Now that we have actually begun to wrestle with building per our carefully rendered design (not),
we see that a two container design that requires both containers to be perfectly level, plumb at the top and bottom and generally perfectly spaced, we find we have bought ourselves a lot of extra work.
In retrospect, it might have been a better idea to change the design to allow more time to experiment with possibilities rather than sweat it out trying to get the things EXACTLY spaced.
Oh well. It's done but we could have likely been finished now if we hadn't been so enamored with the design of a house we saw in Canada and that we have already given up on attempting to recreate. Again, whatever. The design is a moving target. One part romance and one part compromise designed to get out of the blistering heat. The phrase "that's good enough for me" translates as "I am so damn hot I cannot screw with this for another second."
Hopefully we will maintain enough of our formerly high standards to keep us out of trouble. We should have started in February or March but two things happened. First, we let ourselves get psyched out with the unknowns. Second, it rained like an SOB and we couldn't get through the mud to work on the thing. Nevertheless, game on and we will march toward completion, dehydration and sunstroke be damned.
Positives and negatives of this design:
P- We like the way it's going to look
P- the 2x6 ledger boards fit into the bottom edge of the container perfectly- therefore, we can bolt the ledger boards onto the container sides which means we can level and connect the joists BEFORE installing the beams. We are raising the beams to the joists instead of the other way around and that is elegantly perfect.
P- It looks pretty cool
N- we had to reduce the size of the space in the middle to 16'. Longer beams are more difficult to transport to the site and are significantly more expensive. However, the 8+16+8 satisfies our sense of symmetry and is decent sized space for our needs. We feel certain that this is only stage one of this project and that it will expand and transform later. I already wish I had three and could lift one on top of the other two. Maybe next year.
N- One 40' container is almost half as much money as two 20'. However, we were unable to be certain that we could transport a 40' container to the site. That was stupid since two 20' containers came on one trailer so duh.... ding ding....
N and P- We REALLY want to use glass garage doors, one in front and one in back. This is supposed to be a see-through structure with the center hall/living room exposed from the front and the back. The negative is that garage doors of this type are expensive and difficult to install. We have already faced the issue of outside contractors complaining about the lack of roads and the difficulty of scheduling visits to such a remote location. Also, the weight of the doors requires additional effort and a higher ceiling to allow for headroom clearance. The positive is that we can put them in later if we feel like it. For now, we're going with screen and a ceiling fan.
There are others but I need to return phone calls. My point is that one should think carefully about the ramifications of this kind of design.
So there.
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