infill-ville.  the metal cornice is going into place.

i think it’s great that the flashing around the bottom of the cedar matches the windows and also the corner pieces.  perhaps i’m just saying that so maybe you’ll notice.  i’m enjoying consistency of theme – the simplicity of it, and the ease with which we can make decisions based on it.

also being carefully assembled is the metal siding :  they started at the back of the house, so in this picture the guys are all standing on the pool cover (osb and 2×4’s) working.  you can see easily how much of a squeeze the pool was/is.

the week looks to be busy, which i’m thrilled about.  tomorrow is supposed to be insulation of underhouse and underbalcony spaces, meeting with plumber, 2 framers doing finish-up work like missing boards and window caulking, and more metal.  and in between, the small enthusiastic ones and i will be gardening in the community garden.  we have the goal of planting lettuce in february, but that will mean a lot of mulching and turning of earth.

just when i thought manual labor was over…

4,550 lbs. of recycled glass terrazzo tile got delivered to our street.  for me.  without a forklift.

‘well…’ said the delivery man, not in any way related in business to the company who sells this beautiful tile, ‘i don’t know why they contract with us, but none of our trucks have forklifts.  we only have pallet jacks.’

with wheels smaller than the roller skates i remember from roller king in the fourth grade.  try as i might to make a ramp for said pallet jack to get over the curb (using scrap osb, of course), the weight of this tile was just too much – one try up and all was lost.  it was just me (and corin and ari) and 4,550 pounds of tile.

i called mccoy’s.  their forklift was broken. and this isn’t their problem.  i called the restore (habitat for humanity) – not their problem either.  and who asks to borrow a forklift?  in my desperation, i didn’t really care.

of course, the boys offered to help.  we decided the weight of the tile made it an unlikely item for theft over the lunch hour, so we left the electricians on the roof enjoying the view and went to eat tacos and chips and salsa (and the great free charro beans they bring you sometimes).  in the minutes that elapsed during my decision to actually take a lunch, a friend (with a very small baby) called to see if we wanted to meet, so we all ate tacos, and then returned to start moving the tile.

two women, one baby, two smallish boys – no match for all the tile.  but a match for ~2,500 pounds.  stacked just inside the fence, we quit to have cokes and wait for the men (husbands) to finish the rest.

they did.  i thought this afternoon would involve quietly reading and enjoying a day without five crews working simultaneously. (why i didn’t post last night:  after plumbing, electrical, mechanical, framing, roofing, and a meeting with the finish/deck contractor, i just didn’t have it in me.  and i forgot the camera.)  little did i know, a g.c.’s work is never done.

moving on to other news, the siding is going up and the house has all its windows and doors.  not that i can show you them at this moment, because i forgot the camera again.  i could make excuse by saying i left it upstairs after taking pictures to sell stuff we don’t want to move on craig’s list, but would it matter?  please forgive.  it is already near the door for tomorrow.  the first floor’s cedar is lovely, with knot holes and color variations galore.  we couldn’t decide today if it elicited feelings of the beach and northeast, or skiing and chalets, or cabins in the mountains.  any are great.  and the stair tower is being sheathed carefully and artfully in three colors of hardi lap siding by claudio.  he steps back to study every few rows and is enjoying the chance (i base this on his smiles) to make the house beautiful.  they all think i’m a little weird, but i think they like the house at least a little.

in other news, it started raining this afternoon, and the deck plywood for the roof porch has a few gaps that were starting to let in rain by the time we left.  after sitting down to a late (of course) dinner of pizza and wine, taylor and i realized suddenly it was probably worth the time to drive down there and tarp the roof.  our linen closet now empty, i have been told the house is dry and tarped.  tomorrow the framers and i will be there bright and early, for what may indeed be the last day of framing.  to cheer them along, i’m bringing muffins, and i lament that there is no extra coffee press & water heater to take along as well (though sawdust and coffee don’t go too well together).

i’m going to try to start using tags today, so don’t laugh if they’re incredibly dorky or boring or somehow a blogging faux pas.  this is all very new.  weird to me that i have something to write about every single day.

and even weirder is that we set the cool pool in the ground 29 november, and the first day of pier drilling was 19 december.  even with the hols, this house has been under construction for less than a month.  who knew it could be so fast?  absolutely no idea if the speed will continue.