And to think, the inner paneled walls for the pantry and utility rooms were moving along so well. Even with the disassembly of the pantry wall to reinforce the doorway, both walls were done with enough time left in the day to install. Maybe not fully installed but at least one could have been bolted into place. With the forklift ready to carry over the pantry wall, the Planner stopped mid drive to mumble something about holding the roof. Grumble, grumble, mumble, mumble and the pantry was placed back in the Shop Box.

As it has been mentioned many times, the Planner’s mind never stops running. We are working on step 10,362 and the Planner is thinking about step 21,859. Yes, he plans that far out. I am not being facetious. Seriously. And it’s a good thing too, otherwise the interior walls would have been in placed, painted, and decorated before it came to light that the overhead roof will need beams to carry the load through the building. Oh, yes, the over roof. Have not discussed that. Guess I will have to write a post in detail about that later with a better image using CAD as this image does not offer the full view.

The over roof will act as an additional barrier from the sun. The air gap located between the Dwelling roof and the over roof will allow air to pass through removing any collected heat away from the box while still providing enough space between the two to move around when repairs are needed. Just because the over roof is a barrier against the elements does not mean that the Dwelling roof will not be susceptible to rust and corrosion. Hello, this is the coast and we do live less than an a half mile from the salty bay. Metal box and salty air equal rust, rust, rust.

Like all other boxes, the Dwelling will collect water. This box will use the over roof that then drains at one central location (the water collection tank under the bathroom window) instead of through various PVC pipes at all box corners. Unlike the Shop Box, the Work Box, and the Kid Box, the Dwelling Boxes will have inner stud walls with shiplap instead of exposed panel walls. Enclosing the wall would mean if there was ever a leak in the water collection system, the PVC would be sealed inside the walls. Don’t know about you but that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. DISASTER.

To provide support additional support to the over roof, four base plates needed to welded on the roof and four inner beams needed to be installed. Evenly spacing the beams resulted in locating them about 13′ feet from ends on both outside walls as the beams had to be placed on the low portion of the panel grove. Placing the beam on the low grove instead of the high will keep the wall thickness to a minimum. If space was not an issue, then having thicker walls would not matter. However, the inside width of a shipping container is already narrow and removing an additional 3-4 inches makes a difference. With location finalized, the ceiling was removed. There was no going back now. Removing the roof panel is easy. Putting it back, not so much.

After removing the paint, grinding the cut smooth, the base plates were placed into position. Positioning took some trail and error due to the panels not being perfectly symmetrical. A little pounding here, a little pounding there, and add some extra grinding for fun. Fitting each base plate was trail and error. With the sun beating down on the Planner, the sweat running in his eyes, he persisted. Finally, the base plates were positioned and ready to be welded.

Base plates were welded into place both on the outside and on the inside. Welding with the hot summer sun beating down on the back. Welding with the oppressive summer heat blasting back on the face while standing on a ladder. Even though the base plates were only 4×4 square, and the welding went rather quickly, the Planner still melted. Melted. And standing there melting reviewing the base plates, the Planner decides that outer welds are not enough and that edge facing the edge of the box needs to be welded. Better to err on the side of caution. Up the ladder he went in late summer sun to weld the base plates on the outside edge of the box.

It is CRITICAL that there are no leaks in the welds. Any drips, no matter how slow the leak, will result in unseen water damage in the ceiling. Upon satisfactory base plate installation, each base plate had water poured over them to check for leaks. Later that night, the Planner dangerously climbed back up the ladder with a ridiculously bright spot light to check for pinhole leaks. No water, no light. Perfect. Now the beams can be installed.

Wall panels not only determined the location of the beams they also determined the width of the beams. Luckily the spacing between the panel groves worked out so that a 3″ C-channel fit perfectly. Channel the Planner happened to have in stock so we didn’t need to wait for the steel delivery truck that is always two weeks out from ordering. Two weeks. Three sticks of channel and one spliced channel from two shorter pieces. When asked about the splice, the Planner stated the load bearing down on the beam was taken into design and that the beam would not buckle at the splice. Apparently, splicing is common in steel fabrication. Of course, there are not 100′ beams manufactured for high rises. Standards. Duh.

To the channel, the top end had the edges removed to allow the beam to clear the container framework at the ceiling as it sits proud of the floor. To this same end, two flat bar triangles were attached offering a larger area for the ceiling load to transfer into the beam instead of just the channel itself. To the bottom end of the beam, one 3×5 flat plate was attached to allow for a wider surface ensuring the beam sits flatter on the floor.

Beams were mounted into place, checked for plum this way, checked for plum that way, tacked at the top, tacked at the bottom, checked for level here, checked for there, and then and only then welded to the ceiling plate.

After welding the beams to the ceiling plates, four flat plates (two per beam side) attached the beam to the wall. Again, each time the plate was tacked the beam was checked for plum up and down and in and out. The beams need to be in line up and down as shiplap boards need to be installed over the top and I do not want to be sitting in the TV nook staring at the bulge in the wall because the beam sat proud. Beams need to be in line left and right to carry the ceiling load correctly. Aren’t these just the most beautiful welds ever? The Planner, he does good work even when nobody in the whole world will ever see these welds again. So. Pretty.

Eight triangles, four C-channels, and twenty 3×5 flat plates create four roof load transfer points. Now, the pantry walls!