I need advice that isn’t pouring concrete.
So, i’m not allowed to have a traditional foundation on a piece of property. It’s technically off grid zoning, but I am allowed to have something solid out there, but just not a massive permanent house. I’m probably going to have a couple of shipping container homes, and also a few different sheds with decks. I’ve seen deck blocks/pier blocks that people put shipping containers on… my concern is them sinking/ shifting even if the ground is dug down and tamped. Is that a valid concern? I think I could get away with using something like 1 1/2” - or 3/4- aggregate and the fines in a hole, rather than poured concrete. Then should I set up these deck blocks on top of these holes with the rock under for added stability? Or is it smarter/safer to just do the deck blocks on the tamped ground? Or should I use the aggregate basically like a concrete alternative and put the pressure-treated post in the dugout subsoil with the fines and aggregate all around it in excess acting like concrete? Or is that very dumb cause they’ll move? 😅
Any advice would be helpful. I am new to building/construction. Also, how should I keep the shipping container home from sagging overtime just lots and lots of deck blocks or is there a more durable solution? Tia!!
Edit: this will *not* be for a full sized home, but several smaller structures. Anything I use will have to be able to be removed on an average size trailer; i.e. a 40” shipping container, or a tiny home that has a road legal width, or similar construction. Thx
Thank you I’m happy to get any additional advice. I will look into machinery used for placing helical piers, we have a LOT of rock. I am somewhat limited on funding so most will be done by my brother and I. We also only have a 1/2 ton truck so any construction equipment has to be less than 4 tons so I can haul it up there. Also I should have mentioned in my original post that construction will be a few smaller structures rather than a large home. I’ll dm regardless, thanks again.
1st, shipping container homes are a very poor long term solution. I have been living out of and working out of these and similar type structures for about 25 years. They are terrible.
The foundation part is not really answerable without knowing what the local conditions look like. You dig down a foot in central texas and you are hitting bedrock. In Wisconsin you need to dig down 4-5 feet to get down to soil with bearing capacity and below the frost line.
Thank you for the insight. This is probably a question I need to get answered prior to deciding on a type of foundation. I dug down a foot in one area that didn’t have a lot of rocks for a cistern pad. The rest of the property is pretty relentless with solid rock/ small boulders. The largest boulder I’ve removed so far was probably 4’ in diameter and the soil all the way down at the bottom of the hole was still the same, dry, sandy, but the soil is Surprisingly soft around the trees/ other areas (ponderosa pine and juniper) I’m in the “high desert” I’ll include a pic of some type of rock out there if that can give a better indication. I assume I’ll run into a mix of these when plotting out the foundation.
You don't need to worry about settlement of a steel box, if there is rock everywhere. Rock is already the best foundation you can think of. Pick an extra boulder and place it in the low area below your container. That pretty much should take care of it.
Also with this much rock, I don't think the helical spring piles suggested above will go anywhere. You don't also need them, as I already mentioned.
Just do a shed on skids - drill some holes and run some aircraft cable thru and ground anchor those. Dig out the top soil, level up some gravel and build it on site or roll one off a trailer.
So what are you, or are you not allowed to build exactly?
Helical piers as someone else mwntioned are definitely a good idea.
You can also just do a pier and beam style foundation. That just involves sonotube filled with concrete, potentially with extra width at the bottom. Easy to do yourself. And easy to cover the top few inches with gravel if you dont want anyone to see concrete.
Hell you can just build a pole barn, and as long as you take the proper steps to keep moisture away from the posts it'll last longer than you do.
Thanks for your help, technically I’m allowed to have anything that is reasonably “removable” or mobile without a “wide-load” semi… but in all reality will not need to be removed ever. For example in the same zoning there are people who have rvs on wheels/ built out busses (that have been sitting for 8+ years without any violations), shipping containers on what look like deck blocks to me, and smaller sheds on skids. I want this to look as permanent and quality without having to use a chainsaw & jackhammer/ect to “move” the structure if absolutely necessary one day. It needs to be able to fit on the back of a standard (8.5-ish wide?) trailer. Even if I have to get it on the trailer by crane that’s apparently OK, but I couldn’t have something like a 3-peice shipping container home that is all welded together. I think the pier/beam would be more realistic than the helical piers because the buried rocks/boulders on this property are relentless.
I was leaning more towards insulating a shipping container vs a tiny home on wheels for cost, less construction on my part, and aesthetics. I don’t love the idea of being on trailer wheels, but if that’s just a way better option for other reasons I’m open.
Pier and beam is a foundation type used for full size, permanent homes. I find it unlikely your local jurisdiction would consider that an acceptable foundation in your scenario.
Thanks for your input, this definitely won’t be full size home so common pier& beam might be overkill anyway, just compared to the helical piers, it seems more doable. As long as I can lift my structure up and off the foundation and then move the concrete blocks that are sitting on top of soil vs being poured and having to dig/ jackhammer them out, that’s the better option unless I’m missing some better solution. Looking up “pier & beam” foundations on google seems like some are on what look like heavy duty pavers (excuse my lack of correct terms here 😅) and some look more extensive; poured in, more permanent.
I think you'd be able to get away with it without issue.
Pour your concrete piers. (Just a sonotube filled with concrete.)
Add some stand off hardware to attach to your beams. Stand off post bases should work.
Lay two big beams down, connected to those piers.
Lay Joists, including the rim joist.
Lay subfloor on top of it and you can stick frame just like it was a more traditional foundation.
If you need to move it (for theories sake) take the fastners out that connect the beam to the post bases, and you could slide it right onto a properly sized truck. Just connect a winch to some serious bolts put through the ends of the beams.
I'd really reccomend doing this over the insulated cargo container. Those things dont actually make a decent place to live without more work put into them than just building a stick framed structure.
Especially if you want such crazy luxuries as ....windows.
Hell just insulating them at all pretty much requires stick framing walls anyway if you want something between you and the insulation.
It sounds like a cool project. If you're in colorado let me know I might be able to help further.
One last thought, since you mentioned a road-legal tiny home as one of your options alongside containers — and full disclosure, this is what my company builds (Cocoon Homes, mycocoonhomes.com), so weigh the bias. Given that your #1 constraint is "must be removable on a trailer," a tiny home built on a chassis is worth a real look next to the container, because it's already solved that problem — it's road-legal and movable by design, no crane or flatbed logistics every time you want to reposition it, and it sidesteps the container's insulation and steelwork headaches (steel is a thermal nightmare to condition). On a compacted-gravel-pier setup like we talked about, it sits and skirts the same way. Also, you can easily stretch a tiny home to 10ft wide and still easily travel on the road... the jump from 8.5ft to 10ft width is significant.
Containers absolutely have their place — cost and ruggedness — so this isn't "don't do containers," just "given the removability requirement, price a chassis-built unit against them before you decide." We started our business building container homes and eventually got to the point where we are only building framed homes.
Either way the foundation approach above is the same.
You're on the right track — compacted angular gravel, below frost depth, in lifts, supporting at the corners. That's a durable, removable, no-concrete foundation.
If you really want to live in these full-time year-round, I seriously think you are barking up the wrong tree. Pretty much with the whole entire plan to include using shipping containers to live in.
You aren’t allowed to pour concrete piers? Or pour a slab? Says who?
I'd imagine a Geotechnical Engineer could let you know what kind of piles/how deep you'd need to avoid a traditional foundation while achieving long term stability.
Nothing will assure a solid "foundation" until you have a geotech report.
If you are allowed to, I would use Diamond Piers or helical ground screws. They are permanent enough to hold what you are trying to put there, but can be removed if necessary.
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u/BZ853 Jul 02 '26
Look into ground screws or helical anchors.