Comments for The Home Crowd

Comment on Re-use of Entertainment centers as play kitchens by Amy

Amy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:51:46 +0000

Thanks so much for featuring my little girls play kitchen… she spends hours ‘cooking’ in it!!

Comment on Fold-out Window Balcony by Bloomframe® by ????

???? — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:34:23 +0000

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Comment on Shipping Container Condos by Home

Home — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:53:30 +0000

Of course it’s biased… I don’t like it. That’s my bias.

That’s why it’s an “Opinion”, they work best when you form your own.

And of course I have an understanding of this quirky little habitation fad, I called everyone I knew in the Shipping Container community, and had asked if I could jump on the bandwagon as well, but they said it was full.

Thing is, I find re-use of shipping containers to be a great idea, when produced in a practical manner, and generally much closer to the ground. Just because each ‘intact’ shipping container can support 35 tons, doesn’t mean constructing a giant tower is necessarily the best housing solution.

This reminds me of straw-bale housing. Sure it’s a great idea, yet maybe not for a gigantic bale housing tower.

And certainly shipping containers could be a great answer to low-income housing. Personally, if a shipping container was set up with basic amenities, I’d prefer one in a disaster to the formaldehyde-filled FEMA trailers.

In terms of project scope, this project is very similar to the London Travelodge, as seen here on Treehugger
The construction type seems very similar, and while they’ve constructed this hotel from custom ordered containers directly from china, it would seem that from a sustainability standpoint, someone would inevitably step up to retrofit leftover containers for this use. Of course, this pre-fab method cuts 25% of the build time, yet only trims 10% of the contruction costs. For my 10% however, I’ll take traditional materials and methods.

But yes, my take IS biased and lacks understanding. As far as “dropping to name calling”? You may wanna save that for anyone who tries to charge you a half a million (lowballing my guess-timate on this one) for a shipping container loft.

Comment on Shipping Container Condos by Katie

Katie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 04:55:40 +0000

Honestly, I think your take on the idea is biased and lacks understanding… I was actually researching this idea and came across your article. It was the first negative take I’ve seen yet.

This isn’t the prettiest (yes pretty) installation I’ve seen in shipping container homes, and it’s more wide spread than you’d think.

Also for someone with little to no income, this is an excellent idea for stable housing units.

I’m going to end this before I drop to name calling, but perhaps you should have done a LOT more research on the topic before you published the article.

Comment on Shrink Wrap unsold / foreclosed homes by Jacob Christensen

Jacob Christensen — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 17:49:34 +0000

Good post! I like to read histories about business who use the crisis to expand their horizonts.

Comment on Foreclosures Trashed – What’s it worth to prevent this? by The Home Crowd | Shrink Wrap unsold / foreclosed homes

The Home Crowd | Shrink Wrap unsold / foreclosed homes — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 06:48:20 +0000

[...] The new idea however, is wrapping unsold and/or foreclosed homes almost entirely in shrink wrap, protecting them from the elements without the care of a tenant, and possibly deterring vandalism. Any vandals that want to get past the shrink wrap would likely only need a pocketknife or scissors, but nonetheless, it’s a nice deterrent from vandals out to strip a foreclosed home of the copper wiring…or worse. [...]