How have I lived this long without a Battery Driven Framing Nailer?! I've always had a framing nailer, finally wore out the last one. The compressor, hose, noise,,, all gone. I think this Dewalt will drive 1,000 nails on one battery, it's awesome. There may be better brands but the concept is great and for a DIY'r and not a professional framer that uses one every day this gets it done. Precut the length on all the studs, cut top and bottom plates to length, squared everything with a floor template and boom. Framing done. I'll insulate and sheet it off with OSB the next trip. I don't need much, an 8' bunk room for a bed, power and AC. The other 11' is for my Ranger.

My advice is give yourself 2-3 more breakers on your panel and run extra line or two for the storage part, in case you ever want to expand

On my 40’ I started with 25’ living and 15’ storage. I only put in one line for lights. Wife decided she wanted bedroom and I had he’ll trying to run wire in top space so I had to go outside, to run AC/bed unit

A cost cutter to is it’s none structural really so you can build out in 24” centers for walls

Do they make rolled insulation that fits on 24" centers? I went with 16" knowing I could easily source insulation. On the ceiling, I did stretch out the joists only because I'm screwing OSB from the top and placing pink Foam Board on top of that. For power, I'm coming through the front wall with a shore plug and one additional box. The LED lighting I use has a switch and is plug and go. A window unit cut into the front wall and I'l good. I've done this similarly here with a small building I built and my cargo trailer.

Mine was 8’ batts I think. My Roof and back walls I did 16”

Pretty sure R19 on sides and R21 on roof.

I’ve wanted to build one of these things so bad

I would put high amp outlets in it too. 15 is standard and can’t handle a good space heater on high.

Looking Good

Way easier than I thought. Once you determine your maximum finished height there's nothing to it. Conventional framing.

All the comments I'm getting on wiring:

We have service for three RV's, a cabin, outdoor lighting and several outlets on the pole along with the RV service. For three years I've ran a window unit and a space heater with no issues from this same service. I use a heavy duty extension cord and plug into the outlets at the pole and boom, I'm good. My small building was tight with zero insulation and with a small space heater I would stay very warm and never had issues with the AC. Same with the cargo trailer and it was 2x the sf as this small bunk room. I will insulate it, rolled stuff on the walls covered with OSB sheeting. On the top, I'm putting 1" thick Pink foam board on top of the ceiling. I only need a warm, dry space to sleep and change clothes, won't be hanging out in here at all. We have a kitchen cabin for that if the weather is that bad. It often is.

A bit of advice. Sprayfoam insulate at least the roof, use it everywhere if it's in the budget. These things ( I say that because I'm at the property in mine right now), these things will condense moisture on the inside bigtime during the winter with heat running inside. Just an inch or two of thickness is all you need to combat that.

It's good to have an egress point too.

Mine is in a 40' high cube, built out 25' of it with door and a few windows. It's a fun process to bring it all together and well worth it in the end.

and bring in some outside air if you are using any gas for heat or cooking

I don’t have any condensation problems but I also added couple container vents and painted roof with cool guard. Mines a high cube and 8’ ceilings, so it’s bare.

I do have a electric vent in bathroom too

No cooking in the conex, we have a kitchen cabin. I'll use an electric heater.

Thanks for the heads up, I'm thinking condensation won't be an issue. I'll have the doors open, so the inside temp should be equal to outside. The heat will be contained in the small room. I'll only be running a small electric space heater sparingly. In the past I've slept great in my uninsulated building and cargo trailer. I don't need to heat this bunk room up very much at all to be comfortable. When I wake up, get out of bed and get dressed I have turned on a gas Buddy Heater for a few minutes but that's it.

Looking good!

Leaving the doors open should help. But the room will give up heat, if the conditions hit the dew point it can rain inside the container. It's not something that will happen every time it's cold out, it can happen though. Having a fan on hand that moves enough air to absorb the moisture is one solution to combat it. The most comprehensive is to sprayfoam it, cure the disease instead of treating symptoms.

Front wall, door frame, and ceiling in:


Next trip, insulate and OSB on all the walls.

Nice...

Looking good, sir.

Are the interiors walls freestanding or did you attach them to the Conex walls? And if so, how?

I keep leaning this way for my next setup. I need a 40 foot with a 14 foot garage, maybe less if I buy a lease truck instead of another SXS

Nothing touches the inside of the Conex, freestanding. I build right to the metal strip along the floor. I'll have airflow all around the structure. I've built five outbuildings and framed this no differently. You have to determine your max height that you can work around. You'll need to be able to screw your ceiling down from above with less than a foot of clearance. I got this done by cutting my OSB for the ceiling into 2' wide strips so I could reach to the far end and work with a drill that had a stubby driver and using 1-5/8" screws. The structure gets more rigid with each framed wall, each ceiling joist, each piece of ceiling deck and each sheet on the walls. I have nothing on the interior walls so far and it's already 100% sturdy and rigid in all directions. I only needed 10' for the Ranger, this 20' box is plenty.

If you want a 40', and frame up one wall inside that goes floor to ceiling and have lodging behind a conventional residential exterior door, that's easy. You could cut a window unit AC in this wall also. But, then you're looking at spray foam. For power, I'd run conduit along the walls with outlets on the floor, freestanding shelves for storage, lighting mounted to the square channel framing that runs inside of your box at the top. I don't like the idea of doing anything that goes through the exterior walls.

To attach this freestanding wall, I'd do it this way:

Frame up your wall to fit very tight inside the feature of the profile that comes inward. Your bottom plate will need to be notched to clear the metal strip that runs along the wall at the floor. Screw it to the floor. Spot your end studs, screw three holes through the end studs and out of the conex on each side, top, middle and bottom. Go outside and drive a self tapping screw with a washer of a larger Ø through your holes into your framing. You'll have three holes each side on your outside wall, covered by a screw head and washer. Inside your bottom plate and two end studs, set a framed wall screwed to the bottom plate and end studs. You'll have two bottom plates so allow for this when cutting your studs for height. Run a top plate side to side that fits tight on top of the wall you just stood up and screw it to the top of your wall from under the top plate of the wall you just stood up. This top plate will end on top of the two end wall stud you screwed to the conex wall. I looked at the expense and hassle of spray foam vs. conventional framing. Also, advantages and disadvantages of having a wood structure inside to easily finish out on the inside for shelves, lighting, etc........I can screw anything, anywhere to my walls easily. Just whatever works best for you. I've never done this but would have done it this way had I went this route.

Insulation in, OSB on all walls, Door built and hung:





Flooring, wiring, shelves and door hardware remain, AC may wait until spring.

Hell yah

How will the costs of this Conex build out cost you vs a Modular bought build out, looks like 20ft? Seems those go for roughly $20K from Xcaliber?

My Conex was $3400.00 delivered. I built an 8' bunk room, insulated. I'll add lighting and wiring and have about $700.00 in materials. To build out the whole thing, leaving no room to park the ranger.............maybe $1200.00. There would be less waste. If you know how to frame it's easy. Two men could knock this out in a weekend. It's a clean, warm, dry place to sleep and change clothes in. We have a kitchen cabin for everything else.