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shipping container, door types
Once you’ve seen a ski lodge built out of shipping containers, it becomes pretty clear that there’s not much you can’t do with these things. They even use secure storage containers to build shelters and research facilities in Antarctica, which goes to show that, with adequate insulation, they’re ready for just about any weather you could reasonably expect to encounter. 

Shipping Containers Are an All-Weather Solution 

The versatility of a 40-foot shipping container comes down to the simple metal construction materials. If you want to build a home in Louisiana, for instance, first you need to do your research and find out how different building materials will hold up to the heat and humidity. 

As we all know, materials will expand and swell in the summer heat and contract in the winter cold. This is why you see gaps between squares on the sidewalk. The cement needs some room to stretch. 

So, the advantages of a metal box start from the ground up. When you’re building a house, you really need to know what you’re doing if you build a concrete foundation. One big block is probably going to crack as the weather changes and put the whole home in jeopardy. A shipping container is simply dropped in place wherever it needs to be. All you need is a flat piece of solid ground, and you’re good to go. 

Likewise, the walls and roof of the building will hold up better to this expansion and contraction. Metal is naturally flexible, more likely to bend under pressure than crack and break. So, when subjected to extreme heat or cold, a 20-foot shipping container is just going to stretch or contract however many fractions of an inch, rather than split and splinters like dry wood or cement. 

With a coat of rust-proof paint, you don’t need to worry about moisture in the air, either. Where wooden roofs and walls can absorb water and then mold and rot, a 10-foot shipping container will simply deflect the water, which will dry in the sun. 

So, it’s no wonder shipping containers are a popular solution for restaurants in New Orleans. 

Shipping Containers at Ski Resorts

mammoth ski resort
mammoth ski resort
mammoth ski resort

Remote Locations 

Another advantage shipping containers offer to out-of-the-way businesses: it only takes a single trip to get the container where it needs to go. 

The fewer trucks you have driving up and down snowy, winding mountain roads, the better. Building a conventional ski lodge, you’re going to be hauling load after load of lumber up the mountain and sending the truck back down to get more. With a shipping container, it’s one-and-done. And you can store the other building materials right in the container. 

Many businesses fail before they even open their doors to the public simply because they didn’t factor in what it would cost to transport the materials, hire a crew, and build the business in the first place. Shipping containers are a solution that will slash some of those startup costs to a fraction of what they might have been. 

One example of shipping containers in faraway places: this hotel on a small island in Australia. One has to imagine it would be far easier to ferry a shipping container out there than load after load of lumber, glass, and steel. 

Shipping Containers Can Be Customized 

Finally, shipping containers are easy to customize. If you need insulation for cold weather, sloped roofs to keep the snow from collecting on top, or a ventilation system installed for the central heating, all you need to do is tell your supplier that you’re looking for custom shipping containers, and they’ll see what they can do for you. 

In short: the appeal that shipping containers have for business owners comes down to their simplicity. Where prefabs are built for specific environments, a shipping container works anywhere. Where conventional buildings need to be built from scratch, shipping containers only need to be adapted to their intended use. 

If you’re looking to start a business anywhere from the snowy mountains of Denver to the warm, salty-aired beaches of Santa Barbara County, get in touch with Aztec Containers for a quote, and see what they can do for you.

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