Container House Installation and Maintenance

The installation and maintenance of container houses must follow professional steps and specifications to ensure safety and service life.

Installation Phase

1. Purchase Considerations:

   • Structural Type: Prefer welded integral containers or bolt-connected modular containers. The former has strong resistance to deformation and is suitable for frequent movement; the latter requires checking the tightness of connection nodes.
   • Steel Specifications: The wall thickness of columns and bottom beams should be between 1.5 mm and 3 mm. Thicker walls provide stronger load-bearing capacity but also increase self-weight.
   • Coating Process: Prefer hot-dip galvanizing for longer corrosion resistance, especially in areas with large temperature differences between day and night and significant humidity changes.

2. Ground Preparation:

   • Foundation Requirements: Clear the ground of loose soil and debris, and compact the original soil layer. For long-term use, pour a concrete strip foundation with a width of 30 cm to 50 cm and a depth determined by the thickness of the frost layer. The horizontal height difference of the foundation top surface should not exceed 5 mm.
   • Short-term Use: Use prefabricated concrete blocks or steel plates. The spacing between blocks should not exceed 2 meters, and a gravel leveling layer should be laid underneath.

3. Lifting and Positioning:

   • Lifting Requirements: Use steel wire ropes with sufficient load-bearing capacity to ensure that all lifting points are synchronized to avoid unilateral force causing distortion of the container body.
   • Levelness Detection: After the container is positioned, use a level to check the longitudinal and transverse levelness of the bottom beam, with an error controlled within 2 mm per meter.

Maintenance Phase

1. Warranty Scope:

   • Structural Components: Main frame and C-shaped steel welds, with a warranty of 1-3 years.
   • Enclosure Components: Color steel plates, doors and windows, and sealing strips, with a warranty of 6-12 months, excluding damage from human impact.
   • Non-covered Scope: Deformation caused by unauthorized drilling, overloading, or failure to reinforce after typhoons, as well as normal rusting and paint wear.

2. Daily Maintenance:

   • Monthly Inspection: Clean leaves from the roof and gutter to prevent blockage.
   • Quarterly Inspection: Check the aging of door and window sealing strips and replace them promptly.
   • Semi-annual Maintenance: Apply anti-rust paint to welds and bottom beams.
   • Annual Inspection: Tighten bolts and check electrical connections, preferably with the assistance of an electrician.

3. Usage Precautions:

   • Electrical Safety: Wires should not be directly tied to the steel structure but should be equipped with conduit or wire trough isolation devices.
   • Layout Changes: Do not privately change the layout or disassemble bolt components.
   • Load Limit: The floor load should not exceed the design value. Overloading requires structural assessment.