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Cargotexture Metal Container Housing Comes to Maine

Posted: Jun 18, 2018 | By: David Whitney

We love what we do at Sheridan Construction, constructing value engineered buildings for commercial industrial, even retail businesses. But once in a while Sheridan Construction will get an inquiry about a project so out of the realm of our usual sector that we almost have to take it. Or at least take a look at it, because we welcome the challenge.

That’s what happened when we helped construct the Adriance family home, a private residence situated on several acres in Blue Hill, Maine built from trans-oceanic shipping containers. That’s right. Sheridan Construction was asked to help construct a corrugated-metal container house, in what the home’s architect cleverly coined as “cargotexture.”

While Sheridan Construction doesn’t typically do residential projects, the cargotexture concept was appealing. We had to figure out how to offer a structural solution to stack massive metal containers on top of each other, weld them together, and put on a roof strong enough to support the heavy snow load that comes with Maine’s long winters. And on top of that, it had not been done here before, so we were pioneering a new design concept in Maine.

Our in house structural engineers did a study, analyzing the proposed 2,000 square-foot super structure comprised of 12 by 20 boxcar shipping containers, with two aluminum/glass garage doors, protected by a Butler Manufacturing MR 24 roof system. Since steel buildings are our specialty, we came up with a customized solution to effectively attach a 40 by 50 Butler roof over the double stacked container sections, along with a uniquely modified Butler structural system that would not only support the roof, but protect the home’s cargo containers and connecting glass walls. Then we put the components together.

Sheridan Construction was also able to offer fabrication capabilities for the project using our own 10,000 square foot shop space. From perfecting and painting the massive metal containers their classic rust orange color and welding them together, to producing and installing two sets of steel staircases, mezzanines, handrails and other interior steel features, we were able to help save both time and costs. 

The project, which took a year from concept and planning to building, sprung from imagination and was built on the collaborative integrity of Butler’s structural design, Sheridan’s in house engineers and fabrication shop, and a united team in erecting Maine’s first cargotexture boxcar home.

It isn’t often that Sheridan Construction is asked to help design a structure made from authentic shipping containers, in an interlocking building block design concept and style. But when inspiration called for a creative solution, we were there.

For another look at the Adriance home, visit Maine Home+Design