When purchasing a shipping container, one of the first things people want to know is how much weight a shipping container roof can hold. This is an important question: if you live inside your shipping container, you will want to know if it will support your weight. Shipping containers need to be strong.
They are designed to last at least 15–20 years on the water and with no maintenance, so it’s no surprise that they can easily keep loads worth thousands of pounds up on their roofs. This article sheds more light on how much weight a shipping container roof can hold.
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Types of Shipping Containers According to Size
The standard container sizes are 20 feet and 40 feet long. More prolonged containers of up to 53 feet can be found in specific ports, but they’re rare. Here is a list of the expected shipping container sizes and the weight their roof can hold.
20-Foot Shipping Container
This 20-foot shipping container is a great way to store your stuff or move it between places. It’s got the following dimensions: Exterior dimensions: 6.10m long x 2.44m wide x 2.59m high. Interior Dimensions: 5.898m long x 2.352m wide x 2.393m high. It has a payload capacity of 25,000 kg / 55,126.9 lbs. and a cubic capacity of 33.2 m3. Its unloaded weight is 2,300 kg and can be loaded to a maximum weight of 28 tons (25,400kg).
40-Foot Shipping Container
The 40-Foot Shipping Container is an excellent solution for a wide range of storage and living needs. Its exterior dimensions are 12.19m long x 2.44m wide x 2.59m high, and its interior measurements are 12.025m long x 2.352m wide x 2.393m high.
It has an empty weight of 3,750kg and can be loaded to a maximum overall weight of 29 tons (26,300kg). The 63.48 cubic meter capacity makes it perfect for storing all sorts of items that need to be stored safely and securely.
40-Foot High Cube Shipping Container
The 40-foot high cube shipping container is great for transporting heavy loads. It has an empty weight of 4,150kg and can be loaded to a maximum overall weight of 29 tons (26,300kg). Its exterior dimensions are 12.19m long x 2.44m wide x 2.99m high, and its interior measurements are 12.025m long x 2.352m wide x 2.585m high. It has a capacity of 67 cubic meters.
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45-Foot High Cube Shipping Container
The 45-Foot High Cube Shipping Container is the most common size of a shipping container. And it’s the perfect choice for your next shipment. It’s 13.716m long x 2.438m wide x 2.896m high when empty and can be loaded to a maximum overall weight of 27,800 kg (61,290 lbs.). This container has an internal capacity of 76.3 m3, which means you’ll be able to fit all kinds of goods into this container!
53-Foot Shipping Container
This 53-foot shipping container is an all-around workhorse with a massive capacity and personality.
This container has the following dimensions: 16.15 m long x 2.59m wide x 2.9m high, empty weight is 4,876 kg, and can be loaded to a maximum overall weight of 33,075 kg. It’s got enough room for 121 cubic meters of stuff to get shipped worldwide in style!
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How Do Shipping Containers Hold Weight?
Shipping containers have a wide variety of applications and uses. While they are most commonly used for transporting goods, you’ll also see them in many other areas. If you’ve ever wondered how shipping containers hold weight, and how much weight a container roof can hold, read on.
1. Shipping Containers Are Made of Steel
The first thing to know about shipping containers is that they’re made from steel. Steel is a very strong, lightweight material that can be formed into any shape and used in various settings. The strength of the steel makes it great for shipping. This is because it can withstand the pounding and shaking that occurs during transport.
The overall strength of a steel box comes from its thickness and its shape. The longer and broader the box is, the more weight it can support without bending or breaking under pressure. However, there are also other factors at work here.
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2. Shipping Containers Have a Lot of Rivets
Shipping containers also have a lot of rivets that hold them together and keep them sturdy. Each container has at least 40 or 50 rivets and many more screws and bolts. These all work to increase the strength of the container, hence the weight a container roof can hold.
The rivets help to keep the container together even if there are holes in the side or top of it from something hitting it during shipping. The rivets help keep all of the pieces together so that they do not fall apart and cause damage or injury to anyone nearby who could get hurt by falling metal pieces.
3. Shipping Containers Are Designed to Be Stacked
Shipping containers are built to withstand the pressure of being stacked on top of each other in a cargo ship. They also have to be able to stand up to rough motions as they travel around the world by sea.
The walls and floor of a shipping container must be strong enough to increase the weight a container roof can hold. But they also need to be light enough for easy transport by truck or rail car. This means they must be built out of lightweight materials. Light materials such as aluminum or steel that can still offer the strength needed for stacking them up on top of each other.
Aluminum is usually used on refers, and steel on the other types of shipping containers.
4. Shipping Containers Have Pillars
Shipping containers have pillars, or posts, that are located on the four corners of the container. These pillars form a part of the structure of the shipping container. The pillars are used to support the heavy weight of the cargo being carried in the container. Consequently, the pillars increase the weight a container roof can hold.
Important to note that the pillars are hollow inside. From simple physics, since stress/bending stress equals to force per given area (stress=F/A). Then we can say that since they are hollow, this reduces the cross sectional area, and in return increases the amount of stress the pillars can withstand.
This is to say that how much weight a shipping container roof can hold, is dependent on the strength of the pillars.
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Conclusion
If you plan on using an existing shipping container for your home, you must ensure that the container is still structurally sound. The structurally sound container means the more weight a container roof can hold.
And so one of the best ways is to do an inspection of the shipping container. As a rule of thumb, rusty, rusted, and old containers won’t be able to bear excessive weight. New containers, one-, or two-trip containers are pricey, but your best bet.
While this information can’t be used for any specific shipping container, it can give you a generalized idea of your possible options. This information assumes that you’ll take safety precautions, such as using a sturdy roof frame, including proper ventilation. Being prepared will help ensure you always have a large space. A space for items you may wish to store for the long term.
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