Moving day

How NOT to move your container :-)

Last Sunday I finally decided that with nothing else productive to do, it was time to move the Box in to place by the new container. The "end goal" is to possibly link the two together in an "L" shape. I feel this is a good time to make some notes about what to do and what NOT to do when moving or even leveling a container.

 

This was the first time that it had been moved since I built it. During construction it was already in place and leveled before any cutting had begun. With this move, I had windows and drywall and everything else inside. My biggest fear was breaking windows by "tweaking" the box as I lifted each corner. Another concern was the previous location was on a slope and the new location relatively flat.

The actual "move" was only 8-10 feet in one direction but what an adventure it turned out to be!

 

Since I don't have anything to actually lift and move (like a large forklift or a crane) the only option available was to slide it in to position. For this I put two sections of well casing under it and then slowly set the box down on the well casing. From here I then used my truck to pull it down a little bit at a time, alternating corners as I went to try to keep it straight.

 

This brings up my first point I need to drive home to anybody dealing with containers. NEVER underestimate the weight of a container!!



 

 

The picture is one of the 2 pieces of 3 1/2 in well casing I had under the box to drag it on. Before I started it was STRAIGHT. I will in the future be shopping for I-beams for any future moves!

 

Moving on, even with the doors open I remain amazed at the rigidity of these things. There was no noticeable bending or "tweaking of the structure. It remained a perfectly square box for all intents and purposes. There was no damage to the windows either.

 

Leveling and lifting

Here is where you begin to wish that it was not so rigid. for this I use a normal high-lift jack and a purpose built hydraulic container jack of my own design. Now that I know my design works I need to build another one. A word of caution is in order here, DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT USING 1 JACK TO LIFT A CONTAINER! At a MINIMUM, have 2 high-lift jacks on hand before you even begin.

 

Before you even begin lifting any more than 1/2 inch or so, make sure all corners are in contact with the ground. "shim it" with blocks, gravel, sand, 2x4's or anything else to begin with all 4 corners in contact with the ground. If you do not do this you have a very big chance that it will come up with most of the pressure on one corner. If this happens it WILL "pivot" on that corner at the most inopportune moment!

 

Now that you have equal pressure under all four corners (as close as possible) you can begin to level. For this you will use your jacks either both on the end, or both on the side. If you do not have an "inclinometer", then measure your starting points. A bubble level may be no good because if it is too far off you will not see how far it has moved.

 

Now you are ready to lift. This is NOT the time to get in a hurry! Bring one jack up 1 "click" and then bring the other up one click. Get out your tape measure again and verify that it came up evenly (be very cautious about the jack settling in to the ground!). At this time inspect the non lifted corners to ensure that they are still firmly on the ground. Repeat this "1 click at a time" until you are level on 1 side. After blocking and removing the jacks, you can now go to the low end and repeat the procedure.

 

Once you are level, then you can move on to set the height using the same procedure.

 

Summary

• Do not ever let all the pressure rest on 1 corner at any point in the lift! Either the two side corners on the ground, or the two end corners.
• Lift evenly on the side or end. Constantly inspect the non lifted corners for indications they are coming off the ground.
• DO NOT GET IN A HURRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!