Top 10 Uses of Steel Storage Containers
Steel storage containers have a variety of uses. In this detailed overview, we see how to maximize benefits with the top 10 uses steel storage containers.
Since the dawn of time, storage containers have been in use for shipping and storage. You could find ships moving large cargo from one destination to another through these containers.
While much of that role hasn’t changed, even today, steel storage containers have evolved to perform higher purposes. As a result, there are different types of containers available, depending on your needs, be it renting or buying them.
If you want more insight on how containers work, here are the ten creative and profitable ways to use a metal shipping container.
1. Classrooms or a School
In select parts of the world, accessing a good education is impossible due to insufficient schools. Thus, you’ll find some students learning under trees while others brave the weather in poorly built structures.
And, considering building a school brick by brick is both expensive and time-consuming. Storage containers can serve as the ideal alternative. Several containers can serve as extra classrooms in an already established school.
If you increase the numbers, you could build a school from scratch using shipping containers.
In addition, it’s an easy build that causes minimal disruption to the calendar year. Plus, if you invest in solar panels instead of conventional electricity and install windows in place of air conditioning, costs might go down significantly.
Open-sided containers are the best for constructing a classroom. This is because they’re low maintenance and have corrugated steel that won’t buck under pressure even if you put one on top of the other.
2. Restaurants or Pop-up Café
Starting a restaurant has many challenges. Besides raising seed capital to fund the business, you’ll need buffer cash for the first few months worth of rent if there are no immediate returns.
While there are incubator programs for restaurant startups across the country where you can co-share a space, it’s not the same as having a stainless steel container café. Here, not only do you own the structure, but you can move it from one location to another, depending on the market demand.
Furthermore, portable storage containers stand out, and hence, are attention-grabbing. Besides, depending on the structural design and outdoor decoration. Your restaurant or café could be a popular joint where people come to hang out and enjoy good meals.
The ideal container for restaurant use should be sturdy, of the right size, and have enough space to accommodate customers. If possible, go for one with double doors for proper ventilation since you’ll be cooking inside.
3. Emergency Medical Facility
Just like education, access to proper healthcare is a universal concern. While constructing hospitals should be the long-term goal. Looking for suitable alternatives could potentially save the lives of millions in remote areas of the country.
Besides, emergencies happen all the time, and sometimes people die while on the road to a hospital. Thus, storage containers can serve as portable clinics in a disaster where people need immediate medical attention in remote areas.
They are easy to set up and much more cost-effective than setting up campsites. Furthermore, once you’ve established a portable clinic, additional supplies are sent to that location at a moment’s notice.
The Flying Doctors Service by AMREF, which provides medical emergencies in national disasters, uses containers to provide instant medical care to victims. An excellent example of this is the containers used as clinics during the Haiti hurricane.
But, they must be modified before they can operate as surgical suites or radiology sites for patients.
4. Workshop or Office
Space is a common issue across major cities in the country. Suitable office spots have already are on-demand in almost every town. What’s more, most town buildings tend to be over-congested because each floor hosts different companies.
However, once you have several containers, you can stack one on top of the other to create levels, each with its set of offices. Then, you could rent this space to corporate or startups as a base for their ground of operation.
Since the containers connect, they take up less space, and you can build a whole community of workspaces. The best part is that these steel storage containers are almost impenetrable because of their reinforced steel. Thus, office holders can leave valuable items without worries, such as computers, tools, and supplies.
5. Portable Toilets
Access to sanitary conditions is a basic need in all parts of the world. But not all are lucky enough to have toilets constructed in their respective regions, especially in developing nations.
Furthermore, events take place at different venues which require sanitary toilets. And while there are portable toilets for this purpose, those from storage containers are more spacious and clean.
But, repurposing a storage container into a toilet is no easy feat. For the best result, you’ll need to find one divided into sections, which can serve as toilet rooms. The best container for this is the general-purpose container because it’s fully enclosed and weatherproof.
6. Retail Outlet
Brick and mortar stores dominated the past century but used steel storage retail containers took over the scene. Considering the containers, when well-structured and decorated, are by far more attractive than stores. As a result, they can bring in more customers.
Plus, they take less time to establish and can move from city to city, depending on the market trends. For this reason, your retail business isn’t restricted to a specific geographical location.
Once you have several containers, stack them on top of one another to form a beautiful shopping complex. If you add a couple more with time, it could develop into a high-profile mall with hundreds of customers.
There are perfect examples of these distributed all over the country. You will find them in major cities like Las Vegas and San Francisco to smaller towns such as Wichita in Kansas.
7. Eco-Bridge
There’s a lot of work that goes into constructing a bridge. Unfortunately, too many evaluations of the impact of a bridge can delay its construction. This increases the building costs long term, but not with container-built bridges.
Because they’re long and narrow-shaped, containers stacked together from end to end and held in position by tall cranes could make the perfect bridge. And since it involves recycling metal containers, this process is friendlier to the environment.
Besides, their sturdy nature means the containers can support heavy loads passing through the bridge, even vehicles. An excellent example of this is the E-container Bridge in Israel Ariel Sharon Park that runs 840km constructed recently.
8. Art Studio
Finding a suitable venue to host an art exhibition is competitive for any artist because all the good locations are either taken or over-priced. Furthermore, you want a place of your own where people can buy the art anytime instead of on specific show days.
Since containers are versatile, they can be remodeled into attractive art galleries with glass windows. The more creative you’re with the decoration, the better your art studio will look to the outside world. This gives you greater chances of getting more eyeballs to view your work.
In essence, you don’t need a big stainless steel container to make a creative art studio. A 40-foot high container is enough, provided it has reinforced steel to protect your art even when you’re away from the studio.
9. Furniture
Cutting down trees to make wood furniture is expensive and unfriendly to the environment. Besides, a tree undergoes a lengthy process before it can become the finished wood product.
Furniture from recycled containers has corrugated steel, which is sturdy and durable enough to create chairs, tables, or desks for schools and offices. The pieces of metal from these containers can also be included as decorative elements in lightings.
10. A Multi-Purpose Center
The truth is there are more ways than one to use steel storage containers that you can profit from. For starters, you can turn a container into an entertainment center where people come to relax and listen to good music.
Secondly, during the weekdays, the container can serve as a storage unit to rent out space for a specific price range. You can store both heavy and valuable equipment inside your container. This is because reinforced steel provides more security.
And lastly, stainless steel containers could double up as emergency centers. Victims of disaster can go to seek temporary refuge before they get alternative dwelling arrangements.
The Best Steel Storage Containers
Steel storage containers can be in use in more ways than one. Once you have a portable storage container, you can transform it into an income-generating tool that could be profitable in the long run.
If you’ve been thinking about buying a shipping container but wonder how to use it best, these points will give you an idea. Take one of them and exploit it to the best of your ability for the maximum result.
For the best deals on containers in the market, get a quote from us, and we’ll give you a display of the type of containers available and how they could be of potential benefit.
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