Great Concept For Affordable Housing in the Dominican

got any pics of that container home

Here is one link to versions of container homes:

Shipping Container House/Home Plans and Container City Designs


At first, I thought you were talking about something like this: :cheeky:

Aww, schitt!! That's a picture o' our family apartment complex back in West (by God ) Virginia!!

You pullin' muh leg, sonny???

HB

This might be a temporary solution for Haiti to get these poor people as quick as possible a roof over their head.

Those things are ovens!! No way....
Tents would be much better.

HB

Unfortunately, very frequently I am required to live in ?container cabins?. Oil companies use these for accommodation in remote oil fields.

I agree with HB? these things can get uncomfortably warm inside. A strong air conditioning unit is a must.

Domes are more sturdy, energy efficient, generally larger and won't cook their inhabitants like a container might. Unfortunately there aren't many architects/engineers/builders that are skilled in dome construction.

Deltec Homes

There's been $750,000,000 in Haiti earthquake relief donations, so far.

That will buy a bunch of these: Hurricane Resistant Prefab Round House, Prefab Green Dome Kits

You are kidding right?

Maybe for some of Haiti's elite, but you are talking about 3 million of the poorest folk in the Americas.. A good Tent, right now, is a palace. They deserve not to be mocked. The idea of using containers could be made to work IF sun shields were erected above them and other accomodations made. But they could be hell-holes, too...I do not really like the idea.

Let's get real: That whole area from Leogane to Port-au-Prince needs to be rebuilt from infrastructure to housing. Public housing needs to be done respecting pre-existing communities, not just shuffling everyone into new buildings...

HB

If you think the Dominicans politicians ROB, then you haven't seen the Haitians political
robbery, what ever is done it wont get to the people who need it most,
I heard a couple of days ago they Haitians ports were holding medical supplies because they didn't pay taxes.....go figure

You were refering to this image:

http://wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/containerhome.jpg

Sorry the image tool is down.

Several people have said this would be too hot and that it would need insulation. I agree if it was placed in direct sunlight, but this could be dealt with on the short term with a cana thatch over roof and by planting trees and other growth around the unit in the long term.

I think of something like this for regional access points for aid. You need something that is secure and being semi-portable would be a plus as well. I live in a 8x12 shack with a tin roof for months near the equator running a small store out of it and it never got hot as long as it was ventilated.

You can also use the heat absorbtion of metal to create a chimney effect to pull air through the building. Put a layer of corrugated tin painted black above the unit with a sealed air space below it and a vent on one end of the building and possibly a chimney. The sun heats the space inside to a higher temp and as it rises it is released through the vent. It pulls cooler ground air through the building through an opening in the inner roof on the other side of the building. It is completely passive and only works when it is hot enough to create the draft.

There are about a million shipping containers lying around in the US. Much of the aid will be coming to Haiti in these containers and converting them to housing would need minimum labor. For the cost of returning the containers thousands of homes and other buildings could be built.

I think immediatly, they could use about a million of these:

SELF CHARGER FM RADIO WITH LIGHT-Wholesale toys, novelties, bulk toys, wholesale redemption, toys, novelty, plush, candy

$6 for a radio/flashlight that doesn't need batteries.

Another concept would be something like this:



But instead of it being circular, make it arch shaped. It collapses to under 2" thick. Add a couple of straps to hold it shut, enough storage to hold some food, water storage, and add backpack straps. You would then have an instant tent that pops open, can carry minimal supplies and be 100% portable. It would weigh under 5 pounds without the food and water and cost under $20 to make. With a sleeping pad it would be a very reasonable emergency shelter.

One thing people tend to forget is that anything made of wood will have a durability of just a few years in the tropics. Ants and termites will eat anything organic. It's either concrete/cinderblocks, corrugated metal, or mud, sticks and thatch.

To go really cheap, you could make yurts of a sort by making a circular 8' wall out expanded steel mesh with a skim coat of mortar(fiberglass added if possible) on it. Put in a dozen vertical posts with footings made out of PVC pipes and rebar to make supports for a thatch roof and to support the walls until the skim coat is done.. The walls would be about an inch or two thick. It would crack and chip if another earthquake hit but no one would be injured with flakes of concrete.





I think $200-$500 would cover the cost of materials depending on the diameter. They could be built with dirt floors and upgraded later when plumbing and other niceties are added.

Now THAT does make sense, and the funny funny thing is that THAT is what most people USED to live in. They are called "tejeman?" houses and can be seen in the Deep South and in the Northwest.
Very basic but efficient. Twigs threaded among uprights and then covered in mud (or not), with thatched roof....Cool in the day and warm at night.

This is an idea that gets HB's Seal of Approval...

HB*****

The yurts look like a great idea, but may need some form of modifications for the heavier rains here and drainage away from doorways -maybe link two together with some kind of a roof over the space between for the entry.

Along the same lines of air circulation are these container homes designed for the tropics - they use a roof made from bamboo, which is above the container areas to provide cooling and shade to the actual container living spaces below:

PREFAB FRIDAY: Container Homes for the Tropics | Inhabitat

Several good ideas here. They are also using containers designed as reefer units, and not the typical plain steel shipping container, as they are insulated to some degree.

See? that is what I am talking about. They have to put some sort of heat shield ove the containers to insulate from the sun...

Still like the steel mesh idea...Not round but rectangular [] with front and back entrance.
Kitchen out back, like always.

This could fly...


HB

The economics of stuff like this really kind of blows me away. In the US a 10' PVC pipe is about $5 or $6 bucks and you don't really think about it, but in Haiti, one pipe would be more than a day's wages for most people. One of the things they were pulling out from the rubble in Port au Prince was rebar like they were digging for buried treasure. I just saw a building torn down the other day and it was all going to a landfill and it was just chock-full of rebar and other salvagable materials..

Maybe we should start exporting C&D to Haiti??? It's $70 a ton to THROW OUT here in NY after transport and demo costs.

Maybe it's just the farmboy in me (hey, we can't all be hillbillies, but close), but those yurts look a lot like something else that is readily available in the US in good supply, new or used. With a 4" concrete slab, a couple of wrenches, and a tool to cut out spaces for windows and doors, these might also work:



Slap a coat of white paint on, pop the top cover , or adapt a larger version of a cover a couple of feet above the hole for ventilation and to keep out the rain, and there's a potential house! Secure, and fast assembly. One day for two guys to bolt it together and erect it, with diameters from 12' and up.

Others think along the same lines of thought - here's Mother Earth News' versions:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Hands-On-How-To/Grain-Bin-Building.aspx

New material to think about: 9' x 100' tyvek rolls for under $150 retail. Not good in high winds, but could be a stop gap until hurricane season. White to reflect heat, translucent, waterproof, tearproof and UV resistant. Biggest drawback: not heat/fireproof. The reality is there will have to be tent cities for some time and Tyvek would be a big step up from some sheets tied to some sticks.

Those blue tarps are ok but they break down under sunlight in just a couple months esp in the tropics.