Second Floor Containers - Installation

Here is the video of the second floor containers that were installed on Mar. 7th 2009. You can also watch the video directly on www.youtube.com at,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYpN1peR2f4

Avani Zaidi

First Floor Containers - Installation

Here are the photos of the first floor containers that were installed on Jan. 10th 2009.

Avani Zaidi

Lesli from CDEG directing the traffic

South container ready to be moved

Getting rear fork lift in position

Turning the container towards the gate

Erik (our architect) from CDEG making sure the container is aligned right

Jonah holding off the traffic on the other end

Placing wood blocks underneath the container

Crane ready to move the container in its place

North container installed

South container installed

Container Fabrication - Part 2

The four shipping container for the first and second floors are almost done. The are still on site at AAA Container's yard in Fontana, CA. They will be shipped to the lot once the foundation is ready.

Here are some pictures.

Avani Zaidi

First floor - south container with the cutouts for front door and windows.

Finished first floor - south container.

First floor - north container.

Second floor - south container with the opening for loft's sliding door and bedroom windows.

Side view of the second floor - south container.

Second floor - north container.

Back side of the second floor - north container. It will be connected to the corresponding south container.

Container Fabrication - Part 1

This is very exciting, our container fabricator (AAA Containers) is almost done with the First Floor - North Container. Here are some snapshots.

Enjoy

Avani Zaidi

First Floor - North Container Fabrication Plan

North side, opens into kitchen and living room

Inside view

South side, will be facing the adjacent container

Framing beams close-up

Elevations

Here are the latest elevations.

You can use the link under PLANS to see a bigger view.

Thanks,

Avani Zaidi

Welcome

Welcome to our blog. We are building an eco-friendly house out of used shipping containers in Upland, California. As we go through this exercise, we would like to share our experiences with all of you guys.

This is our first time, and it has already been a big learning experience for us. There are lot of unknown and gotchas. In maintaining this blog we will also try to provide some guidance for first time builders interested in green and eco-friendly design. Please feel free to comment on any of the posts.

Little bit of history
Last year we bought an open lot in San Antonio Heights here in Upland, California (about 50 miles east of Los Angeles). Both me and my husband wanted to use environment-friendly construction, so we got the help of a local architecture firm that specializes in green design 'Claremont Environmental Design Group. The result was a unique and challenging design utilizing intermodal shipping containers.

About us
We are a young family. We recently had a baby girl (our first) on July 14th 2007. My husband works at a software company in Claremont, CA. Whereas I am a Physical Therapist with Masters in Computer Science. We met in school when I was doing my Masters in CS. We are currently renting. But two years ago when I got pregnant we started looking at new houses, but nothing caught our eye plus the prices were too high. So we started looking at open lots and building a custom house. Soon after we found a 12,000 sqft lot in Upland, CA. Since then we have been busy designing our environment-friendly house. And so far things have worked out very well.

Our property is located at,

340 W 24th Street
Upland, CA 91784

Please feel free to contact us.

Enjoy browsing,

Avani Zaidi
avani.zaidi@gmail.com